https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/4/1869492/-Trump-s-Militaristic-Exploitation-of-Independence-Day-Reflects-His-Insecurity-and-Impotence?utm_campaign=recent&fbclid=IwAR25HpqNcAbelY0VpSmHeuTKuW66XXSmpWvhwMP8r2-Be8lfRO-q7jfAf0M
"The degradation of the Fourth of July into what most resembles the autocratic parades of the brutal, warmongering dictators that Trump admires (Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, etc.) is a depressing development. But it's also a fallacy that attempts to portray Trump as a patriot. His own words and deeds are proof that he and his promoters are lying. After all, Trump displays his alleged appreciation for the troops by maligning POWs for having been captured, insulting Gold Star families who are not Trump sycophants, terminating healthcare and other services for vets, and deporting veterans who served in combat despite not being citizens. Trump is shamelessly politicizing the Fourth by offering preferred seating for Republican bigwigs and donors. Meanwhile, he is forcing the military to abandon plans to be with their families in order to participate in Soviet-style parades of weaponry. He even declined to invite the service chiefs for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. Trump, on the other hand, is forcing his staff to spend the day trying to come up with ways to get around the Supreme Court's rejection of his racist Census question on citizenship. Meanwhile, he's golfing and, later, presenting himself as the star attraction of yet another one of his partisan campaign cult rallies. What makes all of this even worse is that Trump's affinity for the pageantry of war is really just over-compensation for his own inadequacies. His behavior is consistent with that of malignant narcissists who must have everything their way, no matter who suffers. It's a cowardly display that defines his whole presidency - and life. And it reveals his pitiful insecurity and obsession with magnifying his own perception of his paltry and phony machismo. The bastardization of patriotism by Cadet Bone Spurs has been an obvious facade from the start."
