Donald Trump stole the 4th of July, a Washington D.C. tradition that has brought the country together for a century. No one asked whether a person was a Republican or a Democrat. It did not matter. People brought picnics and their families. It has been a time to celebrate the birth of our great nation and watch fireworks reflect in the Potomac River that was there when our founding fathers moved the capital to this location. Then, this happened.
Trump said that his special tribute to himself complete with marching bands, fighter jet flyovers, and tanks was open to everyone. He lied. CNN’s chief White House correspondent tweeted that POTUS had fenced off the National Mall where the “tanks and military vehicles” were located by the Lincoln Mall:
‘It appears most of the folks down on the National Mall won’t be able to get very close to the tanks and military vehicles down by the Lincoln Memorial. That area is behind a lot of fencing and security (accessible to VIP’s and other ticketed guests).’
Trump’s top Republican donors and loyal Republican legislators would be seated within the fence as the public looked on, fenced out just as the southern border refugees have been fenced in. Americans cannot believe this has been unfolding before their eyes. They should.
When George Washington was the first president in 1789, the capital was in New York. In 1792 it moved to Philadelphia. Then in 1792, Alexander Hamilton thought it would be a good idea to have a new capital owned by the federal government, and so it began. These men anticipated a despot king, so when Trump came along, it would not have been such a surprise to them.
Unfortunately, they did not anticipate a Senate Majority Leader like Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and a Roy Cohenesque Attorney General William Barr to aide and abet him. Neither did they imagine a complicit team of Republicans or a House of Representatives more interested in the politics of the next election than doing what is right. As a result, no one has been constraining this out-of-control commander-in-chief.
Twitter world went wild with this news. Check out some of our favorites below:
