Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.
– Juvenal
Despite the title, I don’t want this post to be all about Donald Trump. The truth of the matter is all politicians love superficial patriotism. It’s why they all claim to care deeply about the troops, yet allow veterans to wait weeks or months to see a doctor after sending them to fight pointless imperial overseas wars based on fabrications. All these disingenuous politicians are total frauds, but they tend sell the same destructive policies in different ways. As such, it’s important to understand how they manipulate and divide us.
First and foremost, standing for the National Anthem, saluting the flag or cheering a military parade is not “supporting the troops.” If you think such trivial and superficial acts represent anything beyond lazy surface level virtue signaling you’re a huge part of the problem. Your thoughtlessness and fake patriotism is exactly why our young kids are being sent off to die and murder other young kids halfway across the world to pad the coffers of plutocrats and the egos of empire obsessed sociopaths in D.C. Not only are such acts not patriotism, your phony gestures help grease the wheels of global death and destruction.
Having a strong military for national defense is a necessary thing, but the purpose of such a force should always and in all circumstances be defense. A major problem arises when you have a global empire coupled with the strongest military on earth. Such a situation results in an overwhelming temptation to use this power for offensive aggression, and that’s exactly what our so-called “elites” have used the U.S. military for throughout the 21st century. The attacks of September 11, 2001 merely provided an excuse for the most twisted people in Washington D.C. to live out their most deranged power fantasies. George W. Bush got the ball rolling, Barack Obama stuck to the script, albeit with a more slick sales pitch, and Donald Trump’s set to take us to the inevitable end, which is imperial collapse.
In many ways, Donald Trump is the ideal President to usher in the end of U.S. empire. While the more gullible slice of his support base credulously believed he’d “Make America Great Again,” his more jaded and realistic voters merely hoped he’d just burn the whole thing down, metaphorically speaking. He needed a combination of these two groups to win, so it’s very important to not think of his voters as a monolithic entity. Many of them don’t even like Trump, they just wanted to throw a grenade into this corrupt system and knew he was the best of the two candidates to do it. In many ways, they were correct.
They weren’t correct because Trump meant anything he said on the campaign trail. He clearly didn’t. It’s obvious Trump loves Wall Street, after all, the first thing he did was surround himself with former Goldman Sachs partners. On foreign policy, he’s embraced some of the most barbaric and despotic regimes on earth, such as Saudi Arabia, with the enthusiasm of a little boy with a grade school crush, and appears disturbingly eager to start a war with Iran. That said, Trump’s Presidency’s may still lead to the effect desired by many of his more cynical voters.
For example, things really are coming apart at the seams, largely due to the transparently hysterical and demented reaction of neocons and neoliberals to his election. This faux “resistance” movement is such an obvious superficial sham it’s caused everyone with a somewhat functioning brain to recognize that most of the dominant aspects of this culture are shams. This realization is becoming harder and harder to deny, especially for younger generations. Which brings me to the next issue. Trump’s military parade.
By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard about Trump’s desire for a grand military parade. This longing was apparently inspired by a trip to that paragon of global military might, France, where he witnessed such a dazzling performance it committed him to bring such a spectacle back home.
We leaned that:
Surrounded by the military’s highest-ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Trump’s seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.
“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.”
The inspiration for Trump’s push is last year’s Bastille Day celebration in Paris, which the president attended as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron. Trump was awestruck by the tableau of uniformed French troops marching down Avenue des Champs-Elysees with military tanks, armored vehicles, gun trucks and carriers — complete with fighter jets flying over the Arc de Triomphe and painting the sky with streaks of blue, white and red smoke for the colors of the French flag.
Aboard Air Force One en route home from Paris in July, aides said Trump told them that he was dazzled by the French display and that he wanted one at home.
It was still on his mind two months later when he met with Macron on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” Trump told reporters. “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.”
Seated next to Macron, Trump added: “We’re going to have to try to top it.”
If you think this sounds like the thought process of a two-year old, you’re right, but there’s more to it. For all his flaws, Trump is actually a very talented manipulator and salesman. This is why I was one of the first people to say we needed to take Trump seriously back in 2015 when most others were mocking him. He understands the ancient concept of “bread and circuses” as well as anyone, and he knows there’s no bigger slobbering circus than a big military parade.
Superficial patriotism is the most attractive form of patriotism for any politician. It encourages spectacle without substance. Bluster without tangible success. Chest-thumping without sacrifice. Any big military parade in the U.S. will be a definitive sign of desperate insecurity and evidence that the American empire is expiring.
Hate to break it to you, but the rest of the world will see a U.S. military parade and immediately think, oh, the U.S. is even weaker than we thought. Meanwhile, the same social media Trump celebrities we already knew had fascist tendencies will enthusiastically cheer such a spectacle and attempt to divide the public over it. Please don’t fall for such nonsense.
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Michael Krieger
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But Michael, we need to honor our “heroes”!!
Don’t you know that everyone who wears a uniform is a “hero”?!
My God, I’m so sick of this POS excuse for a country.
Then leave fuck hole.
OUT OUT OUT
Guns and butter, bread and circuses, left and right, black and white, red and blue, debit and credit, kneeling and standing, war and peace, warming and cooling, God and Satan, Trump and Hillary, men, women, and queers.
“Can’t we all just get along?” Not a fucking chance.
Very good.
Will be sending your work to PCR.org so that he might reprint.
I agree with the last two paragraphs, the rest is just sensationalized opinion.
The silly machinations and pettiness of a dying nation are sad.
Agree with you 100%,. As with many other phenomena, the State manipulates ‘patriotism’ to its advantage, using it to justify/rationalise all manner of imperial ambitions. See this little post I wrote: https://medium.com/@stevebull_4168/patriotism-and-manipulation-of-it-by-the-state-8ee185bc39fa
Trump’s election signified the end of the Liberal Tweedledum and Conservative Tweedledee era. What comes next?
https://therulingclassobserver.com/2016/11/12/twilight-of-tweedledum-and-tweedledee/
The only ones that can stop the circus are veterans. Anybody else tries, and they will be deemed “unpatriotic.” It’s the same reason that no one can stop the growth of the DoD, despite the fact that it wastes more money than all other parts of governement combiuedn, except maybe healthcare.
Ironically, increasing the size of the DoD only gurantees that we fight in more battles and end up with more wounded kids coming home.
Ease up Michael. We have parades featuring The Military and much of it’s assorted hardware all the time. There are also numerous Military Ceremonies of all sorts at every Military Installation throughout the year. I have enjoyed reading most of your material as you have, like me, a different view on most of the current events then what you’re told to have by the MSM but you’re way off the mark here.
Tell you what, William. When and if the US Military ever gets its shit together at the VA, then I am all for a parade celebrating the fact that the US Military finally got its shit together at the VA.
Until that happens, you’re the one who is “way off the mark here”.
Yet another duped smear-merchant who has nothing but sweeping false generalizations about the nature of Trump’s motives and that of his supporters.
Trump wouldn’t have spent $60 million + of HIS own money AND lowered his net worth by over 1 billion – if he were not patriotic and didn’t love his country (not the author’s country) with his entire heart.
We’ve had military parades throughout U.S. history, and having them DOES inspire. IF there ever was a time when a few doses of that is needed, that time is NOW. Not 10 years from now (when it might be too late) – NOW.
In addition, our military is having issues with recruitment of high-caliber personnel – something caused by Obama’s weakening of the military. The documentation on this need is clear and indisputable. Again, parades can and DO inspire patriotism and recruitment.
That’s not fake. It’s actually REAL life – REAL world – documented as a proven success over time. The same is true of quality TV commercials and print / online advertisements. Patriotic recruiting WORKS. REAL world – not fake.
Trump sees (and realizes) the absolutely CRITICAL need for this – and the FACT that he does speaks to his INDISPUTABLE patriotism.
Sadly, the author doesn’t have an ounce of the same in his bones.
Bootus is correct, propaganda does create shallow patriotism, just watch the military ads on the NFL it’s a fact, it works. Imperialism in the US is defined as patriotic, don’t pay any mind to the murder, rape and pillage at the benefit of global corporate greed.
We need another military parade to garner more yellow ribbon support because we don’t already have the largest offensive (sorry, defensive) budget in the whole of the world. Oh that’s right we have to keep fighting the “War on Terror “ or was that more in line with keeping Raytheon stocks at all time highs.
Bootus is the right wing version of ridged belief systems supported by the facts that align with his/her ridged beliefs, just like the left does to support their facts of Russian meddling, etc.
The military is having trouble with recruiting not because veterans have been used and abused for close to the last two decades but because Obama bad, Republican good.
Bootus it’s your right and freedom to believe what you want but I would rather have my own mind then one which was prescribed to me so I could be comforted by my team.
Bootus (Puitn?), fixed your comment:
Trump didn’t spend HIS own money (just lent it to his campaign) AND raised his net worth by over 1 billion through his polices such as the tax cut because he is not patriotic
>>>In addition, our military is having issues with recruitment of high-caliber personnel<<<
Gee Bootus, I wonder why that is? Maybe they don't relish risking death so that they can guard poppy fields in Afghanistan, engage in rotating loyalties to Shia, Sunnis, and Kurds in Iraq, or stand shoulder to shoulder with neo-Nazis in the Ukraine. Oh, and there's a new risk of deployment in Syria, where one can arm and train ISIS fighters in the name of freedom. What's not to like?
After an entire generation of perpetual war, why would kids who can't even remember pre-war USA sign up for any of this? To even consider it smacks of desperation and a lack of any other feasible options.
Oh, and based on your rhetoric I will assume you have already contacted your local recruiter to enlist. I wouldn't like to think of someone with your level of conviction to be a hypocrite!
pre-war USA really? when was the US not at war is the better question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_United_States#21st_century_wars
“Trump sees (and realizes) the absolutely CRITICAL need for this”
Specifically what is the “CRITICAL need”, Bootus ?
> Bluster without tangible success.
Try rewriting that and include ISIS. Oh my that invalidates your point!
I do think GWB should be in a cage.
>Please don’t fall for such nonsense.
We paid for that shiny killing shit and displaying it is of no big deal. Nobody but you and Obama gives a shit what others think about our spectacle. Is it fun to trash your country or do you live somewhere else?
>Chest-thumping without sacrifice.
Yes, yes no veterans or families of service members will attend! /s
>Any big military parade in the U.S. will be a definitive sign of desperate insecurity and evidence that the American empire is expiring.
Repeat it enough times and the lowest hanging fruit will believe your hollow words.
You are so far off base you probably cannot ever come home. Very sad.
Be sure to ask your doctor about Trump derangement syndrome.
>Try rewriting that and include ISIS. Oh my that invalidates your point!
Wait, are you really saying that the arming/training/funding of ISIS should be chalked up as a .mil success? Maybe we could have an ISIS float in the parade to trumpet this achievement!