Noting that the price tag of Trump's self-glorifying military parade is more than 45 million, and linking the parade to his militarized actions in Los Angeles, Jay Kuo concludes:
"Trump is militarizing the U.S."
#Trump #LosAngeles #parade #military
/1
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/trump-birthday-military-parade
"In all our history, there has never been a parade such as the one planned for June 14, for no apparent reason other than to satisfy the ego of the Commander-in-Chief and to project might and firepower to intimidate enemies, both abroad and at home. …
Trump wants the world, including his detractors here in the U.S., to understand how much firepower is at his disposal, and he wants to 'project strength' and 'respect for the military.'”
"This isn’t law and order; it’s fear and control. This is what happens when a failed reality star is handed the nuclear codes and decides he wants to play dictator. Trump isn’t restoring peace. He’s rehearsing repression. And it’s only the beginning.
We’re entering a very dark chapter in American history, one where the presidency is weaponized not just rhetorically, but militarily. "
~Michael Cohen
#Trump #LosAngeles #parade #military
/3
https://www.meidasplus.com/p/trumps-dress-rehearsal-for-tyranny
"In recent days, in a series of increasingly belligerent and menacing interviews, [Tom Homan has] appeared in either faux military uniforms or, in most cases, civilian garb clearly meant to appear like military-style fatigues along with a ever-changing run of camo or olive drab baseball caps."
~ Josh Marshall
#Trump #Homan #LosAngeles #parade #military
/4
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/why-is-tom-homan-going-full-fidel
"Today President Donald J. Trump made it clear that the provocations he and his administration are escalating in Los Angeles and now elsewhere are using the issue of immigration to suppress dissent entirely."
~ Heather Cox Richardson
"In the Oval Office today, Trump said of the military parade scheduled for this Saturday: 'If there’s any protester wants to come out, they will be met with very big force…. For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force.'"
"At this point in Donald Trump’s second term, we are no longer watching a presidency. We are watching a hostile occupation of American democracy by a man who treats dissent as treason, and the military (for which he has shown nothing but contempt) as his personal security detail."
~ Mark Mansour
#Trump #LosAngeles #parade #military
/7
https://mmansour.substack.com/p/a-naked-excuse-for-martial-law
"While manufacturing peril, authoritarian regimes seek to manufacture consent, as Noam Chomsky put it – or, better, enthusiasm – for the exercise of their power. To do so, they stage mass rituals of adulation and spectacular displays of the military might at the beloved leader’s command.
~ Judith Levine
William Lindsey 
Jonathan H. Harwell
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