Trump should be embarrassed over this
Saturday wasn’t the happy birthday Donald Trump planned. The “No Kings” protests drew big crowds across the country. While protests in Minnesota were marred by the politically motivated murder of lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and grave injuries to another lawmaker John Hoffman and his wife, events in other cities moved forward as planned. The Washington Post reported on events in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Nashville, Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. WaPo reported that despite steady rain in New York, protestors filled seven blocks of Fifth Avenue, in direct contrast to Donald Trump’s self-serving birthday celebration, which was practically empty even though rain wasn’t expected until later.
Donald Trump wasted $40+ million dollars of taxpayer money on his parade to allegedly honor the Army’s 250th birthday. Think about that. Millions wasted on this bullshit while the Republican House prepares to kick millions off insurance and food aid to give tax cuts to the rich. Regardless of what he claims, Trump planned and held this event for his 79th birthday. His fans apparently weren’t interested in celebrating with him, as the few who attended left early. While corporate media focused on soldiers, tanks, aircraft, and other military vehicles that were part of the parade, others posted photos to social media, showing the empty bleachers and small crowd. Daily Beast had a field day with the event, reporting that Melania Trump appeared to doze off several times, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio couldn’t stop yawning. White House officials, not surprisingly, decided to lie about the crowd size
Communications Director Steve Cheung wrote on X: “Amazing. Despite the threat of rain, over 250,000 patriots showed up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the @USArmy. God Bless the USA!” Vaughan Hilyard told MSNBC hosts: “That’s just not accurate, that’s not even close to accurate.” Do we expect anything from this administration other than lies? They can lie all they want, but we know the truth. Esquire’s Charles Pierce went to the parade and said, “everything about it was wrong.” Pierce recalled parades from his youth, parades that he said were fun. “And then there was this leaden spectacle on Saturday, June 14.” Pierce said that he has never experienced “…such a joyless, lifeless, and sterile mass event in my entire life.” He described the scene: “Grim-faced soldiers, marching past half-empty grandstands, many of them obviously wanting to be somewhere else. No bands, little bunting, just piped-in rock music and MAGA hats.” Pierce, instead, called the No Kings marches the “true parades.”
The No Kings marches sent a message to Donald Trump, whether he wanted to hear the message or not. He cannot ignore how the people of this country feel about him and his authoritarian policies. Even as he watched his policies rejected by the people, the Courts continued to strike down his executive orders, the most important of which involves Trump’s attempts to change voting rules. The Courts reminded Trump that states have the right to alter election procedures, not the White House. Once again, Trump finds that #NoKings is and always will be the way of the United States.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years