The following article appeared in
Powerline on February 8th
By Paul
Mirengoff
Democrats are castigating President
Trump for wanting a military parade in Washington, D.C. Eleanor Holmes Norton
feigned outrage, saying:
President’s Trump’s desire to spend
millions of taxpayer dollars on a military parade in the style of authoritarian
leaders he admires would feed his ego and perhaps his base, rather than serve
any legitimate purpose or keep with any long-held American traditions.
Norton’s reference to “taxpayer
dollars” is amusing. For years, Norton
paid no District of Columbia income tax. When caught, she blamed her
husband and divorced him.
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Uh, yeah. This from a leftist like Norton? Feel free to laugh like Hell! |
Norton’s reference to authoritarian
leaders Trump supposedly admires is also amusing. The president picked up the
idea of a parade in France. Macron is hardly authoritarian. Perhaps Norton
confused Trump with Barack Obama, who admired
Turkey’s Erdogen and was on good terms with Cuba’s Castro and Venezuela’s
Chavez.
For his part, Sen Sheldon Whitehouse compared
Trump’s idea to a Soviet-style May Day parade. This is “not an image that we
much associate with the United States of America,” he sniffed.
But it turns out that in 2014, Sen.
Chuck Schumer called for a military parade, and New York Cit mayor Bill de
Blasio thought it was a fine idea. Debra
Heine of PJ Media recalls:
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Schumer and de Blasio |
[O]nly a few years ago, none other
than Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York’s Marxist Mayor Bill de
Blasio enthusiastically supported the idea of a “ticker tape” military parade
to honor those who fought in the war on terror.
“After all, these men risked their
lives to protect us,” Schumer said (forgetting to mention women — whoops!).
“They experienced terrible trial and tragedy along the way.”
According to this CBS New York
report, Schumer called for “a grand event at the Canyon of Heroes that would
include military brass, color guards, military bands, and fly-overs.”
“The brave men and women who have
selflessly served our nation with courage and skill in Iraq and Afghanistan
deserve a recognition for their sacrifice. I stand with Sen. Schumer in his
call for a parade to honor our veteran heroes, and New York City would be proud
to host this important event,” Mayor de Blasio proclaimed at the time. But that
was way back in 2014, when it was still okay to be associated with “flashy”
military parades.
Schumer and de Blasio were on to
something. Our troops have been fighting deadly terrorist forces pretty much
non-stop for almost 15 years. The results have been mixed, but in the main we
have been successful. We defeated al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan and ISIS in
Iraq and Syria.
Why shouldn’t our veteran heroes be
honored with a parade?
It wouldn’t be a victory parade
exactly. But neither was it a
victory parade when, in 1942, more than 30,000 men and women marched down
Fifth Avenue in New York City for Army Day Parade. Nor had we achieved victory
in 1953, when President Eisenhower’s inaugural parade included 22,000 military
service members and a cannon capable of firing a nuclear warhead, or in 1961
when President Kennedy’s featured dozens of missiles as well as soldiers and
sailors aboard Navy boats towed along Pennsylvania Avenue.
Reasonable people can differ about
whether we should hold a military parade. But it’s unreasonable to suggest that
there’s anything un-American about the idea. Chuck Schumer and Bill deBlasio
weren’t being un-American or unduly nationalistic/militaristic when they called
for a military parade, and neither is President Trump.
Ed. I don't believe Schumer OR de Blasio mentioned which nation's military they wanted to form the parade.
Ed. I don't believe Schumer OR de Blasio mentioned which nation's military they wanted to form the parade.
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