The president was previously forced to abandon plans for a procession in Washington, D.C., due to its colossal price tag.
  • vortic@lemmy.world
    108·
    20 days ago

    Trump doesn’t give a shit about anyone but him. They just cut $55M intended to fund training for rural teachers (because who wants educated educators?) and now he wants to spend more than that on a mile long military parade celebrating his birthday. And it’s not even a milestone birthday, just a birthday.

    From the article, Trump wanted to do something similar but, presumably smaller, in his first term but backed off after the price tag came to $92M. He instead opted for an event that ONLY cost $13M. How much do you think this one will cost? What will get cut to fund it?

    Fucking narcissistic traitor… He’ll probably figure out how to grift a few tens of millions from this by selling tickets, too.

  • MuskyMelon@lemmy.world
    1026·
    20 days ago

    Don’t show up, even to protest. He’ll just say everyone showed up for him. Let him have his audience-less parade like a retarded North Korean despot.

    • imrighthere@lemmy.caEnglish
      236·
      20 days ago

      In case you haven’t figured it out yet, the military is fine with trump.

        • Gordon Calhoun@lemmy.world
          131·
          20 days ago

          As much as we would love to believe the officer’s oath (and the enlisted oath, diluted as it is by the president clause) carries water and protects us, the historical precedent of militaries says troops are loyal to their paychecks and, to a somewhat lesser extent, benefits. As long as the soldiers continue to be financially compensated, they won’t rebel and will actively work against rebellions. When they stop being compensated, they’ll become passive and will step aside for a rebellion. Some may even defect and join the rebellion, but only if they think its success will benefit them. Sorry to be cynical, but without a strong charismatic and revered general or admiral to follow, troops will never self-activate to “defend their oath.”

          Look up the fall of Samuel Doe in Liberia or the Vodka rebellion leading up to Kerensky’s coup in Russia. The military is ever just hired goons. If the military were truly a circuit breaker against illegal autocracy, then they’d be doing exercises and drills to train for the day they’d have to “defend the constitution” from a domestic threat. To my knowledge, no such “uncoup the coup” drill has ever been conducted.

          • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
            101·
            20 days ago

            Didn’t they all just see their retirements get obliterated before even becoming vets?

            • Gordon Calhoun@lemmy.world
              51·
              20 days ago

              How so? As far as I know, the 20-year pension plan is still in place. And yeah, the TSP equity funds were affected, but you’d be surprised how ignorant and apathetic a huge portion of military members are about the TSP and completely unaware of vehicles like the Roth IRA. Plus, that’s all future money, in some case far future. Much less personal impact, as it’s easier to think only about the present. That’s why many aren’t getting all worked up about loss of earned benefits that will only matter years from now once they’ve been discharged. Plus, many Jr enlisted don’t have enough discretionary income to even contribute to a TSP on a meaningful level.

          • obvs@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5·
            20 days ago

            To my knowledge, no such “uncoup the coup” drill has ever been conducted.

            Why would it be expected that you would have knowledge of such a thing?

      • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
        5·
        20 days ago

        I don’t think that’s an accurate statement. Maybe most of the enlisted people are, but a very large percentage of the officers hate him. He is their commanding officer, and they openly insult him. They ridicule him constantly and talk about how terrible his decisions are. They joke about how stupid the SecDef’s plans are. And they do all this in front of their superior officers.

        The officers make an oath about defending the constitution, but they also hold very strongly to their duty to protect the people they command. Trump puts those people in jeopardy for no damn reason, so many hate him for that.

            • Squorlple@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              19 days ago

              The people the government derives it’s power from the consent of

              Do a headcount of which citizens are on which side. Rationality and empathy exist in bubbles, not a sea. Most of the population is really just that plain dumb and/or sadistic and apparently has grown in numbers and magnitude since last time. The side you’re rooting for also will almost always pull their punches whereas the other side simply doesn’t. Give me a deus ex machina fairy tale dream to cling onto because those in power with the big guns and tanks and bombs lust for hurting people and they’ve got the majority of the masses tricked into happily getting themselves and others trampled upon.

  • RaoulDook@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    20 days ago

    Great idea. All soldiers just love being told to march in birthday performances for draft dodgers.

    • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
      2·
      20 days ago

      It’s called a goose-step and I can’t imagine it’s not too long until he orders the military to do it in his honor

  • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
    21·
    20 days ago

    Is he going to be sad again when military still can’t roll tanks down the streets, or will he let them tear up the infrastructure this time?

    • pivot_root@lemmy.world
      8·
      20 days ago

      The latter. And I’m sure the repair bill won’t be paid for by the federal government, but whichever state was hogtied into hosting the parade.