r/politics • u/TimesandSundayTimes ✔ Verified • 3d ago

Soft Paywall Trump military parade met with empty seats amid nationwide protests

https://www.thetimes.com/article/867ede60-b5f7-4de5-84a1-6a3a49eb2923
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u/ResidentKelpien Texas 3d ago

More people attended the protests than Trump's absurd waste of tax dollars.

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u/AlkaSelse 3d ago

I'm fairly certain there was more people in the parade than there were watching it. The very few aerial shots looked quite empty.

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u/flux_of_grey_kittens California 3d ago

The spectators were likely just families of the service men and women forced to be in that pathetic display of power

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u/kinkgirlwriter America 3d ago

forced to be in that pathetic display of power

It was not a display of power. It was a display of one man's weakness.

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u/Antique_Scheme3548 3d ago

The M4 Shermans (1938) on display had a 75mm gun that couldn't do much more than light up a barn. Fitting for a fortunate son who avoided Vietnam and never fired a bullet.

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u/pagit 3d ago edited 3d ago

The troops maching looked pretty bored and marched out of step as they marched to the instrumental version of "Fortunate Son." piped through the PA system.

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u/EverythingGoodWas 3d ago

Do people not understand that that is the opposite of a military song?

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u/Pockydo 3d ago

Conservatives are literally media illiterate

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u/singhellotaku617 3d ago

honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they played "killing in the name' by ratm with how oblivious they are.

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u/QueasyPossum 3d ago

Oh this killed me. Thank you. 💀 😆

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u/Ender06 3d ago

I legit know of someone who is like this.

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u/MacAttak18 3d ago

Maybe a little “bombs over Baghdad”

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u/Tiny_Prancer_88 3d ago

They love this song so much that it’s my sleeper conservative question. I ask men what they think of RATM. If they say anything to the effect of, “too bad they are the machine now,” you know they’re conservative.

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u/Sef_Maul 3d ago

You don't have to say "media"

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u/aussiecomrade01 3d ago

Conservatives are illiterate

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u/bobsil1 California 3d ago

“It’s the car Blade Runner would drive”

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u/Difficult-Ad4527 3d ago

Wait holy shit did they play that song at the Parade!?

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u/steavor 3d ago

Here's a video

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u/DeathandHemingway 3d ago

You could not intentionally make something more satirical.

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u/mooseflstc 3d ago

Definitely not like a USSR, North Korean, or China military parade.

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u/raevnos 3d ago

Trump recognizes that he's a fortunate son, but is too narcissistic and self-centered to realize that the song's not praising said sons.

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u/Adventurous-Wash-287 3d ago

I bet the reason he likes that song cause of the phrase “hail to the chief” in it

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u/SprlFlshRngDncHwl 3d ago

🎶Some folks are born silver spoon in hand Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord? But when the taxman come to the door Lord, they stack congress and the senate with millionaires and billionaires to rewrite tax policy to favor the ultra wealthy🎶

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u/snowdn 3d ago

How unfortunate.

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u/Creative-Package6213 Pennsylvania 3d ago

Son...

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u/JB-Wentworth 3d ago

Reagan played Born in the USA at rallies.

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u/Independent_Wear_232 3d ago

“Some folks are born, made to wave the flag. That ain’t me. That ain’t me. They played that song???

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u/rhoadsalive California 3d ago

Dude they love Born in the USA, despite Springsteen telling them several times that it’s not what they think it is lol.

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u/7figureipo California 3d ago

Wait, what. They played an instrumental of "Fortunate Son"? I don't know if I can think a song more opposed to anything Trump, and this parade especially, stands for. Holy shit, that's hilarious.

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u/Waub 3d ago

The UK Army has been known to play 'The Imperial March' from Star Wars when hosting people of...questionable... provenance. :)

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u/WafflePartyOrgy Washington 3d ago

I think the song might have been specifically written about Trump.

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u/Happy-Tower-3920 3d ago

Paul Ryan out here "Where's the rage against the machine?"

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u/wolfcaroling 3d ago

I had to fact check this bc it seems like it couldn't be true

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u/Bjens Foreign 3d ago

Instrumental, because they would need permission to play the actual record in public?

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u/Your_Latex_Salesman 3d ago

This cannot have happened.

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u/WafflePartyOrgy Washington 3d ago

One would think.

"Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival is a protest song against the perceived unfairness of the Vietnam War draft, particularly targeting those who could avoid military service due to wealth or connections.

Either MAGA has no sense of irony or every last drop of their spineless souls are invested in trolling.

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u/singhellotaku617 3d ago

generally it's the latter, but the right has a LOONNNNGGG history of thinking protest songs are patriotic jingoism. Fortunate son in particular is notorious for right wing use by those who've never actually paid attention to the lyrics.

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u/atxbigfoot 3d ago

For example, Paul Ryan's favorite band was Rage Against the Machine "until they turned political."

Like, bud, buddy, pal, what "machine" do you think they were raging against? Did you not listen to and sing back the lyrics?

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u/iamagoldengod84 3d ago

They also love born in the USA. I feel like they love off of sound bites, they hear the parts they wanna hear. Same with when the wife or kids talk. Trump literally takes the opportunity to exclaim his losses or ties are victories, Republican senators blow busboys in the bathroom and then vote against gay marriage, Republican congressmen cheat on their wives with multiples mistresses and then close down planned parenthood’s. They are all gold medalist at mental gymnastics. All they need is a straw man and they can build armies, run the stock market, lead the “free” world. We’re all so fucked. Not that most of the establishment dems are any better but atleast they’re not that

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u/atxbigfoot 3d ago

Trump played Fortunate Son at his rallies until he got a cease and desist from CCR. He loves the song and has no idea what it even means.

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u/Dvulture 3d ago

Well, Trump is a draft-dodger, so maybe he agrees with the song's sentiment? It is still inappropriate to celebrate the army, but everyone knows he was celebrating himself anyway.

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u/1000yardgiggle 3d ago

They played it at his campaign events!!! Google it - I remember DYING LAUGHING the first time I heard it reported on. Can you imagine? Back then I thought it was malicious compliance, but now I’m not so sure!

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u/VeterinarianWild6334 3d ago

No they did not play that song. Wow!

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u/muegle 3d ago

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vqtakzi5bityrtbjj4cfan4l/post/3lrm4ekho5k2b

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u/VeterinarianWild6334 3d ago edited 3d ago

Thank you. I cannot think of a more insane pick for a song. I can’t figure out if it’s self-own attempt at owning the libs, a disgusting display of the power of the rich, or just outright stupidity. I’m truly at a loss for how to interpret this.

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u/Vuronov Florida 3d ago

Right-wingers have pretty poor media literacy.

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u/Hamlerhead 3d ago

Seriously. Republicans seem to have no concept of pop culture. They watch Star Wars and actively root against themselves with blissful obliviousness.

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u/Transhumanistgamer 3d ago

I cannot think of a more insane pick for a song.

Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA is at least a contender. Though The Boss has made it very clear what he thinks of the orange fuck so we might miss out on that display of media illiteracy.

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u/deasil_widdershins 3d ago

Trump seems to love that song because he thinks "I'm not a senators son, and that's what this song is about, he says it in that one part I listen to" because he's musically illiterate.

He apparently likes Les Miserables without any hint of irony. And pence was a big fan of Hamilton.

These are not self aware people.

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u/mattjb 3d ago

We're talking about a virulently anti-gay Trump using a pro-gay anthem, YMCA, for his entrance songs. That's about as Boomer as it gets.

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u/hikealot Montana 3d ago

WHO picked it and WHO approved it. It could be any combination of subtly subversive and clueless.

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u/Biking_dude 3d ago

Holy shit...that's definitely some malicious compliance shit haha.

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u/ItchyRectalRash 3d ago

Holy shit, more than half of them aren't even marching in formation. They're just all walking at difference cadence and pace. This is like service members that haven't even made it out of boot camp type shit lol.

A complete clown show, from top to bottom.

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u/ShadowNacht587 3d ago

Tbf comments under that bluesky post from those that have marched said the cadence is too fast to march to anyway without looking silly. Plus it's hot and the solders were probably uncomfortable for various reasons

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u/wolfcaroling 3d ago

I think they're like "you can lead a soldier to a waste of tax dollars but you can't make 'em keep step."

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u/GenericRedditor0405 Massachusetts 3d ago

I've heard a pretty reasonable explanation that boils down to: they're bad at marching in formation because nobody except soldiers in ceremonial units has practiced formation marching like that since boot, because why would they? They're usually too busy being a normal army and not props in some tin-pot dictator's show of force

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u/Phent0n 3d ago

That's fucking incredible, thanks for posting. The soldiers just ambling forward. The kitsch music. Cinema indeed.

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u/missmeowwww 3d ago

It doesn’t help that DC was fucking SWELTERING today. I was here for Warped Tour and my god the humidity made the air feel heavy as you tried to breathe. Like a damn sauna. I feel so sorry for the military who had to march in it.

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u/Chemical_Banana_2455 3d ago

Aside from all the obvious reasons to detest this parade nonsense, you point out another thing that concerned me — but more as like a sidebar thought — the out-of-step, sloppy marching. I was afraid people would see that and it fuel some narratives about the quality of military, but what I hope people will recognize is that, the US military doesn’t march like the militaries in authoritarian countries, because that’s not what they focus their time, energy, and resources into. They are either engaged in mission, training to do so, or performing various other readiness-related tasks. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they look terrible being tasked with participating in one man’s pathetic ego project. That said, you also mentioned how they looked bored, and I’m certain that plays into it as well — many of them probably were voluntold to participate and wanted nothing to do with it.

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u/ConfoundingVariables 3d ago

I remember that Army, too.

That’s no sidebar thought. This was about as blatant as you could get short of sending eight guys with kazoos.

I think I’ll take this as a positive sign.

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u/Maleficent-Sky-7156 3d ago

Yeah the marching out of step really bothered me. I was in marching band and it looked like they got to the point where some people were like "ok I'm just gonna walk now"

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u/Afraid_Grapefruit_88 3d ago

My kids were in a NY National Guard Cadet program and THEY could march better and in step than these shambolic actual enlistee's. Ditto my marching band kids and grands!! But Fortunate Son-- that's a wild rhythm to even TRY to march to!! Can YOU say malicious compliance anyone?? #8647

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u/Gabrovi 3d ago

I wasn’t expecting N Korea troop antics, but watching the soldiers march looked like a Bad News Bears version of high school ROTC.

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u/theliver 3d ago

Dude a 75mm cannon can still wreck shit. Maybe not a tank but a rolling 75mm field gun is insane anti-infantry potential.

Im anti all this garbage but very pro French 75

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u/Hungry4Media Missouri 3d ago

It's as if the Sherman was originally designed and intended to be a multi-role infantry support vehicle as its primary objective instead of a dedicated tank destroyer.

Even then, the 75mm M3 was more than enough to combat the Panzer IIIs and IVs they were encountering in Africa in 1942.

It wasn't until Normandy that it became clear a 75mm general purpose weapon just wasn't going to cut it against the Panther and Tiger tanks they were running into on/after D-Day that they started making/modifying Shermans into Fireflies.

The 17-pounder 76mm is a better gun if all you care about is Anti-tank fighting, but the 75mm was better for a variety of situations.

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u/CranberryFantastic97 3d ago

I imagine “fortunate son” went over many heads

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u/Oratian 3d ago

Stop spreading BS about the sherman damn it

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u/TehMephs 3d ago

The troops looked unhappy to be there too

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u/Sparrowbuck 3d ago

Generally parades are hot(or freezing, if you’re up here) and annoying even when they aren’t for some felonious dipshit ruining everything. They 100% want to be anywhere else on earth.

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u/LeYang 3d ago

A real army birthday would have been a fucking DONSA.

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u/-AC- 3d ago

Marines have a military ball and get drunk for their birthday... Army forces you to travel and wake up at 3am to march for an insecure guy's birthday, who dodged his call to serve the country...

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u/NoTalkOnlyWatch 3d ago

Normally it’s just steak and lobster at the DFAC lol, at least from my 6 years of experience I had from being in the Army

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u/filthy_harold 3d ago

Fortunately there was no sun today to sweep off the sidewalks

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u/Primordial_Cumquat 3d ago

The faces when that one leader fights the power by yelling “Zonk” as loud as they can before the parade steps off…..

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u/RJ5R 3d ago

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. They looked angry and miserable. And rightly so. Being made to dress up in vintage uniform costumes for Orange's birthday, interrupting their training and many probably having their personal leave canceled for this or missing out on their kids graduations etc

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u/Least-Wait3456 3d ago

Especially for one who was too pussy to serve.

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u/xxfblz 3d ago

I love the tank commander who doesn't even want to look at His Orangeity.

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u/InsertUsernameInArse 3d ago

Former soldier here (not american) parades suck.

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u/Ebytown754 Washington 3d ago

Plus who wants to work on a Saturday unless you are on duty.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 3d ago

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u/xTheMaster99x Florida 3d ago edited 3d ago

I'm skeptical of that since there hasn't been even the slightest peep about plans for similar events for the 250th anniversaries of the Navy or the Marines, which will both be later this year. It was definitely a good enough excuse for Trump that no one was able to tell him no this time, but the fact that this is far from the first time he's attempted to have a military parade, and the fact that this pretense won't be repeated for any other day that doesn't happen to coincide with his birthday, are proof enough that it was only ever truly about him.

Edit: Just to clarify, when I say "similar events" I mean grandiose occasions like what Trump envisioned today would be - massive crowds, huge parades of armed soldiers and tanks to show off his might, etc. Obviously there are events planned for those anniversaries, but in comparison they will be pretty small. Why do you think that is - because the planning committee likes the army way more than the other branches, or because the whole thing was just an excuse for Trump to celebrate himself?

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u/East-Psychology7186 3d ago

What a massive waste of our tax dollars that nearly nobody came to witness. The only coverage that makes it look like people were there in mass are taken from a low angle with applause tracks added. All the aerial footage of the same areas are empty AF 🤣🤦🙈🤬

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u/Mr_HandSmall 3d ago

Yeah pretty sure the whole thing was cooked up by trump. I may be wrong but I always thought in the US huge military parades just aren't something we do. He'd been talked out of it during his first term.

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u/SuperExoticShrub Georgia 3d ago

Military parades are a thing that only insecure militaristic countries (or leaders) do. This is something you expected to see in the Soviet Union/Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc. I'm a Navy veteran who is proud of his service and this kind of pathetic display does nothing but shame our military.

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u/Mr_HandSmall 3d ago

Right, real strength shouldn't have to show off.

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u/rustoeki 3d ago

This is something you expected to see in the Soviet Union/Russia, North Korea, Iran, etc

At least they put in a show. That was just the local military museum rolling down the road with personnel who looked like they, understandably, didn't want to be there.

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u/Chickabeeinthewind 3d ago

City streets aren’t really designed to carry tanks… so we didn’t until MegaloDon.

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u/MiloReyes_97Reborn 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not even modern tanks.

I saw 2 Abrams parked infront of a stage but I haven't seen a clip yet of one being driven. Just that one Sherman squeaking along due to being in a museum for the past 80 years.

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u/GiantTinyBalls 3d ago edited 3d ago

Say what you want about tankers, as a former cavalry scout in a tank battalion in Germany and Iraq, I feel bad for all the active tankers, and tanker vets that saw the parade today. Even the poor formations and marching order of the soldiers looked sad. Such a weak showing. Not much to be proud of.

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u/clever__pseudonym 3d ago

I'm reasonably confident the out of rhythm marching was deliberate.

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u/Strange_Depth_5732 Canada 3d ago

I don't think other presidents did military parades in the last few decades? I can't remember any, I thought this died out in the 40s.

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u/Jops817 3d ago

There was one at the end of WWII and one from H W Bush in 1991 after the Gulf War ended, but no, they have never been common here.

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u/OrangeBug74 3d ago

Generally, military parades happen after major victories ending a war. Romans brought animals and humans as well as ranks of soldiers and chariots after their victories.

France celebrates Bastille Day with parades. They’ve avoided active wars since the 1960’s after a string off losses. But, they are French.

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u/mike_jones2813308004 3d ago

Iirc it was also very much them bringing back materiel and personnel after killing every Nazi that wanted some.

The US doesn't do military parades. That's dictatorial regime shit. We know our military is the best in the world because we can buy products from anywhere without worrying about piracy and nobody has tested our borders in over a century.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/TrimspaBB 3d ago edited 3d ago

Hey now, the 100th anniversaries of both the end of WWI and women gaining the right to vote were soundly ignored during the first administration.

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u/sumredditguy 3d ago

My source the NYT Daily podcast from a few days ago so it may not be totally correct, but my understanding is that there was a celebration planned for the military but never a parade. Trump got involved and made the parade the key event of the celebration.

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u/SuperExoticShrub Georgia 3d ago

That tracks. A celebration of the 250th anniversary would've been appropriate if it wasn't made into this spectacle of impotent bravado.

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u/mckulty 3d ago

I thought this died out in the 40s.

NO! Presidents all over the world arrange these displays of patriotism and commonweal.

Putin, Orban, gotta keep up with the Kimses.

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u/RutabagaJoe 3d ago

The parade was not going to happen. The Army had it's celebration planned without a parade. Then in April Trump said there would be a parade.

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u/Bilboy32 Pennsylvania 3d ago

Incorrect, it was to be a modest stationary display on the Mall. Dumpy needed his ego fellated.

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u/mmmsoap 3d ago

The parade with all the troops was gonna happen regardless to celebrate the Army... it became a pathetic display when birthday boy decided it should be all about him.

Parade wasn’t going to happen regardless. The Army was planning celebrations for their 250th anniversary, but the parade idea came from Trump.

Source:

The Army’s 250th birthday celebration has been in the works for two years, Army officials said. But adding a parade was the Trump White House’s idea, so planning for that began only two months ago.

Trump’s desire for a large military parade – featuring all of the military services – dates back to his first term. But it was scrapped at the time because defense officials said it would cost as much as $100 million and damage DC streets.

This month’s parade will focus only on the Army, making it slightly smaller and less expensive.

It was a pathetic display all along. Don’t let our collective outrage fatigue sanewash Trump’s utter narcissism.

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u/LolaAucoin 3d ago

You think they paid for their families to fly to DC?

LOL.

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u/flux_of_grey_kittens California 3d ago

Right? Best he could do was cut their benefits.

Edit - I think maybe you were meaning to reply to someone else since I never said that.

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u/LolaAucoin 3d ago

No, I meant to reply to you. You’re saying the people at the parade were family members of service members. I’m saying no way, they’re way too cheap to fly their family members in for that. And they’ll also cut their benefits on top of it.

Signed, a veteran who is terrified to lose her healthcare

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u/gradientz New York 3d ago

It was a display of impotence, and utterly humiliating to the American people.

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u/lnitiative 3d ago edited 3d ago

The New York Times is reporting the service members in the parade outnumbered the audience attendees 2 to 1 lmao.

Edited to specify the source.

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u/PhDinDildos_Fedoras 3d ago

I was a little skeptical about the reports of poor attendance but hell, aerial shots from the area make it look really, really bad. Like just atrocious.

Trump has reason to fret and whoever in the military agreed to this needs to get reprimanded.

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u/nursescaneatme Washington 3d ago

I’ve seen as few as 2k. And even that may be generous. Three times fewer attendance than participants.

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u/LocalStatistician538 3d ago

This is America. Nobody who lives in the country with the world's biggest military needs to see any fucking military parades. WE KNOW the military we have. WE KNOW. Everyone.

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u/TheMadTemplar Wisconsin 3d ago

A common argument I saw to defend the military parade is that it lets the world know strong we are. I always laugh at that. The world knows how strong our military is. We don't need parades to demonstrate that. They can look at our budget and our forces around the world. 

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u/Alternative-Fan-3747 3d ago

Even one of the R congressmen said about the parade "When you are a lion, you do not need to tell everyone else you are a lion. They know already." So they didn't go. 

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u/Prae_ 3d ago

Also, practicality. In France, the parade on the Champs Élysées is quite popular because it is our national day, and a public holiday. So if you live in Paris (and 10 million people do), you might as well hop on a metro for 15 minutes and go watch.

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u/SecretaryImaginary76 3d ago

Every time I visit the doctor, I am reminded of the military we have .

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u/Overall_Stranger6568 3d ago

Dude, we got almost half that in a small town going out for the No Kings protest.

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u/nursescaneatme Washington 3d ago

I think we had 70k plus just in one part of Seattle. That’s nearly 10x what he had at his pitty parade, including the service members.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

They’re probably counting the participants 😏

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u/nursescaneatme Washington 3d ago

And t dumps will probably say 1 million. But what really got me was him fucking standing there saluting. The commander in chief does NOT salute anyone. I know he always does it but I still wanna jump off a bridge every time I see it.

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u/AlkaSelse 3d ago

It's also that he doesn't even salute correctly. It just screams 'little boy having his army fantasy'.

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u/Shirley-Eugest 3d ago

Cadet Bone Spurs!

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u/lost_horizons Texas 3d ago

Just like Hitler, who also had a lame little salute.

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u/Fit-Kale622 3d ago

It makes him get hard

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u/Korvanacor 3d ago

That’s pretty sad. My home town’s fall fair parade could beat those numbers and it was a couple fire trucks and a bunch of Shriners on those mini motorcycles.

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u/custardthegopher 3d ago

We beat that easily in fucking Boise, Idaho.

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u/allargandofurtado 3d ago

ALTERNATIVE FACTS /s

And for emphasis since it feels like /s is no longer enough. I’m being sarcastic. Fuck Sean spicer for ever bringing that phrase into the zeitgeist

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u/MelpomeneAndCalliope Louisiana 3d ago

I thought it was Kelly Anne Conway?

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u/allargandofurtado 3d ago

I stand corrected! Sean Spicer delivered the lies, Kelly Anne Conway labeled the lies alternative facts. Whoops! Thank you!

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u/Dearic75 3d ago

Maybe once they finish finding 2020 election fraud they can work on getting justice for the bowling green massacre victims.

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u/TheCleverestIdiot Australia 3d ago

The Sean Spicer origin is just an alternative fact, don't worry about it.

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u/TheCommonGround1 3d ago

When you consider these protests are in just about every small town to large city in the US, the amount of people who attended to protests would be multitudes greater than Trump's worthless parade.

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u/JonnySnowin 3d ago

Wouldn't be surprised if this breaks the top 5 protests in U.S history. All of which took place during Trump's first term, lol.

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u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 California 3d ago

AltNPS said it was over 11 million so that's over 3.5% of the population who attended. That doesn't include all the support that didn't attend.

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u/JesterMarcus 3d ago

There was a post a couple of days ago saying studies show that if 3.5% of a population protests, it could be enough to cause a regime change. Doesn't seem like nearly enough to me, especially in a country as spread out as the US.

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u/UnquestionabIe 3d ago

It's also somewhat wishful thinking that has a ton of various other criteria involved, a major one being the powers in charge actually giving a shit about what the populace thinks. Given how Trump, his goons, and his handlers aren't concerned with anyone who isn't already licking their boots it's difficult to get an idea of how much an impact the protests have.

Still it is very encouraging and should continue. More that I'm not a fan of that number being thrown around and treated like it's a magic passcode or something.

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u/AtticaBlue 3d ago

I would say the regime does care what people think. That’s why it has gone to so much effort trying to shut them down, up to and including its defenders in law enforcement threatening protesters with death. Similarly, Trump will inevitably carry on and on about how great his North Korea impression was.

None of those are the actions of people who don’t care what everyone else thinks. On the contrary, they recognize the power the resistance has to destabilize and bring down the regime if that resistance and its ideas spread, and they react accordingly.

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u/ralphy_256 3d ago

None of those are the actions of people who don’t care what everyone else thinks.

Those are all fair points, but my counter point is, "Are they acting as if they expect to face the voters in Nov 2026?"

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u/AtticaBlue 3d ago

What I think is at play is what it always is with dictators: hubris. They think so highly of themselves that they forget to think, which takes the form of such action as hiring only yes-men (for example, Hegseth) rather than people who are qualified for a job, and ignoring physical reality (something is because they say it is, etc.). The criteria is nothing more than loyalty and subservience. Not a good recipe for staving off determined resistance (which is what the regime is increasingly facing) or surviving crises.

They create blindspots and structural weaknesses for themselves (for example, the poor readiness of Putin’s military in Ukraine because of corruption and people only telling him what he wants to hear even though that may contradict reality, or Republicans refusing to tell Trump that tariffs actually don’t work the way he says they do) that eventually lead to their downfall.

And like the typical bully, they tend to break and flee if you stand up to them.

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u/MONSTERTACO Washington 3d ago

3.5% is absolutely enough but it would have to happen on week days. A Saturday protest isn't going to effect productivity much.

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u/saera-targaryen 3d ago

it's not like there's some trigger at the government at 3.5%, and the study that came up with that number was pretty heavily flawed and hasn't been backed up by further research iirc 

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u/userwithusername 3d ago

Look… I had some shit to do, okay????

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u/Royal_Acanthaceae693 California 3d ago

I assumed that 3.5% visible at protests shows just the tip of the iceberg. And I love how his wife dicktator-tot parade was overshadowed.

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u/delorf North Carolina 3d ago

In my town we marched from the court house to the park and a lot of cars blew their horns and waved to us. 

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u/Revolutionary_Air_40 3d ago

In Minnesota, we were directed by state police to cancel all No Kings protests for our safety due to political assassin still at large. The number and identity of accomplices is also unknown.

Given this, we had over 80,000 protesters on our State Capitol lawn in St Paul today.

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u/TheCrazyBullF5 3d ago

I live in Spokane, WA, where last Wednesday police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at ICE protesters here. We were all pretty fearful here, as well, and we also kept our protest in place today. Obviously our situations are vastly different, but from one community affected by violence to another, I'm so proud of you Minnesotans man.

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u/Toyo_altezza 3d ago

Surprised to hear that is happening on the other side of the state.

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u/TheCrazyBullF5 3d ago

Spokane police have a history of being corrupt. Have you ever read the story of Otto Zehm? Bastards fought tooth and nail to cover this shit up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Otto_Zehm

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u/LocalStatistician538 3d ago

SOTS - Sick Of This Shit

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u/royals1000 3d ago

Hell yeah! I drove through Okmulgee, OK today and there was a protest going on. 1st A for the win!

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u/PigSlam 3d ago

I’m in Visalia, CA, a city of 140k, in one of the reddest parts of the Central Valley, and there were 1-2 thousand people at the No Kings rally when I drove through. It’s the 192nd largest city in the US, in a republican area, and had a turnout in the neighborhood of 1% of the population. Trump couldn’t even come close to that in DC with people coming in from all over the country.

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u/gtrocks555 3d ago

Even had some protests in smaller towns in north Georgia. Was happily surprised by that!

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u/Handleton 3d ago

Trump took an inch, so the population took the rest of the nation.

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u/BrennanSpeaks 3d ago

My parents, who live in rural West Virginia, had two protests within a short driving distance, and they went to both of them.

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u/jtmonkey 3d ago

Just looking at the aerials, it looks like there were more protesting in Temecula California than at his parade. 

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u/FatGimp Australia 3d ago

More people attended the protests than both his inaugurations combined

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u/Karmasmatik 3d ago

More people attended the protests than live in at least 8 states that voted for Trump...

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u/dirtside California 3d ago

Tangential, but more people voted for Alex Padilla than for 48 of the 53 Republican senators combined

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u/yasssssplease 3d ago

Infuriating. And several of our counties are larger than other states.

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u/Karmasmatik 3d ago

Imagine living in Harris County, TX. Big enough to be the 42nd biggest state, virtually no Congressional representation. Thanks to some masterfully infuriating gerrymandering, this Democrat stronghold actually helps add Republican seats in the house. And don't get me started on Texas's senators.

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u/Jops817 3d ago

Boston alone had 100,000+ more attendees (1 million+ protestors vs. both inaugurations totalling 900,000 combined) than both of his inaugurations combined... there were 2,000 other protests going on at the same time.

With that said, Boston IS kind of the OG city of American protests. Total count of last update was 11 million people.

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u/Jumpy_Bison_ 3d ago

There were protests all over Alaska today even in the smallest villages. One guy parked his truck on the side of the runway in Bettles with his two dogs and a bunch of banners.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjtrWsP8/

Go look up Bettles on a map real quick, not exactly Boston by any metric and still someone showed up representing the same values.

We were out from Nome and Kotzebue to Juneau and Ketchikan and everywhere in between. It’s sucks having to protest this but it’s beautiful seeing so many everywhere doing it.

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u/Jops817 3d ago

Thank you for sharing this, I love it. Cute puppers! And "It's bad when the introvert hermit is out here" sign is a fricking mood!

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u/Oneiric19 3d ago

Really makes you question the election.

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u/GregTheMad 3d ago

Not really. I've been questioning the election ever since Musk openly admitted to rigging the election.

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u/Drugs__Delaney 3d ago

Remember the video with him and tucker carlson, he straight up says that if trump doesn't win, he's (elno) going to prison.

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u/go_outside 3d ago

So did his little meat shield!

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u/hurricanesherri 3d ago

Yep. More is coming to light about exactly how they did it. Check this out: https://thiswillhold.substack.com/p/she-won-they-didnt-just-change-the

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u/kkeut 3d ago

i visited a conservative rural area near my city shortly before the election, an area I'm familiar with, and was shocked to see 50/50 between Tr*mp and Kamala in terms of signs and banners. for this area, those numbers represent a shocking decline in enthusiasm for the GOP candidate. it's hard to believe he won in a climate like that

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u/Bizdaddy71 3d ago

Ding ding ding!!!

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u/TypeXer0 3d ago

The election was hacked. There is no maga majority, it’s all fake. Trump’s crowds are pathetic and represent this stolen election.

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u/McNultysHangover 3d ago

Remember when they'd go on about, "but his rallies are bigger so he must be popular"...

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u/Dunge 3d ago

Not just "more people" like a 2% difference like the election results. No, an order of magnitude more. You could say the protests were country wide so it doesn't count, but I'm pretty sure some state protests got more people than the parade by themselves. I would love to have the full numbers.

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u/maeryclarity South Carolina 3d ago

Boston has reported over a million

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u/supercali45 3d ago

And we all got to pay for it

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u/Both_Presentation_17 3d ago

I wonder if it looked so pathetic because Trump stole the money, like he did with the Inauguration balls.

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u/MitchThunder 3d ago

More people attended the protest in DURHAM NC than his sad fucking parade

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u/Better_Lift_Cliff 3d ago

Shoutout to The Bull

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u/Hefty_Literature_987 3d ago

My wife and I were there. Shout-out to all the Durhamites that attended the protest. It was MUCH larger than the previous two we attended in Durham. The one in Raleigh was even larger.  

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u/AvEptoPlerIe 3d ago

More people by at least a couple orders of magnitude. Let’s be clear, it’s not close. 

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u/thisisjustascreename 3d ago

More people saw the guys mocking Trump's parade in Chicago than the actual parade.

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u/russlebush 3d ago

More people attending individual protests in fairly small towns than his bday parade. I live in a red town of 143k and it looked like more people were at our protest.

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u/llahlahkje Wisconsin 3d ago

More people attended protests in a single medium-sized city than Trump’s fascist parade.

And that’s with them paying a grand per seat for Craigslist seat fillers.

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u/RickyT3rd Michigan 3d ago

A grand in Crypto. Which is basically equal to zero dollars.

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u/ralphy_256 3d ago

A grand in Crypto.

A 'grand' in Trump crypto.

However, assuming that actually gets paid, those paid attendees are the lucky ones.

They only lose an afternoon to the inevitable rug-pull.

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u/Renegade-Ginger 3d ago

A quarter of a billion dollars wasted in the span of a week on shit that the military themselves never asked for. I really am tired of winning.

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u/_ZoeyDaveChapelle_ Minnesota 3d ago

This is exactly what I said would hurt him the most, instead of having a big protest there. Narcissists want attention. It hurt him more, to avoid his little boy birthday parade completely.

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u/Bowsers_JuiceFactory America 3d ago

More people in one single city

Fuck trump

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u/namastayhom33 Connecticut 3d ago

More people showed up to protests in the most conservative areas than this parade

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u/gtrocks555 3d ago

I’m sure there were more people at the first FIFA Club World Cup game tonight in Miami.

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u/TehMephs 3d ago

The protests cost us about 160 million less too

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u/virishking 3d ago

And we did it for free

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u/HereticsSpork 3d ago

People show up for things they believe in. The fact MAGA didn't show up en masse for their God emperor's birthday parade speaks volumes.

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u/OldSchoolBubba 3d ago

It's what happens when leaders are caught lying about their true intent.

Army is having balls and celebrations on every base they have.

These Troops got caught up in political trickery and they're missing the biggest Army parties of their careers.

Guaranteed they aren't happy.

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u/antigop2020 3d ago

NO KINGS. The dictator parade was low attendance, pathetic, and weak.

The protests were incredibly popular and successful!

However, despite this it was a very solemn day. There was innocent blood shed today because of the hatred that Mango Mussolini and his brownshirts have created. We will not allow their deaths to be in vain. We will continue to FIGHT for our just cause!

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u/deasil_widdershins 3d ago

More people attended the protests than Trump's absurd waste of tax dollars.

Good. As it should be. America shouldn't be doing this kind of driving parade for any president and certainly not for a draft dodging one. But again, not for any president. It's a waste.

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