Trump's hijacking of the Fourth of July just got a lot uglier
Trumps hijacking of the Fourth of July just got a lot uglier
By Greg Sargent
Opinion writer
July 3 at 10:39 AM
The authoritarian nationalist leader typically rewrites the story of the nation in his own image, in a very particular way. Our own homegrown authoritarian nationalist has proved particularly devoted to this fusion of national mythmaking and self-hagiography, often delivered in his own unique language of crass, gaudy spectacle.
The historians tell us that this is what authoritarian nationalists do. As Harvards Jill Lepore puts it, they replace history with tried-and-true fictions false tales of national decline at the hands of invented threats, melded to fictitious stories of renewed national greatness, engineered by the leader himself, who is both author of the fiction and its mythic hero.
This is what we will be seeing in one form or another on the Fourth of July, no matter what Trump says in his planned Independence Day speech from the Lincoln Memorial. The very act of taking over the proceedings in the manner he has cooked up itself accomplishes this feat.
New details are emerging about Trumps plans. The Post reports that the National Park Service will now divert millions of dollars previously earmarked to improve parks across the country to fund Trumps celebration on the Mall. ... Meanwhile, a White House official tells The Post that the plans include a plane from Air Force Ones fleet soaring overhead at precisely the moment that Trump takes the stage. Tanks will take part in the display.
Finally, the White House is handing out tickets to the event to GOP donors and political appointees. Passes are being distributed by the Republican National Committee and Trumps reelection campaign. ... As many critics have pointed out, by politicizing the Fourth of July so nakedly, Trump has inevitably transformed the celebration into a campaign event. It remains to be seen whether he will do so explicitly in his speech, but either way, that conversion has already been implicitly accomplished.
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Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs
doc03
(35,348 posts)PSPS
(13,601 posts)reACTIONary
(5,770 posts).... in the budget. And if the park service is using entrance fees to help fund the event, they may have been given discretionary control in the first place.
Skittles
(153,169 posts)Turbineguy
(37,343 posts)The government can claw back the costs from the RNC.
FakeNoose
(32,645 posts)... you can bet he'll find a way for at least some of it to end up in his own pocket. Does anybody wonder why he's been pushing this stupid parade for the last few months?
leftieNanner
(15,124 posts)Will be staying in his hotel while they are in town.
SCVDem
(5,103 posts)Thunder and lightning with hail.
Farmer-Rick
(10,185 posts)I served in the Navy for over 20 years and should be able to enjoy the holiday without Traitors taking it over for Putin.
Bet you there will be Russians crawling everywhere.
llmart
(15,540 posts)He's ruining this one for sure, but after we get rid of him and the GOP, we can take it back, start to undo all the misery he's caused and move forward.
I won't be watching it or any recaps. I will avoid it like the plague. Won't be hard for me since I pretty much adopted that attitude right after he stole the election.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)CloudWatcher
(1,849 posts)What's the action to take when he turns this into a partisan political rally? Who has jurisdiction to sue to recover the funds from the GOP and his campaign? What's the red line that divides a normal celebration from a campaign event?
I'm getting tired of taxes being used to pay for his re-election.
More_Cowbell
(2,191 posts)I'm not sure he'll ever pay his bills.