The Cheap, Shrill Patriotism of Trump's Fourth of July

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/trumps-fourth-of-july-is-a-cheap-version-of-patriotism/593248/

The Cheap, Shrill Patriotism of Trump’s Fourth of July
A show of military might to gratify the president’s ego—on Independence Day, no less—is yet another blow to republican virtue.
10:49 AM ET
Tom Nichols




If only this were more of a parody. In fact, President Trump’s plan to turn the Fourth of July into a gigantic ritual of reassurance for his spun-glass ego has now fully matured from a crackpot idea into an expensive, authoritarian, and truly weird hijacking of our most important national holiday. Armored vehicles have already been moved through the streets of the District, and we can only be relieved that there aren’t any Minuteman III nuclear-armed ICBMs near Washington or Trump would probably be ordering the Air Force to cart one of those down Constitution Avenue as well.

Instead of observing the Fourth like a normal president and engaging in some quiet ritual of civic virtue—swearing in new citizens, or visiting our troops, or perhaps just watching the fireworks and leaving his fellow citizens alone for a day—Trump has decided to order up a spectacle. Rather than honoring the day on which the Founders risked being hanged as traitors in order to proclaim a new republic, Trump will preside over a show of might meant to quiet the constant thunderclaps of insecurity that fill his every waking moment.

His choice of a military parade, replete with all kinds of weapons he does not understand, makes perfect sense. After being exiled by his own family to military school, Trump has repeatedly compensated for his subsequent evasion of military service by imagining himself as the reincarnation of George Patton. Other national leaders who ducked military service during Vietnam, from Dick Cheney to Bill Clinton, have usually had the good sense to be quiet about it. Even George W. Bush, who undertook the hazardous training of a fighter pilot, rarely drew attention to his careful choice to join the National Guard. When he showed up on an aircraft carrier swaggering around in a flight suit, more than a few of his admirers winced.

But only Trump, who continues to pontificate on his own courage and martial skill despite his obvious lack of both, is going to force the entire country to engage in a national exercise of play-pretend, with a pageant better suited for the leader of some tiny nation’s junta rather than the president of the United States. Trump will wear a suit and tie, but he will be acting out a role that calls for five-o’clock shadow, meaningless fruit salad on his chest, golden-fringed epaulettes the size of mops, and a peaked cap with a comically high crown throwing a shadow over his aviator sunglasses.

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This year, let us spare a thought for the men and women of the armed forces who must obey the order to march about in the oppressive heat of a Washington summer, and thank them for their service. And then, as better stewards of our republic than the current chief executive, let us say nothing further about Trump’s parade and consign any notice or memory of this embarrassing mess to the oblivion it deserves. It is the only proper response to the president’s insistence on this unpatriotic—and yes, un-American—ritual of personal self-glorification.