Trump’s birthday parade “cleverly” disguised as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the US Army was apparently a total bust. According to sources, less than 10,000 people attended. According to photographs, it appears to be a lot less than 10,000. Photos of Trump showed a miserable old man sitting in the rain. He looked upset too.
On the flip side, early numbers on the ‘No Kings Protests’ indicate more than 11,000,000 people attended to protest against Trump and his dick-tatorial policies. That is a bit less than 3.5% of the population of the United States. Statistically, that is actually a huge number of people.
It is also indicative of a growing movement that is strongly in opposition of the Trump administration. We have reached an inflection point. Dictators fear protest. They make every attempt to squash protests against them. Trump has tried, and failed, to threaten protesters in this country.
As a reminder to all of you, Trump wanted to shoot protesters during his first term. This was when he walked to St. John’s Church, in Washington DC, for a photo op with an upside down bible. While the shooting never happened, the DC Metropolitan Police did fire tear gas into a peaceful crowd.
General Mark Milley later apologized for his role in the photo op. Trump has been attacking him ever since. His divisive rhetoric has led to many incidences of violence up to, and including, the murder of a state legislator and her husband yesterday. Today, a man drove into a crowd of protesters, in Culpeper, VA. Of course, we cannot forget the vicious attack on Paul Pelosi in 2022. MAGAts celebrated the attack and ridiculed Mr. Pelosi for months afterwards.
This is the United States of America in the 21st century. We are hurtling towards a future that is, ironically, mired in the past.