Was Trump's military parade a success?
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When I interviewed President Donald Trump a few days before his 2017 inauguration, I asked how he would convince America it is 'great again.' He told me: 'We're going to display our military. That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades.'
On Saturday, he put on that parade, which celebrated the U.S. Army's 250th birthday and is expected to cost taxpayers as much as $45 million. Did it send the message that Trump intended? I'm joined by my colleagues Molly Roberts and Erik Wemple to discuss the spectacle.
— Karen Tumulty, columnist
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Karen Tumulty Erik, you were at the parade. How was it? What were the crowds like? On TV, it actually seemed sort of subdued, not the spectacle we were given to expect.
Erik Wemple I had a blast just interviewing people. They were incredibly open, though one guy gave me quite the brush off when he learned that I was with The Post. But your impression was correct, imo.
Molly Roberts Should have said you were with One America News.
Erik Well! It's hard to predict their media allegiances. One Trump supporter told me he'd just listened to 'The Daily' by the New York Times.
Molly Yeah, it was hard to tell on TV whether people were there to celebrate Trump or the Army — obviously a big subject of debate re: the purpose of this whole thing, leading up to it. (I suppose I should be charitable and say the answer can be 'both'!)
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Karen The parade struck me as a pretty effective recruiting tool. And if you weren't listening to Fox News — as I was for a bit — not really all that much about the Birthday Boy.
Molly LOL yeah, I was watching Fox too, and I believe one commentator insisted it was the best way $45 million could be spent when it comes to recruiting. Unsure how you'd test that claim, but …
Erik Let's construct a data model!
Karen My dad was career Air Force, and I spent much of my childhood on bases, so I gotta admit: I love a flyover.
Molly Honestly, I didn't hate the history lesson either. I expected a lot more fanfare and a lot fewer facts.
Erik From where I was stationed, I didn't get the history lesson. There was a huge throng waiting to filter through security checkpoints and many people were still waiting well after it had started.
Molly Perhaps it was just Fox generously providing it, but I read some reporting that some of the info was being broadcast over loudspeakers as well. Loads of stuff about what conflicts a given regiment had been deployed to.
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Karen Let's talk about the context: Trump is trying to keep the military out of overseas engagements, even as he is using our troops on U.S. soil to subdue protests. So, much of the parade was about weapons.
Molly Yes, totally. It's hard not to view tanks rolling down the street a little differently when you're worried about violence breaking out in Los Angeles.
Erik 100 percent.
Karen Meanwhile, across the country on Saturday we saw 'No Kings' protests in practically every city and town. How much of an impression will those make?
Molly I would hope that people realize the parade celebrated an Army that helped liberate this country from the tyranny of an overreaching executive! And then see that the protests are about a similar problem.
Karen I was struck by the fact that so many of the 'No Kings' protesters were carrying American flags — clearly trying to wrest that patriotic imagery back from the MAGA movement.
Erik Earlier this year, there was an idea in the media that the resistance was dead or faltering. It wasn't, as these recent protests have shown.
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Karen So do we think this parade really sent the message that Trump had hoped?
Molly I guess it depends on what message he hoped for! If you take what he said to you all those years ago at face value, in my view the parade did better than I'd expected — the display itself really did seem to be about the U.S. Army, not the special birthday boy.
Erik Following on that point from Molly: You just cannot overestimate how many people in this country have connections of one sort or another to the military. Either they served or their parents did or they worked as a contractor.
Molly Yeah, it's my lifetime in the liberal D.C. bubble that has blinded me to the extent of people's connection to, and affection for, the military! So maybe that's what Trump hoped for … to teach people like me a little something about the country. 🤣
Karen And yet, so few of us actually serve these days in our all-volunteer military.
Molly But, to an extent, I worry Trump wanted to demonstrate, by tying the event to his birthday and with all that standing up and saluting from his post, that all this military might is at his disposal. Again, maybe I should be more charitable: He also could have been trying to demonstrate that military might to the rest of the world, as a deterrent or a negotiating card.
Karen Back to that interview, Trump told me that he would 'display our military' to convince the country that it was 'great again.' If that was the measure, I think it does help remind us that we are a country of great people, some of whom are willing to put their own lives on the line for the rest of us.
Molly Maybe it helped convince people that America is great … but, as usual with Trump, I'm stuck on the 'again' part.
Erik Well we do pay a lot for it! Remember when Madeleine Albright asked Colin Powell why we have such a great and expensive military if we don't use it? Perhaps Powell should have said simply that we could have a parade!
Molly Yes, as long as we're spending billions on defense, what's another $45 million to get those boys (and girls!) out of their barracks and in front of the American people?
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Karen At any rate, Trump has scratched that itch. He's had his parade. But his biggest tests as commander in chief are looming right ahead of him.
Molly Did he get that nifty birthday flag from the parachuting Golden Knights, by the way? May have missed that part. But with a souvenir like that, I think he can go home. No need for a third term.
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