Friends, in less than 30 hours, the most wasteful, tacky, gaudy and profoundly tasteless Trump rally in the history of the Trump phenomenon will go forward, paid for with your nickle and mine, and disguised as an Independence Day celebration. Incredibly but truly, Trump has weaponized the 4th of July; for the sole purpose of swelling his own coffers and inflating his ego, which is much larger than his helium, be-diapered proxy — a contrasting prop as political theater of the absurd manifests in the streets of the nation’s capital.
So, to get in the mood to look at incongruous and discordant images, all striking a wrong and sinister note, but nevertheless rolling down the streets of Washington D.C. as we speak, and burning money with each rotation of the wheels, join me in a little song. (gives pitch note on harmonica)
Currently on E Street in DC….
About that whole politics-free Fourth of July… pic.twitter.com/5SKAFODa9T— Vivian Salama (@vmsalama) July 2, 2019
Trump when he was planning his ego parade – https://t.co/xMn2vFIkK5
— Facts Are Stubborn (@Mc_Whirly) July 2, 2019
Just left the Nats game, and we were greeted by Trump's tanks rolling through just outside the ballpark @fox5dc @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/O9VmDGFoMY
— Cole (@eloc8) July 3, 2019
— HawkGuy (@iowhawk) July 3, 2019
Now, who is paying for this Trump rally on steroids? And if you need to ask, you’re too densely naive to be reachable. This is a Trump rally/fundraiser, a ticketed political event, where taxpayers are footing the bill. This is flowering autocracy, despotism in bloom, and it is vintage Trump. Washington Post:
The National Park Service is diverting nearly $2.5 million in entrance and recreation fees primarily intended to improve parks across the country to cover costs associated with President Trump’s Independence Day celebration Thursday on the Mall, according to two individuals familiar with the arrangement.
The diverted park fees represent just a fraction of the extra costs the government faces as a result of the event, which will include displays of military hardware, flyovers by an array of jets including Air Force One, the deployment of tanks on the Mall and an extended pyrotechnics show. By comparison, according to former Park Service deputy director Denis P. Galvin, the entire Fourth of July celebration on the Mall typically costs the agency about $2 million. […]
“This is a breach of trust with the public,” Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in an email. “The public pays parks fees to fix national parks and for educational programs, not the president’s parade.”
The optics of the event are stellar theatrics, and include the Blue Angels, a B-2 batwinged stealth bomber, and F-22 Raptor jets. Nothing is too good for this bash. And if you’re looking to get a good seat — hey, sorry, buddy, Trump is comping his rich Republican donor friends with all of those. You got a problem with that?
Brendan Fischer, federal reform director for the Campaign Legal Center, said in an interview that while it may not violate federal ethics law to distribute limited tickets to the president’s speech to party contributors, “it certainly looks bad.”
“Limiting public access to a public monument on Independence Day in favor of wealthy donors just sends a signal that our political system favors the wealthy and well-connected,” he said.
This is Trump’s vision for America. Give them their bread and circus with one hand, steal ’em blind with the other. Now, in his greatest insult to date, he’s perverted the nation’s most sacred holiday into a fundraising rally, to throw red meat to his base and get fat checks from his cronies. I used to wonder what happened to Lindsey Graham and why Mitch McConnell puts up with this. No longer. I know why. Trump is no outsider. He is the ne plus ultra Republican. He’s not only one of them, he is their ideal. He is the persona to their shadow, the living breathing manifestation of the Republican id. And they all know it, wink wink, nudge nudge. Trouble is, this GOP in joke is at the expense of the American people.
$2.5 million dollars would buy quite the supply of tooth brushes, soap and decent bedding/clothing.
It’s hard to celebrate a country that cages and mistreats children in our names while the real criminals run the show…..
No thanks, I’ll be sitting this one out.
*hangs head in shame*
You filthy, detestable bastards!!!……look at what you have done to my country!!!
Your last line reminds me of the final shot of Planet of the Apes where Charlton Heston sees the Statue of Liberty and pounds the sand, screaming the same basic sentiment. I know how you both feel, believe me. But, as I said in the last paragraph: Trump is not some anomaly. He got where he is by GOP enabling and all his attitudes, racism, elitism (of which Dems are ironically accused of) keeping women down, all of it, are vintage GOP values. They talk the talk of small business and American values — it’s all shorthand for we’ve got ours and we’re keeping it, and screw people who aren’t to the manor born. Trump’s not only the Republicans’ president, he is their icon, their king.
The GOP was doing this kind of ticket distribution back around 1970 – my brother and a couple of friends got some “free tickets” to a speech Nixon was giving in the local city auditorium, and upon getting to the door they were told the place was full. They walked away, crossed the street, and watched as *other people* were allowed in.
That’s a good portrayal of what I feel…..
The damage Trump, et al are doing to America is astounding.
That’s why he’s got to go sooner rather than later. He’s doing damage that won’t show up right away, it never does in something as big as the federal government. But down the road there will be problems from what he’s doing today. Take this misappropriation of the parks budget. If that money is not replaced (and I think it should come out of Trump’s pocket) then repairs won’t be done and you’ll see everything from untrimmed hedges to broken toilets next year or the year after.These are the events that Trump is setting in motion as we speak. And this is only one department of the government. Since Trump has been in office, he and his mis-administration have thrown monkey wrenches in all governmental departments. The State Department under Rex Tillerson was gutted, essentially. And Tillerson was better than Pompeo. God knows what’s going on there now. The clean up of this mess is going to be monumental.
He doesn’t care where the money comes from. The National debt doesn’t bother him as he won’t be here. In February 2019, America had the biggest deficit in the history of the country of $234 billion. Spending since there has accelerated.
Stealing money from the national parks, after the stupid shutdown damaged them so…. I hate him and his sycophants so much. He is deplorable, Hillary Clinton should have never apologized for speaking the truth. This is the best, Ursula. I know where to come to find the best snarky humor concerning the wee enoki mushroom, in the white House. ??
There’s no lack of things to mock, unfortunately. Trump has a mushroom brain to match his dick.
You would think that the record breaking DoD budget under Trump ($700 billion ?) would have some to spare for the parade. But not in Trump’s Amerikkka.
He probably tried stealing from that first and got a lot of pushback that made him cave. So he picked the pocket of someone weaker, as per usual.
Agree. The Parks Department is benign and quiet, steal from them. Just like children of migrants are vulnerable and invisible, torment them, put them in kiddie concentration camps. That’s the philosophy.
Standard bully MO, Ursula. And I’ve always hated bullies.
Kiddie Koncentration Kamps……coincidence?
Isn’t this something? You and I paying for a ticketed political event? The content of his speech will be something to watch for here. If he really makes it into a campaign speech and I’m sure he will, he will be asked to pay for this horse and pony show. That was in the Washington Post article I linked to. Here’s the text:
Since federal appropriations law prohibits using public money for political purposes, Fischer noted, the issue will depend on what Trump says in his speech. If he refers to some of the 2020 presidential hopefuls, or polling related to the race, Trump’s reelection campaign may be required to reimburse the U.S. Treasury.
“The content of the event, and the nature of the event, is probably the determining factor,” as opposed to donors getting to see Trump up close, he said.
That tickets are being distributed by the RNC (none from the DNC) and the WH is enough, IMO. Actual non-partisan events would have them available from places like Congressional offices and someplace like DC City Hall.
Great point as usual PJ
The donors wish to remain anonymous. Would any sane person want to be publicly associated with this crazy bastard and his cabal of incompetentcy???
Before it’s over, they’ll be giving away gold circle tickets on the Metro.
Trump’s getting his military parade and we the people are paying for it. We don’t like it but it’s going to happen. Now, WHERE the hell is Pelosi, Schumer, Clyburn, Jefferies, Hoyer, et. al., the so called Democratic (Mis)Leaders, who should be speaking out against this travesty, in press conferences all over this country? Where are Democratic candidates who want to lead this country? Why aren’t they speaking out either as a group or wherever they are in the country today, yesterday, last week, tomorrow? Why are the Dems leaving it to TV pundits, journalists like yourself and other well meaning people to criticize this fake president and his political farce taking place tomorrow. This cowardly impotence from the Dems is getting SICKENING.
About these “press conferences” you so eagerly want, would you care to tell me who’s going to cover them?
The Dems can hold press conferences from now till Doomsday (which could be next week, the way things are going) but if the media doesn’t cover them as HEADLINE news (rather than buried in a single column on page 7, below the half-page “Fourth of July mattress sale” ad; or, in TV terms, stuck as a 20-second soundbite, just before the quarter-hour commercial break), they won’t make any more impact than just the folks you note.
Also, let’s not forget that this seems to be the current rule for the media: For every second of TV time or every half-inch of print column space that a Democrat gets, at least 1 full minute of TV time and one full print column (no less than 4 inches high) must be given to a Republican. (And the corollary seems to be that if Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets any time, then no other Democrat may receive any mention for the rest of the day.)
We also paid for the for the POS Mueller report, which cost a lot more.
The seizure of Manafort’s properties alone, raised more than the report cost. Thus an investigation into Dimwit Donny’s misdeeds has been more profitable than any of his businesses.
No steam tanks? We need steam tanks. They work better than these electronic tanks, more reliable.
Absolutely agree. The only good news I’ve heard about this clustertruck is that, so far, at least 3 major networks are refusing to carry it: https://twitter.com/NightlyPolitics/status/1146490457653821441
also, the tanks to used are considered “baby tanks” 😉
I’d rather spend 2.5mil building the wall or deporting illegal aliens. But, the anti-American liberals will never let that happen.
Thoughtful article. Indeed, The Dictator gets HIS parade.
Happy Birthday, America.