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Well, Trump had his parade of narcissism yesterday for Independence Day. Indeed, it was pretty much everything that we expected it to be. Just like this man who pushed for it, the parade was shallow and all show.
One fitting thing was that it rained. We already know how much Trump hates the rain, since he refused to honor the memory of World War I veterans last year on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, because it was raining. He was the only major world leader participating in this event to do so.
Predictably, Trump made some glaringly obvious and embarrassing mistakes during his speech. Specifically, and even bafflingly, he seemed to get numerous eras and wars all mixed up during the speech. The self-proclaimed “very stable genius” betrayed his rather profound ignorance by mentioning how the Continental Army seized airports, even though there would be no such thing as airports for well over 100 years later. He also seemed to mix up the War of 1812 with the Revolutionary War in some cases, again revealing just how shockingly deep this man’s ignorance goes, getting all sorts of basic facts dead wrong. And he accuses others of “fake news?”
Here is a bit of what he said:
“In June of 1775 the Continental Congress created a unified Army out of the Revolutionary Forces encamped around Boston and New York, and named after the great George Washington, commander-in-chief. The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter of Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown."
Then, he went off the rails and seemingly mixed up the Revolutionary War with the War of 1812. “Our Army manned the air, it rammed (?) the ramparts, it took over airports, it did everything it had to do. And at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, had nothing but victory. When dawn came, the star-spangled banner waved defiant.”
The Continental Army, or the rebels, or whatever you want to call them, took over airports? The famous lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner were inspired and written at Fort McHenry during the Revolutionary War, and not the War of 1812?
Keep in mind that this is a major speech, one that might define this presidency. And to get such basic history undeniably, irrefutably wrong, clearly undermines Trump's own claims of being a "very stable genius." After all, the entire nation, even the whole world, is watching. School kids in first grade might have a chance at pointing out some of these simple mistakes that this "very stable genius apparently could not identify before giving this major speech. What a phony! What an imposter and a blatant fraud this man is!
That was not the only criticism of this parade that felt worth sharing. One article, written the day before Trump’s “A Salute to America” actually took place, actually made some compelling points about how Trump, rather typically, betrayed the symbolism and spirit of these national monuments that have brought the country together and helped heal wounds in the past by making it all about him. That is particularly true of the Lincoln Memorial, where Trump delivered his speech, not far from where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech in 1963.
Here is some of what Philip Kennicott of the Washington Post wrote about Trump’s almost exclusively partisan parade yesterday:
Although originally conceived as a wide avenue in Pierre L’Enfant’s 1791 plan for the city, the Mall and its surrounding parks were configured in the early 20th century as a grand symbol of national reunification, centered on a monument to Abraham Lincoln, the man who led the country through civil war. From the Lincoln Memorial, one looks down the long expanse of the Mall to the Capitol, at the base of which is a monument to Ulysses S. Grant, who won the war against the South. And from the opposite side, one looks across Memorial Bridge, which connects the District to Virginia, and by extension, the loyal North to the defeated South. Memorial Bridge also joins the Mall to Arlington National Cemetery, where Civil War dead are honored along with those who have fought in battles ever since.
Fundamentally, Washington is one of the few cities in this country that considers beauty to be integral to its identity. Other cities have beautiful things, beautiful buildings and beautiful parks, and many have more beautiful settings. But Washington came of age under the influence of the City Beautiful movement, which felt there was an essential connection between beautiful design and our higher political and civic ideals.
The president isn’t interested in wholeness, nor in Lincoln, nor healing of any sort. He has an unerring sense for what is ugly in our public life, and after exercising that strange talent on the national and international stage, he will make a show of it here, in our home. And that hurts.
Finally, one other thing took place during the parade which was absolutely disgraceful. This time, it was not Trump, although it was someone who obviously would side with the Trump camp. Not surprisingly, it was a FOX News commentator, and he labeled some generals as “snowflakes” on air yesterday, and received fire for it, to boot.
Here is a bit more on the Dobbs story:
Fox news host Lou Dobbs referred to American military generals as 'snowflakes' on Independence Day.
VoteVets, a progressive veterans advocacy group, made the obvious point that Dobbs had never himself served in the military, much like the president that he praises and clearly holds in such high regard. What a chickenhawk jackass of a man!
Now, Dobbs is receiving universal criticism from many as a result of his ridiculous comments.
Bringing the country together and making us all proud, indeed.
Seriously, you cannot make this stuff up. Reality during the Trump years proves, once again, to be stranger than fiction.
Trump Says Troops ‘Took Over Airports’ During Revolutionary War, in Rainy Fourth of July Speech by Peter Wade, July 4, 2019: “The Continental Army… manned the air, it rammed the ramparts, it took over airports, it did everything it had to do,” the president said
Forget the tanks. Trump’s violation of the Lincoln Memorial is the real offense. By Philip Kennicott, Art and architecture critic, July 3, 2019:
VoteVets, a progressive veterans advocacy group, noted that Dobbs had never served in combat. Fox host Lou Dobbs calls American military generals 'snowflakes' on Independence Day Nicholas Wu, USA TODAY Published 1:38 p.m. ET July 4, 2019:
When I commented on a Yahoo article about this, some ass-hat Trump supporter suggested that Trump actually said "it took over air, ports [two words], it did everything it had to do". Not only is that clearly not what he said (I watched that YouTube clip I sent you a few times), but even if he had said "air, ports", is still makes absolutely no sense. It's as if Trump had said "George Washington's men crossed the Delaware on their jet skis", and someone tried to defend that by saying "He said 'their jets, keys'." Right, that's much better, because it's coherent and doesn't sound fucking stupid at all...
ReplyDeleteAs for Dobbs, he's the quintessential "angry and frightened little white man", straight out of Central Casting. Case in point: he obsessively continued to talk about the "birther controversy" long after it was debunked.
Scary the mindset of some of these people. They go to extraordinary lengths - bend over backwards, really - to defend a man who does not give a damn about them. Sorry, I just don't get it. What the hell do they see in this man?
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