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I was worried about Trump’s Army parade — until I saw it
The Washington Post ^ | june 15, 2025 12:13 AM EDT | Max Boot

Posted on 06/15/2025 11:35:32 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

I arrived for the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade in Washington D.C. on a drizzly Saturday afternoon with considerable consternation and concern.

I knew that President Donald Trump had been agitating for such a spectacle since 2017, but that his first secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, had refused, because he viewed this as something that occurred in dictatorships like Russia and North Korea. In private, Mattis reportedly said he would rather “swallow acid” than have troops parading through the capital.

Now Trump has a far more accommodating, and far less qualified, secretary of defense in Pete Hegseth, thereby opening the door to the potential politicization of the U.S. armed forces. That danger has been on display in the past week, with Trump deploying the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles over the protests of local leaders and delivering a campaign-style speech at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, that produced disturbing video clips of 82nd Airborne troops cheering while he bashed Democrats and the media.

My worry was that Trump would turn the Army parade into just another political pageant. Those concerns only grew when I saw how many of the spectators were wearing MAGA hats or shirts.

But my apprehension began to melt away as soon as the music started to play and the soldiers began to march. Dear reader, I hope you do not think I am going soft on Trump if I tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed the entire parade.

As a military history nerd, I loved to see the soldiers marching by in period uniforms from the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. I thrilled to the flybys from historic aircraft...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: communistpropaganda
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To: stanne
I, on the other hand,, was well- educated by Dominican nuns.

Dittoes.

I can still see Sister Lois diagraming sentences on the blackboard.

41 posted on 06/15/2025 12:20:57 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of anger, hate and violence.)
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To: PoeToaster

>It was lightly attended and very low energy, to the point that Russian state media is making fun of it.

Well of course they would mock it, it is to be expected. No commie goose-stepping


42 posted on 06/15/2025 12:25:18 PM PDT by nevadapatriot
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They made you cut the crap


43 posted on 06/15/2025 12:26:50 PM PDT by stanne (Because they were mesmerized by Obama, the man for whom this was named, whose name they left out of )
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To: PoeToaster

If it was meant to impress it failed miserably. Very miserably. The troops looked sloppy and weak. If the truth hurts I am not sorry. Trump got his parade but it was a flop.

Monday needs to be a day of kicking ass and taking names if we have any military leadership left after the DEI destruction. Little girls in dreadlocks making heart signs from the turrets of tanks do not a military make. Sheesh! How embarrassing.


44 posted on 06/15/2025 12:30:32 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Donald John Trump. First man to be Elected to the Presidency THREE times since FDR.)
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To: philippa

nobody does fireworks better than PDJT I rewatch his Mount Rushmore videos every 4th.


45 posted on 06/15/2025 12:31:00 PM PDT by cnsmom
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To: stanne

They used yardsticks for their intended rear-end purpose.


46 posted on 06/15/2025 12:33:10 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democrats are the Party of anger, hate and violence.)
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To: PoeToaster

Seriously? I read that 250,000 were in attendance. Is that not true?


47 posted on 06/15/2025 12:34:46 PM PDT by Eli Kopter (ביחד ננצח הלב שלנו שבוי בעזה Together we will win, our heart is captive in Gaza.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They were too much on the corporal punishment thing but that’s a different subject


48 posted on 06/15/2025 12:34:53 PM PDT by stanne (Because they were mesmerized by Obama, the man for whom this was named, whose name they left out of )
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To: nevadapatriot; PoeToaster

PoeToaster is a known troll. A rabid leftist. I don’t understand why anyone responds to him/her/it.

Just wanted to give you a heads up. PoeToaster needs to ride the lightning.


49 posted on 06/15/2025 12:36:00 PM PDT by CrimsonTidegirl (Liverpool: 2025 Premier League Champions! )
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To: traderrob6

THANK YOU.

That leftist troll needs to be banned.


50 posted on 06/15/2025 12:36:52 PM PDT by CrimsonTidegirl (Liverpool: 2025 Premier League Champions! )
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To: CrimsonTidegirl

Hmm. I’m not afraid of knowing what the leftists are reading today in the Washington post.


51 posted on 06/15/2025 12:42:51 PM PDT by stanne (Because they were mesmerized by Obama, the man for whom this was named, whose name they left out of )
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To: E. Pluribus Unum; af_vet_1981; philippa; Rinnwald; HighSierra5; mass55th; bigbob; MayflowerMadam; ..
The parade, which marked the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Army, all started with George Washington being named commander in chief on June 16, 1775. In thanking the Continental Congress, he said with the utmost sincerity that he did not believe he was equal to the command and proceeded to the Boston siege of the British wondering if New Englanders would take orders from a Virginian.

When he arrived, he found the greatest confusion prevailing. He said the entrenchments had been prepared according to argumentative whim and indolent caprice. He was assaulted by a terrible stench, because camps had not been laid out in an ordered manner and no latrines had been dug. There was a smallpox epidemic raging in Boston, so his second official order was “No Person is to be allowed to go to Fresh-water pond a fishing or on any other occasion as there may be a danger of introducing the smallpox into the army,” In 1777 he ordered the entire army to be vaccinated. He was unable to get accurate returns of personnel, munitions, and supplies, until he dealt with many who considered themselves officers. That is when he found out the British had more soldiers than he did, and most of the gunpowder had been expended just before he arrived during the battle of Bunker Hill.

In October 1781 Washington had an army which assaulted Redoubt 10 at Yorktown as convincingly as the French professional army conquered Redoubt 9. The defenses could then be enfiladed and Cornwallis surrendered. Next came the treaty of Paris in 1783

52 posted on 06/15/2025 12:45:47 PM PDT by Retain Mike ( Sat Cong)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Now Trump has a far more accommodating, and far less qualified, secretary of defense in Pete Hegseth

Just more FAR LEFT BULL$HIT!

53 posted on 06/15/2025 12:47:49 PM PDT by VideoDoctor
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Max Boot is still an idiot.


54 posted on 06/15/2025 12:49:38 PM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

How the hell do you politicize a military where the CIC is the President is the United States. Define Politicize please.


55 posted on 06/15/2025 12:50:33 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: mairdie

“I suddenly found myself worrying about how long the marchers had marched in the older hot and scratchy uniforms and hard, unyielding boots
I really hope there aren’t a lot of blisters being tended to today.”


Who are you talking about, pompom girls or the US army?
Please, don’t be a arsehole like Max Boot.


56 posted on 06/15/2025 12:53:46 PM PDT by miniTAX
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To: lee martell
The light attendance was likely because rain was forecast. The media even said that there might be lightening.

And of course Dems were told to stay home.

It was the Military History of the Army...with boots on the ground....reminded me of when I was a child...we loved our parades. And I took my children every Year. Now every Town in the State has one at least once a year. I'm 80

57 posted on 06/15/2025 12:59:08 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: traderrob6

Thanks that was my first suspicion when l saw that post. FR has a handful of rat trolls who wander in and dump trash on occasion.


58 posted on 06/15/2025 1:00:12 PM PDT by iamgalt
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Max you’re still a quisling pos.Go away and picket in front of an ICE detention center.


59 posted on 06/15/2025 1:01:26 PM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Freedom is never free. It must be won rewon and jealously guarded.)
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To: Retain Mike

5th great grandfather’s Order Book from Valley Forge emphasizes cleanliness and health.

Apr 9th, 1778
Shape Up or Ship Out:
In addition to the orders of yesterday for the purpose of effecting Decency and Cleanliness of the men, the Commander-in-Chief informs the Sergts and Corpls of the Line and desires that it may be deeply impress’d upon them, that unless they exert themselves to the utmost, to bring about this desirable change (as far as the circumstances of Clothing will admit), and the same time by a conduct & example which ought to distinguish them from privates, endeavor to preserve Order, Regularity and Obedience, every Delinquent among, without exception, shall be Reduced to the Ranks & others appointed until good ones can be had to discharge their respective Duties properly.

It’s a Matter of Life and Death:
Nothing does, nor nothing can, contribute more to the health of the Soldiers than a Clean Camp, Clean Clothes, and Victuals well dressed. These, however, deeply involv’d in Rags an army may be, are to be effected by attention in the Officers, the Genl therefore calls on every Officer, from the Major Genl to the Corporal, for their exertion, hoping therefore, by the Blessing of God, to prevent such Numbers of Deaths which unfortunately has happened since we came to this ground, and see a stricter Attention to order than has heretofore been paid.


60 posted on 06/15/2025 1:02:13 PM PDT by mairdie
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