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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe parade no one came to.
Found on FB @ Expand Dem Values in the House and Senate...
Trump finally got his dream. 6,000 soldiers. 128 tanks. A row of flags. A pathetic spectacle staged for TV optics. An audience you could count without taking off your shoes. At best, 3,000 people showed up.
At one point, he looked ready to cry. The tank treads squeaked, echoing down empty streets as the microphones went live and the cameras rolled. The grand moment arrived, but no one came.
Even his own people couldnt hide it. The cameras caught Pete Hegseth sitting next to him, scowling, visibly irritated to be there. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was yawning repeatedly. Kristi Noem sat there shaking her head like she was bored. It looked less like a celebration and more like a hostage tape.
Meanwhile, across the country, between 7 and 15 million people poured into the streets.
Over 2,100 protests unfolded across the nation under a simple banner: No Kings.
Most cities flooded with Americans who still understand we dont crown kings here.
While one man staged his fantasy parade, the nation turned its back. The speeches in the streets drowned out the tanks.
Trumps parade: no applause, no loyalty, no audience, just squeaky wheels echoing through empty bleachers and streets while the republic gathered elsewhere.
You cant manufacture reverence. You cant demand respect. You cant stage a parade big enough to cover the absence of legitimacy or your feeble attempt at power. Real power belongs to the people.
History will record both moments. Only one will be remembered with pride.
I saw a North Korean Kim Jong-un parade today. It was massive compared to Trumps small, quiet, empty birthday party. Poor little guy. He shouldve taken a page from the dictator and forced everyone to attend. It wouldve played better on TV. 🇺🇸

malaise
(285,292 posts)😀
Scrivener7
(55,995 posts)
boonecreek
(1,025 posts)and more like a hostage tape."
Demovictory9
(36,249 posts)NBachers
(18,612 posts)CTyankee
(66,371 posts)
niyad
(124,421 posts)ZDU
(431 posts)bwahahahahahaha
niyad
(124,421 posts)spanone
(139,258 posts)70sEraVet
(4,585 posts)$45,000,000 (cost of parade) divided by 3,000 (number of audience at parade) equals $15,000 (cost of parade on a per-person basis).
Where is Elon's DOGE when you need them?
Hugin
(36,223 posts)Get a few companies worth of troops on Craigs list and a half dozen tanks from Tractor Supply. Have them run around behind the reviewing stand after each pass and form up for another.
A Potemkin parade for a Potemkin President.
This is not a new idea, by the way. I believe Patton did it at least twice.
Justice matters.
(8,437 posts)A lot less "active" but still spewing his vile vomit from time to time.
rubbersole
(9,919 posts)...Malaria probably took her appearance money and split. Stephen Miller blamed immigrants and went to hang upside down in the basement. Hegseth drained his flask and headed out to "dinner" with Hannity. ICE Barbie and Lewandowski had plans. So Eric and Lara sang 'til it hurt. Which was shorter than tsf's attention span.
DonCoquixote
(13,894 posts)Trump may very well start doing that, and bring on king kim's penchant for mass executions.
paleotn
(20,491 posts)Robespierre called. Said he's got experience in this line of work if we need any assistance. Least he could do for those who inspired his nation's "de-kinging." We'll just need to dust of the old equipage.
dweller
(26,678 posts)
✌🏻


pwb
(12,273 posts)Were there any Bands?
paleotn
(20,491 posts)Amazon, Coinbase, and Palantir among others. Tech bros need to be put in their place by any and all means necessary.
Ohioboy
(3,680 posts)How many tanks and people in uniform do you have to see before you've seen them all?
And military hardware is not exactly pretty or fun.
Glad Chump and his toadies had a bad time.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,461 posts)Be interesting to see if he woke up with a seething rage for revenge.
The people have spoken.
Fiendish Thingy
(19,536 posts)While this is a good description of Trumps sparsely attended, extravagantly expensive vanity parade, it is just a FB post after all, and no one should take its estimate of the NO Kings turnout as anything approaching accurate.
With the exception of a few large cities like Chicago, turnout in most places was reported to be under 10,000- theres no way that adds up to 7 million, let alone 15 million, which would be close to 5 percent of the total US population, something that has never happened before, not even during the civil rights/Viet Nam era, when 5 percent would have been a much smaller number.
What is impressive about the No Kings turnout is that it was so widespread- a few thousand here, a few hundred there, even in deep red areas.
3Hotdogs
(14,251 posts)How much did it cost the gub'mint to get those and when will they ever be worn again?
And how many other historical uniforms were ordered, never to be worn agai --- Oh. stupid me. If we're unlucky, he might have a birthday next year and need another parade. Just take those old uniforms out of the closet.
mwooldri
(10,634 posts)... The Kings Birthday Parade aka Trooping the Colour. That was on Saturday too.
8,000 in the stands. Thousands more in the Mall and around Buck House. Unlike DC, it was a hot sunny day in London. And unlike the Trump family, folk in the Mountbatten-Windsor household have served in the military. And also unlike the event in DC, Trooping the Colour happens every year. And it's a smaller event, not involving military equipment... 2000 people and horses take part.
I was trying to see if there were any official figures for attendance at both events... Article says 3,000 people attended? A WH spokesperson claimed about 600,000 people. Organisers hopes for 20,000 people. Realistically it was a few thousand - and the weather was blamed in part for why the number was low. Meanwhile Trooping the Colour was sold out (tickets had to be bought). None of the main US broadcast network broadcast the Army event live in its entirety on their main channels, generally streaming the event on their rolling news channels. The BBC had Trooping the Colour live on their main channel.
The US Army's 250th birthday party could have been a great event. The chief problem with the event was who we now have in place as Commander in Chief. And you can't have that kind of event without the CiC.
All I can say is Lord Help us come July 4th, 2026.
ms liberty
(10,278 posts)Squeak...squeak...squeak
Dumba***s
chouchou
(1,972 posts)I'm not kidding. Wouldn't surprise me if he comes up with some ridiculous "Punishment"
NCDem47
(2,858 posts)It's all but guranteed.
Dave Id
(114 posts)"an audience you could count without taking off your shoes." Hahaha! Beautiful!
Justice matters.
(8,437 posts)8647'ed, or impeached and convicted, or dead ( from old age or dementia, or syphilis, or stroke... not murder ), the convicted felon and traitor will "force" everybody to be there.
mahina
(19,813 posts)Hassler
(4,383 posts)Caught Kegbreath slipping his flask out of his coat for a sip of courage.