But “spending $22 million on a parade versus spending it to help the troops and their families” is an issue that has the potential to disconcert a portion of Trump’s usual supporters.
As also noted in the thread: yes, some of Trump’s supporters will not care that the $22 million is wasted, both because they believe Trump can do no wrong, and because they see ‘the government’ as a faceless entity with the power to print endless streams of cash, so why care about $22 million?
But as always, it’s about slicing away at the edges. Some who usually defend Trump will (as we’ve already seen) be bothered by this particular form of waste. Some will think about the way that money could be spent, instead, to help veterans or active-service members that they know. And for that fraction of Trump voters: if the money is spent so that Trump can stand there while squadrons goose-step past him…their faith in him will be shaken.
President “Durrr Durrr I’m Not That Strong A Reader”.
"Trump has opted to rely on an oral briefing of select intelligence issues in the Oval Office rather than getting the full written document delivered to review separately each day, according to three people familiar with his briefings.
Reading the traditionally dense intelligence book is not Trump’s preferred “style of learning,” according to a person with knowledge of the situation. "
Put a safety helmet on this motherfucker already. On second thought, leave it off.
I’m not sure, and I really haven’t followed the story closely enough to give an informed opinion, but perhaps it’s because there just isn’t any real justification for a parade.
With Trump’s other, more atrocious or deeds –deportations, travel bans, demanding a new border-wall, attacks on the media, blatant corporate pandering, attempts to dismantling affordable health care, denigration of minorities, dismissing the plight of Puerto Ricans, firing those who refuse to swear loyalty to him– his defenders could at least, through twisted logic, find ways to justify these based on right-wing ideology: national defense, rule of law, support for industry, promotion of personal accountability, etc.
Or at the very least, they could justify those actions as Trump pushing back against the liberal bullies/snowflakes who have spoiled their once great nation.
But such an ostentatious display of self-aggrandizement as a parade is just too clearly about Trump’s ego, and too far from conservative ideology.
So, while the kind of behavior I’ve described above is the more worryingly dictatorial stuff, it’s the surface pageantry of a dictator that has got at least some conservatives saying “Nooooooooo?”
Now, the super cynical explanation is that (warning: I’m going to go full “libtard” here)
the parade lacks the element of cruelty that would otherwise warrant justification. That is, it’s not an attack on anyone.
I don’t believe this is at all the reason, but I do suspect there are some who support Trump only so they can enjoy the harm he does to others, despite the harm it may do to themselves and their country. So long as they can vicariously punch people through their chosen leader, they don’t care how torn up their own knuckles become.
I think you are absolutely correct. With some of the awful thump shit that you list above, and that the Pubs can force themselves to support, they can tell themselves that the ego boost for thump is a side effect, but the main thing is financial blah-blah, or upholding the law, or standing up for “family” <cough,cough> values.
With the parade, there are none of those principles to hang their hats on. The parade is an unalloyed, blatant, unvarnished thump indulgence that won’t make anyone rich (or poor), won’t kick out illegals (or legals), won’t punish sinners, help poor people die faster, or advance the cause of regular white 'Murricans. I think you’ve nailed it.
It looks like that might not play so well for them. Retired senior officers (very senior) have been talking about how they feel about this “Trumpsgiving Day parade”.
“I don’t like it … not at all,” “This is not about showcasing our military. This is about the president showing off. This is all about his ego. That’s just an inappropriate use of military time, talent, and resources.” “This is beneath us as a nation,” - retired Rear Adm. John Kirby, former spokesman for the Pentagon and State Department
“You could get past all of those arguments and just say one thing: It’s not who we are as a military. The United States has a different military culture. We do not portray ourselves walking down the streets. Instead, we do the parades on main street in the middle of Idaho during the Fourth of July with flags taped to kids’ handlebars. That’s the kind of parades we have. We don’t have to portray military might because people know how strong we are, the world knows what we are. It’s just not part of our culture.” - retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who commanded U.S. Army Europe
“Donald Trump has continually shown himself to have authoritarian tendencies and this is just another worrisome example,” “For someone who just declared that it was ‘treasonous’ to not applaud him, and for someone who has, in the past, admired the tactics of everyone from Saddam Hussein to Vladimir Putin, it is clear that a military parade isn’t about saluting the military — it is about making a display of the military saluting him.” - retired Major General Paul Eaton
“I used to watch them in Bulgaria,” “Put me down as a no,” - retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and National Security Agency
“I think having a parade in the middle of the nation’s capital is obviously not for the soldiers, it’s more for the people that watch,” “And in this case it’s one particular person and that’s the President.” - retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling again
Trump’s parade would be only a tribute to himself. It would be an affront to the country and to the military personnel forced to participate. This is just another ego stroking exercise for Trump. The idea that there should be a military parade for someone so deeply in bed with our enemy Putin, is a fucking disgrace. - ME
NPR had a truly depressing story this morning about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and how Trump has put the fox (Mick Mulvaney) in charge of the hen house.
The nutshell version: specifically, Mulvaney will be dropping the lawsuit against a predatory lender; and announced that the CFPB will no longer be interested in, you know, protecting consumer finance.
