A smile, two bangs, and a patriotic song

Trump’s “look at the big guns” celebration:

The US president staged a “Salute to America” jamboree on the south lawn of the White House with flyovers by military jets, parachute jumps and patriotic songs, but little effort among guests to physical distance or wear face masks.

Stupid and pathetic way to “salute America,” as if military force were the whole story. How about instead showing off our music and dance?

“We got hit by the virus that came from China,” the president said, prompting a strange whoop and applause from someone in the audience. “We’ve made a lot of progress. Our strategy is moving along well. It goes out in one area, it rears back its ugly face in another area. But we’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned how to put out the flame.”

No we haven’t. That’s why the flame is not out, and in fact is burning hotter and hotter every hour. Our strategy (we have one?) is not “moving along well,” it’s failing disastrously.

And contradicting Fauci and other public health experts, the president offered a wildly optimistic prediction: “We’ll likely have a therapeutic and/or vaccine solution long before the end of the year.” The presidential election is on 3 November.

Not only is that not “likely,” from what I’ve gathered by listening to researchers it’s pretty much impossible.

But the lion’s share of Trump’s remarks were a rehashing of a speech he gave on Friday night at Mount Rushmore, breaking from 4 July tradition by seeking to stoke a culture war and pour salt on America’s racial wounds instead of a unifying message.

Because the goal is always to make us hate each other more. What a lovely man he is.

“We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children or trample on our freedoms … We will teach our children to cherish and adore our country so they can build its future. Together, we will fight for the American dream.”

He can’t though. He can’t force us to think what he wants us to think. He can’t force us to say America is perfect and always has been, and he can’t force us to ignore its past. As so often, it’s not his call.

And for someone who babbles about cherishing and adoring (ew) our country, he sure hates a lot of us.

Following his speech, Trump and the first lady watched a spectacular display of military jets that have taken part in America’s military conflicts from the second world war onwards.

Zoom zoom whee, bedtime now Donnie.

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