Trump’s army parade was neither the totalitarian North Korean spectacle that critics had grimly predicted, nor the triumph of MAGA nationalism fans craved

  • defunct_punk@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    She defended Trump’s decision to ban transgender troops from the military, and complained that Biden had subjected the military to political correctness and DEI initiatives. “The military is not a social experiment.”

    The irony of saying this statement at a self-fellating and totally unnecessary military parade is too much

  • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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    15 days ago

    Here’s the thing, they weren’t all leftists. That was the beauty of the “No Kings” moniker, it encompassed all of the people pissed off. That includes a shit ton of republicans.

    As she and the other leftists marched, a young man, bare chested and wearing a bucket hat, approached a demonstration marshal. He seemed confused. He wanted to know where the protest for the opposite point of view could be found.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      That includes a shit ton of republicans.

      In absolute numbers, maybe, but in proportional terms, I’d caution against thinking like that. The vast majority of Republicans remain in lockstep behind their Dear Leader.

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
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        14 days ago

        The amount of republicans is actually dwindling and don’t forget they cheated. He said he was going to cheat, Musk said they cheated, and he’s projecting about the democrats that they cheated. I believe them.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    “Kind of lame”?

    We didn’t have our service members proudly marching in lockstep. It was a bunch of old people that could barely keep formation, “marching” (and I use that term loosely) as if they just walked out of the bar and into their first day of basic training after being drafted.

    Our “show of military strength” was a couple of old tanks creaking down the road, sounding like they were Ford Model Ts from the 1920s.

    There was no music or marching band or anything for the parade to make its way through. There was no crowd to cheer them on; it was just dead silence. My daughter’s high school graduation had better attendance and a more enthusiastic crowd.

    Not that this should be a surprise to anyone at this point, but we looked like a laughing stock on the world stage. If that parade showed off the best that the US military had to offer, our military will never be taken seriously again. Seriously. A bunch of old people and a couple of tanks that were older than they were. That’s what Trump gave. I’ve seen those carnivals that pop up from time to time in mall parking lots that had all the rigged games and unsafe rides, and they were still both cheaper than Trump’s parade and more entertaining.

    I expected Trump’s parade to be a dud, but even he outdid himself with how bad that so-called parade was. Take out all the people that were forced to attend for whatever reason, and the people who attended could probably fit in a phone booth.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      Ah … As someone with clearly different expectations (living in Russia) I’d say everything except being unable to march in lockstep and showing Coinbase ads was kinda fine, the big costume show in Russian parades doesn’t really cause any feeling of reverence and such.

      US military doesn’t have to show anything big on parades, because it, ahem, has modern jets, nukes, air carriers in bigger numbers than some countries have infantry vehicles.

      Probably a military ceremony should be organized better, but … it’s a theater anyway. A kind of that falling out of relevance, too.

  • jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    15 days ago

    A tent managed by a beverage company handed out room-temperature bottles of an energy drink, Phorm. The flavor, called Screamin’ Freedom, tasted like hard candies dissolved in water, and an advisory on the cans warned that they were not to be consumed by minors or pregnant women.

    If we saw this in a movie, we would laugh at how overly top unreal it was.

  • PugJesus@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    I had the misfortune of hearing the opinions of some conservative family on the matter on Father’s Day.

    It was the best thing since sliced bread, apparently, and Trump “deserved” it because “it’s his birthday”, while “no one” showed up for the No Kings protests.

    Don’t ever be fooled into thinking that a lackluster performance will disappoint his fans.

    • rayyy@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      June 4 from now on will be known as “NO KINGS” day .
      The delusional right might ignore the massive protests but the tide is turning, they will disavowal their allegiances to the orange Krasnov.

    • SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      That’s what the media is telling them. Fox in particular, but the networks have been downplaying No Kings.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        14 days ago

        That and facebook and talk radio, I really wish there was a practical way to shut the bastards down without causing undue collateral. Sadly wiping out the talking heads wouldn’t amount to jack shit.

  • phantomwise@lemmy.ml
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    15 days ago

    As she and the other leftists marched, a young man, bare chested and wearing a bucket hat, approached a demonstration marshal. He seemed confused. He wanted to know where the protest for the opposite point of view could be found.

    Whaaat? 😂

    A secret service officer, trying to explain the general confusion, just sighed. “Nobody knows what’s going on.”

    I’m dead 😂 😂 😂

  • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    The American military doesn’t train to put on parade theatre for a despot. No high stepping, no elaborate formations or movements. None of that pointless bullshit. If you see a military parade from NK or China achieving dazzling perfect performances, while impressive, that’s all it is; a visual performance. All they do is practice for those events. Those are not uniforms. They’re costumes. Those are not soldiers. They’re a dance troupe. These are completely different skillsets. Soldiers don’t need to know how to dance perfectly in formation. They storm the objective, execute the mission, and get the fuck out. You might as well send a marching band into combat, because that’s all they would become.

    It’s funny how they want to force the US military into performing flamboyant pageantry, while also kicking out the gays.

    • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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      15 days ago

      Thats all nice what you said but its far more likely the members of the army just didnt care as much rather than they are incapable of marching in unison.

      • Olhonestjim@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        I know this from experience. Perfect formation marching must be drilled constantly. The US military does not waste its time with it because it is useless beyond Basic Training.

        I agree that they clearly didn’t want to be at his stupid little parade. Yes, they half-assed it. It just blows my mind that Trump clearly expected pageantry when our military has never once put on such a show.

      • mcv@lemm.ee
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        14 days ago

        To explain and expand a bit on this: Frederick the Great was likely gay or at least somewhat queer, but also a military innovator who laid the basis for Prussia’s iron discipline. Back then units were most effective when in perfect formation, but moving around the battlefield disrupted formation, hence the invention of the goose step to rapidly move units around on the battlefield without losing formation. Invented by a gay king.

        So today we’ve got homophobic dictators emulating that for pure theatre and looks, over a century after it has lost any military purpose.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          14 days ago

          Additionally I’ve heard suspicion that some of the traditional pomp and theatrics that flow back to him are because he found it attractive.

          If you’ve ever looked at all that dress military stuff snd thought that it just seemed a bit gayer than one would expect a military to get, just remember Frederick was that good. Like, made his small German kingdom into the European power of Prussia good.

    • SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world
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      15 days ago

      All I can think of, is Monty Python’s Close Order Nastiness. “We know where you’ve been, you military fairy! OOOOOH”

  • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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    15 days ago

    Due to my interest in military hardware I watched the live stream by LazerPig, and the parade was absolutely garbage. Sure, they showed the Sherman, but no SPAA or engineering vehicles. They showed the Abrams and the Bradley, but nothing between that and WW2. There was so much objectively cool stuff they could’ve shown off, but it seemed they put no effort in it beyond pleasing the chief cheeto.

    The Russian parade was also a disappointment, but the ones with actual quality hardware managed to be even more disappointing.

    Fascists make everything worse. Even the thing they claim to be good at. Fucking clownshow.

  • mcv@lemm.ee
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    14 days ago

    I see the lackluster parade as a victory for democracy. Democracies don’t have massive goose-stepping parades in glory of their dear leader. That’s a fascist dictator thing, and surely what Trump wanted, but what he got was the kind of parade that you get in a democracy where the military exists for defense rather than tue glorification of the generalissimo.

    Well done, military peeps.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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    15 days ago

    You know that Trump just told the generals to have ‘a parade.’

    Kim or Putin would know exactly which tanks and units he wanted, would have specified how many flyovers, and sweated all the details.