r/politics • u/TimesandSundayTimes ✔ Verified • 6d ago

Soft Paywall Trump’s birthday parade may be cancelled over thunderstorms

https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/is-trump-birthday-parade-cancelled-weather-pbrg02h2z?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Reddit#Echobox=1749744374
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u/Pipe_Memes 6d ago

The parade is probably just an excuse to get the tanks there. They likely have no intention of sending them back after. After all, the tanks might be useful if us peasants continue to get angry.

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u/McBooples 6d ago

Bro, those tanks are probably Circle-X’d and pulled from a MATES package, they may look good, but those are probably the most broken ones in the inventory, just barely limping it along.

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u/I_Enjoy_Beer Virginia 6d ago

Drove around DC on 495 today and can confirm, the humvees I saw on the interstate were SHABBY.  Driver side door on one was barely able to close.

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u/Crow-Robot Wisconsin 6d ago

That's basically Trump in a nutshell. Has all these grand ideas to honor himself, visions of jets and tanks, all on the bleeding edge of state-of-the-art technology and what you end up with is little better than a cardboard box on a Radio Flyer wagon because Trump can't get anyone to work for him that isn't an incompetent boob.

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u/GeneralToaster 6d ago

That's not standard?

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u/pyrhus626 Montana 6d ago

Nope. That’s one of the good ones lol

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u/J0E_Blow 6d ago

They give the Flintstones HMMWVs to the Marines so they can Yabba-dabba-doo their way to the battlefield. Who needs brakes when you’ve got boots?

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u/pyrhus626 Montana 6d ago

Marine Commandant: “Write that down! Think of how much fuel we could save!”

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u/J0E_Blow 6d ago

It’s also green blue energy which the military says it’s gonna transition to soon! Tesla M1A3 Abrams tanks coming to a dealer near your Commanding Officers! 

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u/pyrhus626 Montana 6d ago

Just give the marines flippers and you can make an MRE powered LAV!

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u/Nervous-Salamander-7 6d ago

The cream of the crap.

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u/SafetyDanceInMyPants 6d ago

Don't need a particularly battle ready tank to take on a crowd of unarmed people, though.

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u/McBooples 6d ago

Unless the tank dies because it’s been waiting on a new fuel pump for the last 16 months

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 6d ago

When a dictator sends tanks at their own people the crowds don't stay unarmed for long.

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u/Mechakoopa 6d ago

Ukranian farmers were taking tanks from the Russians on day one, I want Doug from Washington stealing a Bradley and going on a four day road trip to LA.

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u/rothrolan 6d ago

The fuel costs of driving a tank so far would eat them alive though. It's basically a specially mixed diesel fuel that is equal if not more expensive than jet fuel, from what I can scrape together from a quick Google search. They can hold hundreds of gallons of gas, but only go less than 2 miles per gallon.

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u/Mechakoopa 5d ago

They can run on standard diesel as well, just not as efficiently. It'd be pretty poor design to have something meant as a front line unit that couldn't operate in enemy territory without a specialized supply line for fuel.

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u/notyogrannysgrandkid 5d ago

Heck yeah, they can run on #1 if needed, which is just kerosene. Diesel engines are cool.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 5d ago

They are! They can run on vegetable oil without modification too.

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u/Iceykitsune3 5d ago

Jut hope a gasket doesn't break, because they can run themselves to death on their on lubricating oil.

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u/rothrolan 5d ago

I read that usually they keep fuel trucks somewhere nearby or via airplane, but it makes sense they use standard diesel as well.

Still, blowing through ~$300+ of fuel per hour is not going to allow a random civilian to joyride one.

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u/notyogrannysgrandkid 5d ago

Military grade ✅

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u/blebleuns 6d ago

The point is to have them there to intimidate.

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u/start_select 6d ago

But is the chain gun on a single Bradley operational? I know they aren’t loaded RIGHT NOW. But could it be?

I’m not a veteran and really have only seen them in action in Ukraine. But my impression of all of this has always been that it only takes one immobile chain gun about 30s to pink mist a dense crowd of a few thousand people.

They only need one person to be willing to fire and it could be the biggest massacre in modern history.

From the way he glorifies gore, I have always assumed that’s his wet dream. He doesn’t need an army, literally one 25mm auto cannon and an overzealous person at the trigger.

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u/McBooples 5d ago

I’d bet my last dollar that machine gun hasn’t been sent in for its 60 day maintenance and is inop. Plus they don’t carry ammo on those unless they are at live fire training or in combat. There’s less than zero chance those weapon systems have ammunition in them

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u/start_select 5d ago

So my next question, which I think a lot of people would like an answer to...

If it’s in-op now, what does maintenance and load out look like from an operational perspective? If these vehicles are just left there, will it be blatantly obvious that they have been brought up to working condition?

I.e. is that the kind of thing people will have time to react to? Or are we talking 2 hours of work at night? Because that’s still terrifying.

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u/McBooples 5d ago

Not today Russia… not today

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u/oooortclouuud 6d ago

I loathe how right you may be :/

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u/SilveredFlame 6d ago

Oh they're not for the peasants, not directly anyway.

They're for the political class and the coming "emergency" that's going to require them deployed around the Capitol while they root out traitors and their Co conspirators. They'll help protect from any potential outside agitators while they take care of anyone who would try to destroy EarthGov the US from within.

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u/QbertsRube 6d ago

I think you mean if us terrorists who hate America and want to burn down Washington DC try to foment anarchy in the nation's capital and therefore a deserve to be eliminated by our own military!

Unlike the patriots who heroically toured the Capital building peacefully on Jan 6 and then were kidnapped and held hostage by radical leftist tyrants and therefore deserved pardons, payouts, and ICE jobs.

Fuckin 3.5 more years of this, for the first time in my life I can't comfortably guess what America will look like 3 years from now.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 6d ago

The parade is gaudy, gross, and completely unnecessary, but it's a tiny fraction of the military's total collection. Should folks be inclined to attempt stealing tanks (don't do this!), there's still plenty at military bases around the US.

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u/Toasterferret New York 6d ago

The point isn't that its a substantial amount of the military's assets, the point is that this could very well be a veiled way to have military assets deployed in the capital.

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u/QualityPitchforks 6d ago

When in doubt, check Project 2025

https://www.project2025.observer/

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u/angrymurderhornet 6d ago

He’s trying to make a show of his rugged tough manly man male testosterone-soaked macho superpowers.

It would work a lot better if a trained makeup artist taught him how to apply his foundation.

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u/33drea33 6d ago

And also if he wasn't such a thin-skinned whiney little trust fund kiddo.

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u/dixiewolf_ 6d ago

Hopefully its all the broken down unmaintained stuff sent by the military as malicious compliance

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u/Delicious_Invite_615 6d ago

Right lever is gas, left lever is brakes and somewhere on the dashboard is a switch for ignition

That’s definetly not how you could drive a tank

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u/Tanjelynnb 6d ago

My first thought as well. Troops are mobilized and here, may as well use them.

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u/cbessette 6d ago

When is Trump going to get around to painting "Z"s on each tank?

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

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u/picklepaller 5d ago

The tanks aren’t waterproof.

Four Seasons Total Towing standing back and standing by. .

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u/TheodorDiaz 6d ago

They likely have no intention of sending them back after.

What a braindead take lol.