Today was supposed to be a day to honor our armed forces and our flag. It was intended as a day for reflection, reverence, and gratitude. June 14 is also Donald Trump’s 79th birthday, so instead of reverence or anything good, for that matter, the day has been hijacked, co-opted by a cult of personality, turned into a grotesque celebration of criminality and authoritarianism.
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Donald Trump’s so-called military parade, allegedly to mark the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, is nothing less than a thinly veiled birthday bash for Trump, and if things couldn’t get any worse, a whitewashed victory lap for the MAGA operatives, and money, that helped ignite one of the darkest days in American history, January 6, 2021.
The same criminals and conspirators who organized the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6 are behind the scenes orchestrating Trump’s dictator-like, self-serving parade, as Mother Jones reports, . The MAGA operatives are not hiding in shame. They are not lurking in the shadows. They are out in the open as planners of a celebration that will see American troops forced to march in the service of Trump’s ego, with the stain of MAGA on their boots.
Top figures from Trump’s Stop the Steal apparatus have been woven into the White House Task Force on America 250, the organization orchestrating the parade, according to the publication. This includes Chris LaCivita, Trump’s 2024 campaign co‑manager and America 250 cochair, now helping oversee planning.
It also includes shadowy figures like Megan Powers, Hannah Salem Stone, and Monica Crowley, each embedded in the January 6 Stop the Steal movement. They are bringing their extremist credentials to the helm of what should be a nonpartisan celebratory task force.
Even the parade’s sponsors deepen the influence of Trump’s political network: Tech and corporate heavyweights like Palantir (backed by Peter Thiel), Coinbase, and UFC (Trump sycophant Dana White), Coinbase (of course cryptocurrency follows Trump everywhere) have financially propped up America 250’s efforts and therefore the parade.
All this participation by these MAGA movers and shakers — and their money — undercuts any pretense of neutrality, aligning private interests and campaign assets with a parade planned and executed by individuals tied to an insurrection.
In other words, the military gets lost in all of the Trump MAGA hoopla.
Obviously, this overlap has alarmed critics who warn that the infrastructure used to equip and transport mobilized crowds for the Capitol attack is now being repurposed for what they see as a politicized, militarized spectacle in Washington.
This is not normal. This is not American. And, sadly, very sadly, it has nothing to do with the military.
The U.S. military has long stood as an institution above politics, a force committed to defending the Constitution, not acting as a clown show at Trump’s backyard birthday party, But today, tanks will roll and troops will march not to honor the Army’s service but to feed the fantasy of a man who once suggested soldiers who died in battle were “suckers” and “losers.”
It is a disgusting perversion of everything the military stands for.
Let’s take a look back at how tarnished these individuals are by their association with the January 6 National Mall rally. Trump’s senior aides were well aware that the Jan. 6 rally could turn violent, as ProPublica reported after the fiasco,. They knew it was “highly combustible” yet did nothing to stop it.
In fact, many cheered it on. And some of those same figures, those who summoned the gun-toting extremists, the Confederate-flag-wavers, the militia thugs and white nationalists, are now reemerging from the muck to plan a “celebration” of American might.
What do you think happens if Trump’s military parade turns violent? Will these same aides shriek in horror or applaud with pride?
Is it any wonder Trump is so enamored with dictator-style parades? He’s long admired the authoritarian pageantry of Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, even Hitler. To him, military power is not a sacred trust. No, there’s no such thing as trust in Trump’s mind or vocabulary. Instead, it’s a personal accessory, and a tool of dominance.
And just like any good dictator (I realize that’s an oxymoron), Trump is surrounded by not only military soldiers, but foot soldiers from his personal MAGA army, a hodgepodge of criminals, conspiracy freaks, and catalysts for destruction and chaos.
And disgustingly, sitting on the dias with him will most likely be Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, and Kash Patel. They are Trump’s Himmler, Goebbels, and Göring, the mouthpieces of election lies, the peddlers of racism, xenophobia, and homophobia.
The fact that the U.S. military is being dragged into this theater is an insult not only to everyoner who has ever worn the uniform but to the principles they swore to defend. This isn’t a show of strength. Not even close. It’s a demonstration of the betrayal of democracy.
These are the people who sent mobs to the Capitol to hang Mike Pence and hunt Nancy Pelosi. These are the people who smeared feces on the walls of the Senate chamber, who beat police officers with flagpoles, who invoked the name of Jesus while desecrating the heart of our democracy.
And now they’ll smile and wave as U.S. Army soldiers march by them in lockstep. This isn’t just offensive. It’s dangerous.
It will be a performance choreographed not to honor America but to distort it. And let’s be real and honest, some, perhaps many of the soldiers in that parade, will not be comfortable taking part. They will march not for pride, not for politics, but for allegiance to a dictatorship.
They will be exploited, used as stagecraft for a man who used five deferments to dodge service himself.
Sadly, we do not celebrate our military today. That’s been lost in all the controversy around Trump’s pompous persona parade. Perhaps, today we mourn the way our military used to be.
And, we do not wave the flag in pride today on Flag Day. Instead, that flag is being managed by people who have used it to stir hate and division.
And sadly, we do not honor freedom. Today, we witness its slow suffocation under the boot of those who would trade justice for loyalty.
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