June 14th, the 79th birthday of Donald Trump and the 250th birthday of the US army. Oh, and the first “No Kings Day,” protests around the world to plead for a return to American democracy. I wrote this letter to explain myself.
“I wanted to explain what I (and the rest of my family) thinks, about why we wouldn’t have missed yesterday. It isn’t political at all. We all love America, and we believe that the current administration, under the disguise that they are the true patriots, doesn’t.
Trump went to a Bastille Day Parade in 2017, loving it so much that he proposed it for himself, a request that was turned down by Congress as an unnecessary and needless expense. Trump loved this French parade.
Bastille Day, 2017
I think he imagined something like this, with him overlooking a mighty display of power. It was a coincidence that the army’s deserved celebration was on his birthday, but he made no bones about making it about him. Paratroopers gave him a folded American flag, only given to family members of deceased.
Trump wanted to show might, but instead, he revealed weakness—in himself, not in the military. Senator John Kennedy, R. from Louisiana, whose politics I find disagreeable, had this to say (and I paraphrase)…”When you’re a lion everybody knows that you’re the lion. You don’t need to roar. When you walk through the jungle every animal knows who you are.”
By showcasing the military in ways only dictators do, Trump aligned himself with them, in essence revealing weakness. There were between 50,000 to 100,000 people at the parade. Estimates range from five to eight million at the protests.
Here are two photos from San Francisco:
Jason, Hawthorn, Hazel, Jennifer, Jadyne
Americans who agree with me, who believe what I believe, who feel that their voices are threatened, stood with me. I wanted to be a part of the “terrible resolve” described by Admiral Yamamoto.
I don’t watch the news as I used to, but what I read or see on TV, frightens me. It wasn’t a “happy protest day,” but there was no shortage of joy and camaraderie among the hundreds of people in El Cerrito, and from what I’ve seen online, around even red states like Idaho and Louisiana. An 8 year old girl carried a sign that read, ‘I deserve better.’ We all do.”