The president is committed to the idea that despite ample indications to the contrary, everything is getting along just fine both in Washington, D.C., and in the United States as a whole under his leadership. Thus, it’s hardly surprising that he wants to see a military parade, and just recently, CNN reported upon an internal memo at the Pentagon seemingly confirming that the president will get his wish.
According to the memo, the parade will morph with the yearly Veterans Day celebration in Washington, D.C., late this year. It will feature aircraft flying overhead but no tanks, in order to preserve the infrastructure in the nation’s capital. Veterans and Medal of Honor recipients will reportedly be with the president in the parade viewing area.
In the face of the slowly but surely coming together plans for the military parade, numerous interests have expressed their opposition to the idea at this point. Among those to do so is the former Navy SEAL who claims to have killed terror leader Osama Bin Laden.
That former SEAL, Robert J. O’Neill, wrote on Twitter last month about his distaste for the idea of a military parade.
Using harsh language, he commented:
‘A military parade is third world bullshit. We prepare. We deter. We fight. Stop this conversation.’
The president has shown no signs of heeding the advice of O’Neill and the others who think like him. As mentioned, just recently, CNN reported that the rumors about the president wanting a military parade had turned into a memo outlining how the parade would be accomplished.
Others to have expressed their opposition to the idea include Republican Senators like John Kennedy and Lindsay Graham.
Sen. Kennedy commented of the parade:
‘I don’t think it’s a particularly good idea. Confidence is silent; insecurities are loud. When you’re the most powerful nation in all of human history, you don’t have to show it off — like Russia does, and North Korea, China — and we are the most powerful nation in all of human history. Everyone knows that, and there’s no need to broadcast it.’
Sen. John Kennedy on Pres. Trump’s proposed military parade: “I don’t think it’s a particularly good idea. Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.” https://t.co/pcAA0fj2hD pic.twitter.com/Vs6qnq4f42
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 7, 2018
Taking Kennedy’s comments to their logical end makes you think that the parade is less about showing the might of America than it is about showing the supposed might of Donald Trump. It doesn’t take very long observing him to conclude that he thinks of himself incredibly highly.
Senator Lindsay Graham, who has infamously gone back and forth in between support of and opposition to the president, called Trump’s idea for a parade “cheesy.”
Despite these protests, the military parade is likely to continue moving along towards the execution stage.
O’Neill has actually taken on the administration in the past, having done so after what was to him a particularly tone-deaf incident of Sarah Huckabee Sanders praising the Veterans Administration.
Ironically, the VA has recently been wracked by a travel scandal engulfing its head, David Shulkin.
Despite these and other issues, the president continues to press on with his vision that his presidency is a gift to America, a vision symbolized in part by his commitment to the idea of a military parade.
Featured Image via MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
