"Of course it's going to be political! In every city and state across this country, all celebrations will be peppered with political speeches. EACH AND EVERY ONE. Politicians cannot resist any crowd that gathers."
There's a difference between a politician speaking and a politician campaigning. The final test is: is it partisan? Politicians cannot hold partisan events on the taxpayer dime. Was Trump's July 4th stunt partisan? You betcha!
1, Access to the event was controlled by the RNC, which handed out tickets that allowed VIPs (friends, family members, big Republican donors, and some members of the press) access to an area with tents in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Zero tickets were given to the DNC for distribution - which would have been the very definition of bipartisanship.
2. Everyone else - including the MAGAts who dutifully flocked to the National Mall to hear their cult leader, were shut out. Chain link fences were erected to block access from a large distance to the VIP area. Based on the photos I've seen, I guess it was about the length of a football field between the fence and the Memorial, possibly more. The fences were even extended into the water to block people from wading or swimming around the barriers. You can Google pictures of this if you don't believe me. The Trump faithful were not able to get close enough to see the military vehicles he was using as props. This is unacceptable- this is public land.
This was essentially a private party for Trump, his friends, and the RNC. Democrats were not invited. Does that make it partisan? You bet. The public may have been in earshot, but there was a HUGE swath of land on the National Mall that they were not allowed to cross - why? We the taxpayers paid for this stunt, and that's OUR land. What right does Donald Trump have to restrict access to it for his private party? How can anyone justify what he just did? Are you so much in the tank for Trump that you will ignore EVERY instance of him screwing the American taxpayer for his own benefit? About $92 million in public funds for this debacle, including about $2.5 million stolen from the National Parks, all to feed his ego.
Oh, and his campaign still owes almost $10 million to DC for his inauguration, but all that money his people collected for the inauguration has disappeared. $190 million raised, much less than that spent - where did that money go? We don't know, because Trump's people won't tell us, Once a grifter, always a grifter
As far as military parades are concerned - we don't do Russian/Chinese/North Korean style parades here. The parades you referenced were to celebrate a victory, not to display our military might- they didn't include tanks and other armaments. NO president tired to inject himself into Independence Day other than Nixon, and that went really badly. Trump, being totally ignorant of history, decided it was a good idea. None of those parades happened on July 4th, when we celebrate the founding of our country and not the military. We have two national holidays that celebrate our military members - Memorial Day for those who gave their lives for us, and Veteran's Day, for those who served. Independence Day has one purpose and one purpose only - celebrating the birth of our nation. The military has nothing to do with it. I sincerely appreciate what our military does for us but not every national holiday is about them - and they know that.
I am often baffled by the ability of Trump supporters to justify EVERYTHING he does, even when it doesn't make sense. WTF ever happened to critical thing?? |