Trump's fake patriotism was sophomoric and insulting. So of course his voters loved it

[DonViejo]

Trump's Fourth of July celebration was soggy, lame and shamelessly ignorant. The Red Hat gargoyles ate it up

LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
JULY 6, 2019 12:00 PM (UTC)

Donald Trump’s Fourth of July speech was sophomoric. The fly-overs were anemic. The pairs of Bradley fighting vehicles and M1-A2 tanks were practically invisible. Everyone was soaked to the skin. They even played the hoary redneck anthem, “I’m Proud to Be an American.”

But the crowd loved it. Trump told them the Declaration of Independence was written on “parchment.” They clapped. He told them Lewis and Clark went on a “perilous expedition.” They cheered. He told them that “devotion to our founding ideals led American patriots to abolish the evils of slavery, secure civil rights and expand the blessings of liberty to all Americans.” They cheered some more. He reassured them that this country is “the most exceptional nation in the history of the world, and our nation is stronger today than it ever was before and it is its strongest now.” They cheered and waved flags and chanted “USA! USA! USA!” Trump stood there nodding his head, and they cheered and chanted some more.

Trump fed them this kind of red-meat faux patriotism for 47 minutes. He announced his anemic flyovers by each of the military branches: a cargo plane and two helicopters for the Coast Guard; two fighters and a B-2 bomber for the Air Force; two F-18’s and two F-35’s for the Navy; a helicopter and two V-22 Ospreys for the Marines; two attack helicopters for the Army. As a military band played the anthem for each of the military services and their aircraft flew by overhead, Trump stepped back from the microphone and attempted to stand at attention, but couldn’t keep his head from nodding along to the tune of the music.

The crowd loved every minute of it. They cheered. They clapped. They chanted “USA” over and over. They waved flags and held their children aloft, even though few of them could see the president behind his red, white and blue bunting, obscured from view by a gigantic covered stage for the television cameras that stood between him and most of the crowd.

The VIPs could see just fine — gathered close to the stage were Trump’s big Republican donors, his campaign workers, Republican congressmen and senators, lobbyists and think tank thinkers, every single Republican they could manage to dislodge from their backyard barbecues and country club holiday golf games. Chain link fences walled them off from the red-hat-wearing masses, who were held at bay by military police and parks department rangers and Secret Service officers.

more
https://www.salon.com/2019/07/06/trumps-fake-patriotism-was-sophomoric-and-insulting-so-of-course-his-voters-loved-it/

[TruckFump]

1. Yuck..