Okay, kinda OT, but every time I see that guy, I imagine Lloyd Benson saying “Senator, I knew John Kennedy. John Kennedy was a friend of mine. And you’re no John Kennedy. Well, okay, you are John Kennedy, but you’re not John Kennedy. A John Kennedy, not the John Kennedy. Well, okay, you’re a senator, so that does kinda make you the John Kennedy relative to all the John Kennedys who aren’t you and who aren’t the the John Kennedy . . . ah, fuck it. You’re not that John Kennedy, okay?”
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One aspect of this I’ve yet to see is a cost estimate. Owing to the nebulous quality of Trump’s proposal it’s probably not possible to project. Trump did cluck about Macron’s parade running two hours, to the minute, and you know he MUST exceed whatever he saw in Paris. Two hours of troops, equipment, jets, bombers, fireworks, security. The cost of the shutdown to local businesses and government. Mattis has intimated to others merely shipping to DC the hardware and personnel would be enormously expensive, plus the same costs in reverse to send it all back to wherever it came from. I might be off, but is $100 million out of the question? How many homeless vets could you help with $100 million? How many doctors and nurses could the VA hire with that money and employ long term?
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How quaint. A voice of reason.
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It’s good that you’re making the troops parade, Mr. President, - it’s real good. And tomorrow - tomorrow’s going to be a real good day!
And in responding to it, he won’t even see it’s a trap.
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Exactly.
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Well the saying is a broken clock is right twice a day so…
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One of my offspring lives just across the river from DC, within walking distance of the WH if you like to walk. The local concern is that sending all that heavy hardware down Penn. Ave. will not only destroy the street, it will also cave in the metro tunnel that runs underneath it. What an excellent plan Cadet Bone Spurs has come up with!
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I think we’re getting to the point that many elected R’s have had just about enough. I don’t know if it will make any substantive difference, but I’m beginning to think that if the House were to somehow impeach him, the R’s in the Senate may actually follow through with a conviction.
This depends on a lot of things, mostly the House impeaching. That might happen if Nov. 2018 is the bloodbath we are all hoping for. But I feel like I’m beginning to see an abject weariness in the faces of many elected R’s. He has burned a lot of bridges with them. If impeachment were to happen, what are the chances the Senate Republicans come to the conclusion they are better off moving forward with President Pence? Especially if 2018 is a Democratic wave…
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Picky, picky, picky.
Hey. I resemble that remark. Twice.
I didn’t really think that was gonna happen anyway. Just Trump talking Trumptalk.
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A standing army is like a standing member, an assurance of domestic tranquility but a temptation to foreign adventure.
Elbridge Gerry (1787)
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“Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud.”
Or so I’ve heard.
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You haven’t seen a cost estimate because Trump’s request, while suitably grandiose, is still too vague.
His request — if that’s really the word I want — was made about three weeks ago. Appearing to have taken it seriously, Mattis has said this: “I think we’re all aware in this country of the president’s affection and respect for the military. We’ve been putting together some options. We’ll send them up to the White House for decision.”
Democrats have given Mattis until February 23 to provide an actual estimate.
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Don’t rain on my parade!
I agree that the parade is a bad idea spawned in a dark place. “Speak softly and carry a big stick” has always been good advice. I caution, however, that opposing the the idea openly is a trap that will spring shut if the parade passes by.
Can’t you just see parade day, covered as a live special event on Fox like the Rose Bowl Parade, with the rockets gleaming in the sun, the boots thrillingly stomping on the pavement, the jets roaring overhead, and the hosts gushing over the spectacle, and Trump, and how anyone who spoke against it attacked Our Sacred Troops?
I can see the parade in my mind’s eye, though I imagine the hosts as a smarm of “Fox and Friends” couch denizens, not Jim Anchorton and Jill Newslady… The lizard brain in all of us will be so aroused that opposition will seem downright … treasonous.
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Would you believe $100 million out of line for a two hour extravaganza such as Trump likely has in mind? Actual costs, not hidden costs absorbed by the military with “Well, if it wasn’t being driven down Pennsylvania Avenue it would just be sitting somewhere, so, no charge to you, Donnie!”
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If Trump actually parades a nuke down Pennsylvania Avenue, will Slim Pickens be riding shotgun?
If we can’t stop it, we can sure have some serious fun with it.
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I think the kids call that a subtweet.
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Would Trump and his generals allow the troops to opt out if they didn’t want to march in the July heat, or are these soldiers considered their convenient slaves?
Let them ask for volunteers, or better yet, poll the rank and file military and see just how many of THEM think Trump’s pahllic parade matters more than national security or vet’s benefits.
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