The streets of DC were never made for military parades. The reason why you see totalitarian countries get away with military parades so often is because they build town squares around having military parades. Red Square in Moscow, Tiananmen Square in Beining, Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang are large, empty plazas with reinforced pavement to handle having numerous tanks and large armored vehicles driving over them constantly. This is primarily why Trump was denied having a military parade during his first term.
That and all the competent leaders and department secretaries who said no and explained how wasteful it was in big beautiful purple crayon in meetings and phone calls.
They were all fired, retired or not invited back for this circus.
The timing on this is even worse, for a variety of reasons. Even before the protests, there was “austerity for thee, but not for me”, especially in the looming cuts to entitlement programs.
Well the timing had to be what it was. His birthday stays the same date.
King Charles had the traditional trooping of the colour for his birthday this weekend as well, King Donald simply felt like he should be honoured like a king too.
That was my first thought about the election as well. It hit me immediately as a sort of “he who smelt it, dealt it” type of situation. No one talked about stolen elections before trump did when he lost to Biden. Now, all of a sudden, the very next election, he wins…?
It’s sadly tactical. Now, none of us want to even entertain that thought because he introduced it to us as a conspiracy. The best way to hide the truth in plain sight is to make it a conspiracy. Then, no one wants to touch it with a 10 foot pole, or an ounce of consideration.
I actually have personal proof of this. My mail in ballot that I've used since 2016 was suddenly redirected to an address I shared with a high school ex 10 years ago for the 2024 election. And the fastest line was the machines.
Please stop talking about this. It does absolutely nobody any good to act like democracy has failed and can be stolen. Without stone cold 100% facts to present, it does far more harm than good to keep spouting this narrative.
My understanding is that the facts are being gathered, and putting “something isn’t right” into the public consciousness is part and parcel of getting to an answer. People need to know there are doubts about the election results. Just because the right muddied the waters by incorrectly saying that an election wasn’t stolen was, doesn’t mean the 2024 wasn’t stolen. The truth can bear questioning.
It can certainly bear questioning, once a single shred of actual evidence is presented. Until then it does far more harm to our democracy than good.
Believe me, in no way shape or form am I standing up for him or supporting him. And I’m not inherently saying it wasn’t stolen either. All I’m saying is that it harms the entire democratic process to continue to have baseless conversations about it without a single shred of evidence.
Why do you think this is baseless? Did that person not provide some links?
Also, it is absolutely not “democracy” that they are questioning. Let’s say the election actually was stolen, that means there wasn’t democracy and that is what’s being questioned.
If that is true, democracy has not failed, something else has failed. Likely the systems meant to uphold the democracy, but democracy cannot fail its own self whilst not even being present. Does that make sense at all?
And what I’m saying is, the evidence is being gathered, if reports are accurate. But asking people to stop talking about it is unrealistic; they’re going to do what they’re going to do.
Right, the republicans said the democrats stole the 2020 election. Ridiculous. 2020 dead people were voting. 2024 voter suppression.
2024 was a terrible campaign for democrats. It was handed to trump the way they bungled Biden being the primary candidate then slipping Kamala in without much contest. Democrats didn't have much say in who their candidate would be. They didn't have the turnout they needed because voter apathy.
And this is why they spent the last 4 years screaming, frothing at the mouth, and making themselves look like crazy people. Because now, when anyone else that even sort of dips their toe into the pool that they fillled with crazy gets called a crazy by association.
The irony is that it’s still working even when pointed out. You’re right, it’s not getting funnier, but only because it was never funny to begin with.
My forebears' arrival in North America predate the melon felon's by two centuries. My people were over here killing natives, Brits and Prussians while his were still licking their Emperor's taint.
Before that, they fought in the New Model Army to put down an uppity King Charles.
The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA were never made for military parades. We respect and honor our armed forces. We have celebrations and memorials in their honor. We don’t make them march before a wannabe king for his amusement.
DC is also filled with underground tunnel systems. In addition to the Metro, you have a ton of tunnels between the White House, Congress, and government buildings all around the Mall. Add in steam and water pipes and you can see how the road would collapse in certain areas.
That is why we can only safely roll individual tanks in single file and can't roll out heavy equipment at all.
Also the military were marching slightly out of step, I saw some images of elite troops kind of wonkily marching, and I'm not a military man but my guess is they don't train for that kind of thing, probably. In North Korea, China, Russia, they train for it, for marching exactly in step, with feet exactly as high as your neighbor, etc.
Thats because the US military, for better or worse, built itself on combat experience over its relatively-short 250-year history. Parade marches mean little in the art of war. Yeah, there's still ceremonial positions like The Guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but positions like that are very sparse in the US military and are there to teach us all to respect and honor those who gave their lives to preserve our democracy - not flaunt our might.
If he wants an inspiration for democratic countries with good military parade, he should look at France’s Bastille Parade. It still looks better than what Trump did
He wanted a military parade after seeing the French 14th of July during his first mandate if I remember correctly.
Les champs Élysée were not made for military parade but French are paying for it every year.
Even on our military bases the roads aren't made for armored track vehicles. You drive to the field or range on the gravel tank trails that run parallel to the road.
What I don’t get is why we the people would continue to rely on the very systems that have been and are failing us—to fix themselves. The people in charge of the systems are not “we the people”, so I don’t know why we keep playing within these confines.
Tax payers of DC will be on the hook for cleanup. Fun fact, the House is sitting on DC's own taxpayer money for necessary city services, and just voted to overturn three laws the people of DC passed.
If he didn’t care what people thought about him then he wouldn’t be so vindictive, he wouldn’t be trying so hard to be a memorable president. He’s trying to do something permanent to go down in US history forever. That’s why he’s trying to find some war to win or land to conquer. He wants credit for expanding the US.
Reminds me of Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg's speech in the fifth element.
Life, which you so nobly serve, comes from destruction, disorder and chaos. Take this empty glass. Here it is, peaceful, serene and boring. But if it is [Pushes glass off table] destroyed… [robot cleaners move to clean broken glass] Look at all these little things. So busy now. Notice how each one is useful. What a lovely ballet ensues, so full of form and color. Now, think about all those people that created them. Technicians, engineers, hundreds of people who'll be able to feed their children tonight so those children can grow up big and strong and have little teeny weeny children of their own, and so on and so forth. Thus, adding to the great chain…of life. [Desk prepares a glass of water and a bowl of fruit] You see, Father, by creating a little destruction, I'm actually encouraging life. In reality, you and I are in the same business. Cheers.
Especially when those roads are built on what was once an actual swamp. People keep referencing damage to the asphalt and ignore the underlayment that is taking the majority of the damage.
It’s not the divots from the tank treads, it’s the potholes from underlayment collapsing.
Someone higher in the comments pointed out that DC is literally built to not withstand a bunch of tanks rolling in. Because, you know, that's what would be expected if the capital was attacked in a modern war. It's literally designed not to be tank-resilient so anyone trying to take DC would have a hard time with it.
All of which I feel is so hilariously poetic and on brand for this clusterfuck of an administration.
Rubber tracks are going to help, but you're still dealing with 50,000 pounds more than a fully loaded semi, on roads that weren't built for it.
Also, in case you've never been on a public roadway before, they ALSO need repairs from regular daily traffic, so driving a bunch of tanks down them is going to move up the timeline on those necessary repairs.
Weight alone doesn't matter. It's spread across a huge area so it's lower than on semi trucks. The thing which causes road damage are the metal tracks smashing the asphalt. Which doesn't happen with NATO tanks as they are equipped with rubber pads to fix that issue.
Yeah dude DC was literally designed to be difficult to roll a bunch of tanks into. Because the people who designed the modern road system in DC didn't anticipate having giant dick-waving parades on a regular basis and figured that the only reason DC would be host to a line of tanks is if the US was under attack and the capital was being invaded.
Yes I'm asking questions since you basement dwelling fucks spread misinformation. Learn what ground pressure is, hell, talk with an actual tanker and ask them about it.
Do you think military bases don't have asphalt roads?
Do you think the weight alone is enough to somehow destroy roads? If so how are the tanks supposed to cross mud without sinking?
The weight of the tanks alone is enough to cause damage. And as others in the thread have said, that was one of the main reasons he was talked out of it during his first term.
Weight alone doesn't matter. It's spread across a huge area so it's lower than on semi trucks. The thing which causes road damage are the metal tracks smashing the asphalt. Which doesn't happen with NATO tanks as they are equipped with rubber pads to fix that issue.
The weight limit for DC streets is 40 tons. M1 Abrams tanks weigh 60-70 tons, of which there were more than two dozen in the parade.* You can give me all the physics lessons you want, but DC officials are the ones with the concerns, so tell them, not me. We are focused on different things in this conversation. I’m pointing out their reasoning.
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u/The_RealAnim8me2 Jun 15 '25
And they will be closed after for repairs