A few hours after it started, the event supposed to be a big salute to America from its armed forces and its favorite president is finally over. What did you think of it?
We’re gonna leave aside the usual Trump blunders, which this time were embodied by the president’s belief that America’s unified Army “manned the air, rammed the ramparts, and took over the airports” from the British way back in 1775.
We’re gonna focus more on what this 4th of July was supposed to be, and what it actually was.
Trump came up with the idea of having a military parade in D.C in 2017, after he attended the French Bastille Day celebration in Paris.
In France, the parade usually involves impressive military assets: around 9,000 soldiers, over 340 vehicles, a few hundred horses and around 80 aircraft of various shapes and sizes.
Naturally, Trump was impressed, but also pi**ed that his country, and the world’s most powerful military, lacks something as grandiose.
So he came up with the July 4th, 2019 parade. Or something that was supposed to be a parade, but turned out to be a lame display of an overinflated ego, with patriotic music that’s very popular in countries like Russia playing in the background.
The show prepared by Trump was nowhere near the magnitude of that in France. For a number of more or less important reasons, the Army was not allowed to parade its tanks of civilian tarmac, there were nowhere near as many soldiers in the streets and the flyovers conducted by different branches of the military seemed uncoordinated and out of place.
That’s because the U.S. military usually shows its might in theaters of war, and is not used to parade in sync on the capital's streets and in its skies.
For the Average Joe, the limited numbers of B-2s, F-35s and Ospreys flying in the sky probably looked amazing. That’s why they cheered and rejoiced.
But Trump’s parade was not only meant to please the Average Joe. It was also meant for the eyes of Average Ivan, Average Pierre, Average Hassan Rouhani.
Compare the Washington images with the ones taken on similar occasions in Paris, Moscow, or even Bucharest, and you'll see why all the other Average people were not impressed.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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