“This has been a bad week for the Army for anyone who cares about us being a neutral institution,” one commander at Fort Bragg told Military.com on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation. “This was shameful. I don’t expect anything to come out of it, but I hope maybe we can learn from it long term.”
Konstantin Toropin, Steve Beynon
Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump’s Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance (Military.com)
President Trump announced Tuesday that he will restore several more Army base names that originally honored Confederate military figures, undoing a renaming process ordered by Congress and completed under President Biden – though the bases will officially recognize other service members, not Confederates, going forward.
Joe Walsh, Eleanor Watson
Donald Trump’s less than subtle commandeering of the Army’s 250th anniversary celebration was an obnoxious, high security spectacle of absurd self-gratification. Instead of allowing citizens to get educated about the role the armed services played in the founding of the country, and its current function, the National Mall was covered in the same high fencing used to secure the Capitol after the January 6th insurrection so helicopters and APCs and various small arms could be staged for photo ops.
The whole thing culminated in a rather dreary parade with tanks, drones, flyovers, parajumpers. And it all just happened to fall on Trump’s birthday.
Dominic Gwinn
Trump’s Single Finger Salute to America (Wonkette)
It was apropos to drive tanks over something named for the Constitution. It’s a perfect metaphor for what the birthday boy and his gang of thugs do every day.
A.R. Moxon
Shows of Weakness (The Reframe)
“Despite the threat of rain, over 250,000 patriots showed up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army,” White House communications director Steven Cheung wrote on X. “God Bless the USA!”
Outside estimates, meanwhile, suggest there were far fewer in attendance than the 200,000 people expected to view the parade, which coincided with the president’s birthday.
…
In terms of sheer numbers, the “No Kings” events that took place the same day as the parade dwarfed the Trump administration’s event, drawing between four and six million people, according to an estimate from data journalist G. Elliot Morris and outside analysts. The event’s organizers have put the number at more than 5 million.
Trump’s team claims 250,000 supporters watched his military parade. ‘No Kings’ protests drew at least 4 million, experts say (The Independent)
Scott Boehmer 