Donald Trump likes big productions. Big bashes. Ideally to honor him.
Which brings me to this tweet the President sent on Sunday:
“HOLD THE DATE! We will be having one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C., on July 4th. It will be called ‘A Salute To America’ and will be held at the Lincoln Memorial. Major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!”
It’s easy, amid the near-constant norm-smashing of Trump’s presidency, to overlook any one event. That’s just Trump, you say, and roll your eyes.
But consider what we are talking about here: The President of the United States is planning to give a speech that, knowing him, will almost certainly be political in nature. And he is going to give it on the day in which we, as Americans, celebrate our independence.
The thing is: We already have a big celebration on the Fourth of July! In Washington! I’ve been. It’s wonderful! The National Symphony Orchestra plays! There are fireworks!
Given that fact, it’s not hard to see what Trump is doing here. He wanted a giant military parade in Washington on Veterans Day. That got postponed due to cost concerns — and concerns that rolling tanks and other military equipment through the streets of our nation’s capital might actually not be the most, uh, American thing ever.
But Trump wasn’t giving up that easily — particularly after being bowled over by the Bastille Day parade he witnessed in Paris in 2017. And so we have the planned July Fourth bash, in which Trump is likely — as he did throughout the 2016 campaign — to weaponize the idea of patriotism. Patriotism, in Trump’s world, is supporting his policies without question. Protesting those policies, which, by the way, was how America was formed, is tantamount to rooting against our country.
The Point: Up is down. D-O-G spells “cat.” This is the world that “your favorite President” has created. We’re all just living in it.
