Good point from Harold Meyerson at the American Prospect:
… Initially, before Trump’s re-election, the festivities were to be chiefly confined to the National Mall. There were to be—are still to be, in fact—soldiers dressed in the garb and carrying the weapons used in all of the nation’s wars, beginning with the Revolution and concluding with I’m not sure what. (Afghanistan? Syria? Yemen? Will there be someone carrying a drone?) Some of those wars were clearly what we call “good wars”—the Civil War and World War II most particularly. (Of course, Pete Hegseth or somebody like him might decide that we need to celebrate the traitors of the Confederacy, too.)…
Does that mean that the passing troops should be applauded or booed depending on which war they’re dressed to recreate? Of course not, since none of the troops doing the recreating, and, for that matter, none of the long-departed troops who really fought those wars had any say in the decisions to start them, much less any say in how they were conducted…
A niche sect that calls itself the Freedom Road Socialist Organization is helping coordinate a demonstration for that day. According to the application for a permit that the coalition submitted to the National Park Service, “A military parade celebrating Trump and the Army is an outrageous insult to the American people. What really makes America great is its working people.”
This requires parsing. The Army’s initial plan was not for a parade at all. Trump’s plan in his first term for a procession of Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles chugging down Constitution Avenue was nixed because the damage such heavy vehicles would do to the road surface would have cost perhaps $90 million. But this time, a parade there will be, due to Trump’s infatuation with such displays, his hostility to D.C. (which apparently extends to its roads), and his thinking it a grand way to reflect and celebrate not so much our power but his. The soldiers doing the marching, however, will be drawn from the very same “working people” whom the protest coalition celebrates. And even if our military, particularly under Trump, may be sent to dubious battles, the soldiers will have no say in that. Besides, this is not only a display of our current prowess but a commemoration of our past deployments, which, as I noted above, have ranged from the heroic (World War II and the Civil War) to the disgraceful (Mexico, the tribes, the Philippines, Vietnam, Iraq, etc.). But in none of these conflicts, both the good and the evil, were the soldiers the ones who decided they should be there.
So any counterdemonstration on June 14 needs to target very carefully, as whatever they do will reflect on the broad American left. I’d suggest focusing on Trump’s potential to start god-awful conflicts. He’s already squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in drones and fighter jets in a senseless slap fight with the Houthis in Yemen. For that matter, he’s resurrected the domestic suppression we saw during World War I without there even being a war on which to hang it (hence, his malign misclassification of Venezuelan refugees and immigrants as an “invasion”). I’d suggest focusing not just on the president but also on the Fox network stooge he placed atop our military. And while there always are generals and admirals whose political beliefs descend straight from Attila’s, the fact is that most of our top officers tried to keep Trump from running amok during his first term, and some of them have yet to be purged today.
So how about: Army, sí; Trump, no! The Army can go either way; with Trump, there is no trajectory but down.
Hunter Gathers
No one, and I mean NO ONE, is going to give a solid shit about this.
It’ll be a blip on the 24/7 news cycle. Not even MAGA will care.
Trollhattan
This reminds me of Cartman’s big birthday party.
Another Scott
The Chihuahua on his ear bandage is a nice touch.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Baud
@Hunter Gathers:
I think so too.
Old School
I’m pretty sure no counter demonstration is booing parade units as they walk by. I doubt they will be at Trump’s parade.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
how cute, he thinks there is a such a thing as a good war.
Harrison Wesley
I’m going to a demonstration in Sarasota that evening. I don’t think I’ll make any effort to watch the birthday party. Though I might acknowledge it by having two scoops of ice cream for dessert.
Baud
@Old School:
I could see Republicans doing a false flag demonstration.
Ohio Mom
I’m planning on going to the Cincinnati protest. I think I’ll have fun, I always run into old friends at demonstrations.
I remain unconvinced protests do any good but not participating doesn’t do any good either.
bbleh
What IS it with these guys and their patterned-cloth fetish? Trump and flags, JD and sofas … fkin weird.
Trivia Man
If confederate uniforms are in the parade i give my permission to boo the shit out of them. Boo until you are hoarse. iDGAF tgat they “aren’t actual confederate soldiers.”
Lets be honest- confederate uniforms in the parade are unlikely but the chance isn’t 0%.
Harrison Wesley
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Trump doesn’t support good wars, just the best wars,the most beautiful bigliest wars.
Trivia Man
@Ohio Mom: and they can be fun. Nice to be reminded i am not alone.
TONYG
@Hunter Gathers: Although … if the cosplay “leftists” who are planning this demonstration turn out to be as tone deaf as they usually are, I expect the right-wing “news” media (Fox News, Newsman, etc.) to make a big fucking deal out of it.
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: Would have missed it. Taco Bell!!
bbleh
@Trivia Man: and indeed this is one reason they DO have a material practical effect. They build and reinforce a sense of community and solidarity, and people who attend are more likely to volunteer, donate, etc. AND if they get local media — and many do — the effect is multiplied manyfold.
BlueGuitarist
@Ohio Mom:
Protests help!
For example, new sociology journal article shows that participation in women’s marches in 2017 increased the number of county-level Indivisible groups, local donations to Democratic candidates, and local democratic vote share in the 2018 elections, controlling for other possible explanations.
Rather technical/academic, in a manner that seems like good faith efforts at rigorous test.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344389689_Turning_Protest_into_Power_How_the_Women's_March_Worked
Emily B.
Perhaps in part to avoid showing disrespect to our troops, Indivisible is very pointedly NOT holding a June 14 No Kings action in Washington, DC. As per the website:
“….real power isn’t staged in Washington. It rises up everywhere else.
“Instead of allowing this birthday parade to be the center of gravity, we will make action everywhere else the story of America that day: people coming together in communities across the country to reject strongman politics and corruption.”
The flagship march will be in Philadelphia, and as I’m sure many BJers know, there will be other actions throughout the country.
kindness
Individual grunts have a choice. I mean, doing a parade? No, there isn’t much wiggle room there. But when Hegseth orders them to shoot peaceful demonstrators (and that most likely will happen), then those grunts choice is to not obey an illegal order. It’d be a terrible choice they’d have to make as they’d probably be dishonorably discharged for refusing that order. Time will tell.
Eric S.
@Hunter Gathers: I see it differently. MAGA et al is likely to turn this into “they spit on the troops” meme. Any protest needs to very clearly, visually and orally, be anti-Trump.
brendancalling
Clicked the link, doesn’t work.
BlueGuitarist
In addition to no kings demonstrations June 14, there are about 50 Unite for Veterans demonstrations this Friday, d-day, June 6.
https://www.mobilize.us/map/?date=2025-06-06T04%3A00%3A00.000Z&lat=39.82633685288592&lon=-76.72834396362305&q=Unite%20for%20Veterans
Jeffro
We’re having a “No Kings”-ish cookout w/ friends that afternoon…Harvard t-shirts and tacos required, Canadian flags optional!
Another Scott
@Elizabelle: “POLLO” on his sippy cup, also too.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Trollhattan
Surprised it took this long to pop up on his “Enemies to smite” list.
For the curious, interactive construction map showing active and completed components. Mr. Duffy seems not to understand how things get built, no doubt a required qualification for the job.
chemiclord
@Hunter Gathers: Oh no, the aggressively online left will care. And they are going to be very mad if the appearances aren’t exactly what they want Dems to do.
Of course, if the Dems do follow their instructions, then it’ll still suck and they did it wrong retroactively, but ya know… that’s how it goes.
Harrison Wesley
@chemiclord: Very tough to score when the goalposts are mounted on rocket sleds.
SW
Civilian control of the military means that we are obligated to separate the war from the warrior. Politicians, mostly old men, are responsible for wars.
TB Hill
@kindness: Logically, yes, they have a choice.
Legally, UCMJ obligates them NOT to obey unlawful orders.
Sure Lurkalot
@Eric S.:
I see it differently. MAGA et al is likely to turn this into “they spit on the troops” meme. Any protest needs to very clearly, visually and orally, be anti-Trump.
How about signs protesting Trump’s Veterans Administration budget cuts? As outlined in this ProPublica article (https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-veterans-affairs-budget-staff-cuts-jeopardize-cancer-research), no one “spits on the troops” quite like Trump, whom he considers “suckers” and “losers”.
Sure Lurkalot
@Eric S.:
How about signs protesting Trump’s Veterans Administration budget cuts? As outlined in this ProPublica article (https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-veterans-affairs-budget-staff-cuts-jeopardize-cancer-research), no one “spits on the troops” quite like Trump, whom he considers “suckers” and “losers”.
mr perfect
That cartoon gives me hope that this happens at the parade:
I wonder how alpha males and macho men Rouge Don and Makeup Pete would react to such an event.
chemiclord
@Ohio Mom: Protests don’t do any good on their own. That’s where our political left often fails; they do all the performative stuff, but then walk away when its time to actually put a coalition together that can take advantage of the emotions stirred by the protests.
NeenerNeener
Check out his flag pin in the cartoon…it’s the Russian flag.
Baud
@NeenerNeener:
Heh.
Matt McIrvin
@Old School: The counter-demonstrations I’ve heard of are not in DC at all.
gvg
@Eric S.: How about signs protesting cuts to the VA accross the street from protests listing the costs of the parade? And I bet there have been cuts to active duty benefits and care, plus longer deployments.
Signs about careless handling of classified info puts soldiers lives at risk? Signs about ordinary soldiers going to jail for mishandling or stealing classified docs contrasted with Trump and company getting off?
cain
Broken roads and senators and congresscritters not able to go to work should be fun.
JoyceH
Maybe some sneaky Petes could make themselves online MAGA personas and go in all the MAGA sites to spread rumors that big mean Antifa will be out in force for the parade, make the Trumpies scared to attend the parade. (The GOP base is terrified of big cities to start with.) Small turnout would be the goal. If the Trump militias show up armed for war, and there’s no one to battle, that would also be an interesting visual.
Also had a thought about the road destruction. It’s going to take months to repair. Of course Trump doesn’t care, he choppers in and out and hates the residents of DC anyway. It’ll be a bummer for the rank and file staff but they ought to be inconvenienced for working for the toxic toad. And I wonder if the Trump cult will be coming to DC as tourists now that their idol is back? Finding your way around DC is difficult for amateurs at the best of times – add road repair detours, and who knows where they’ll end up?
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Good, good that she’s stepping up. It’s important.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Quaker in a Basement
If I was asked, I’d recommend an alt-parade, maybe the day before Trump’s parade or at the same time but a faraway location. My parade would be a parody of the big event. Maybe some cardboard tanks or a batallion of sling-shotters. And yes, tacos.
Harrison Wesley
No Kings demo in Sarasota includes a Pride celebration. That will get Governor Pudding Molester mightily exercised
Elizabelle
@NeenerNeener: And flies around Trump, but not the general or the marching tacos.
Fly infested.
Professor Bigfoot
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: There’s no such thing as a “good” war.
But there IS such a thing as a just war.
As the Ukrainians are fighting right now.
As the United States Colored Troops fought back then.
prostratedragon
Tacos should make the Y M C A arm signs.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I and many others in my age group – old farts, served during Vietnam. Way, way too many went to Vietnam and were carried home in a box. I use the VA and go rather regularly and I have sat with quite a few of the folks that did go and came back. They still carry the scars, physical and more than a few mentally. I’ve been using the VA for quite a long time and I’ve never met another vet anywhere near my age who does not remember. Even if they were like me and were sent to somewhere else. I also know more than a few that joined so as not to get that letter, because we all took our draft physical at 18 + one or two months. I joined because I could no longer take the pressure of coming home one day hoping that letter hadn’t shown up. I have a good buddy who served in the Marines and went to Vietnam. When he arrived in country the sergeant who they reported to asked if anyone could type. He raised his hand and ended up being a company clerk for his year in country.
And at least in the times within say at least 20-25 years after WWII, war was not off the minds of many men of under say that 25 year old mark. We had Korea, then of course Vietnam. War seemed to be a part of, and considered by some, to be an actual necessity of life.
It’s not.
Ohio Mom
Regardless of his many or how few MAGA show up in DC for Trump’s parade, he’ll swear it was the biggest crowd ever, just like he did for the sparse crowd at his first inauguration.
I’m betting the sum total of protestors throughout the country will outnumber his crowd.
Omnes Omnibus
@prostratedragon: After all the time I spent learning the Hot To Go dance? I am not going back to that old one.
Ruckus
@Trivia Man:
I was stationed on a ship home ported in Charleston SC for 2 years while in the USN and believe me that many locals that I met had not forgotten the Civil War. (Which was anything but civil.) And I’m pretty sure that some of them were not on the winning side of the aisle.
prostratedragon
Elsewhere, Tiananmen Massacre anniversary.
prostratedragon
@Omnes Omnibus: Normally I’d agree wholeheartedly, being actually of that generation, but this is a special circumstance.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: When I was in OCS, a couple of my classmates went up to Atlanta and stopped at an old bar. They were told it was pre-Civil War. In an innocent tone, they asked if Sherman had stopped there for matches. They were asked to leave.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Sherman never went thru Alabama. I think we can all agree that was a regrettable oversight on his part.
Ksmiami06
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: the biggest mistake of the civil war was not letting Sherman finish the job
Trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
Heh, love it. Big Wowah of Nawthun Aggression vibes.
Melancholy Jaques
@Omnes Omnibus:
I believe everything about that story except the innocent tone.
Tehanu
@Professor Bigfoot:
Yes.
prostratedragon
Sinners vibe — you have to invite them in:
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Professor Bigfoot:
yes, that. There are necessary wars.. But I am sure the Ukrainians would rather not have to fight theirs.
I’ve also heard the Russian have convinced themselves that the war is a “good” war.
@Ruckus:
My father had the same thing, decided to get it over with and tried to join, was told no, he had a wife and a kid.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Omnes Omnibus: That reminds me, I was reading about John Bell Hood, one of the Confederate Commanders during the Atlanta campaign. Was naming an army base of that asshole anything but pure snark on the Army’s part? Hood really should have been an SS officer in WW2 with his special combination of racism and complete disregard for the lives of his own men.
BlueGuitarist
@prostratedragon:
Thanks for the update on these shameful goons.
Found this, featuring the Good Neighbor
https://www.kgun9.com/news/community-inspired-journalism/southside-news/southside-neighbors-confront-tep-impersonators-suspected-immigration-enforcement-officers
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
They were lucky they weren’t carried outside – against their will and every other piece of paper they owned and used for kindling. Or cattle food. Now Atlanta is a tad less civil war orientated than much of the rest of the south but still, I imagine many of the people there today still haven’t gotten over the civil war.
Ruckus
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I never heard anything like that. Maybe it was the year because near the end a lot was different than early on. Took my draft physical as I said, shortly after turning 18 and enlisted about 2 years later. I could not go home another day – expecting that letter to be there. Because I was SURE I’d end up in Vietnam as a coffin filler.
Omnes Omnibus
@Melancholy Jaques: How about “innocent” tone?
NeenerNeener
@prostratedragon: Somebody on Next Door is complaining about guys with no identifying insignias knocking on doors around this area of Lynchburg, VA, claiming to be doing energy audits. The assumption is that they’re casing our houses for future robberies, but since most of the work crews for house builds around here are hispanic they could be “ICE”, as well. If they raid this neighborhood the progress on half a dozen houses will stop dead just on my street.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: The we’re both prior service NCOs from a Ranger battalion. They could handle themselves. They were doing this.
KenK
@kindness: if only the Ohio National Guard would have been as introspective on May 4, 1970.
Ruckus
@BlueGuitarist:
There are none near me or close enough for me to attend. I can drive but really prefer not to any longer so it’s Metro train accessible or close to one. And I don’t see one anywhere near.
@Sure Lurkalot:
I get my healthcare from the VA – I EARNED IT.
If shitforbrains screws up the VA I imagine that there will be A LOT OF PISSED OFF VETS. I know of one very personally….. I’d bet I actually know of quite a few others. And I’d also bet that some of them voted for him. Error upon error does not often bring smiles from the victims.
This is not the first time he’s fucked with the VA but it’s very likely that he has zero memory of much of anything prior to his last meal and that isn’t ever going to get better.
Joe Biden is 82 and shitforbrains is 78 – and moving into senile at seemingly the speed of light. Age is an issue for many as we get up there in those year things, but some seem to head into old fartitus at light speed and others take a slow walk. shitforbrains seems to me to be in the first category – light speed. He never does anything half ass – it’s always ALL ASS for him.
sab
@Emily B.: Wow. There are four very near me.