Cheeto wants his own military parade.. just like Pooty and Lil Kim have

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Even Eisenhower wasn't nearly as much of a military fetishist as Trump is. Or W was. Or Reagan was.

I suppose it was because Eisenhower had actually been in the military for a long time - as opposed to, say, a few years worth of National Guard service...on paper, anyway - thus had a well-rounded view of what the military could (and couldn't) do well and what it should (and shouldn't) be used for.

Even before his Farewell Address, Eisenhower was a bit stingy when it came to the expenditures for national defense. Partly because the US could afford to be back in the 1950s. Also, though, because Eisenhower knew the Joint Chiefs would constantly be asking for more money than they needed to run their branches of service, because that was basically human nature. Eisenhower didn't see the need to spend "a penny more than necessary" for defense, and also knew that more of a deterrent when it comes to missiles doesn't make them more effective as a deterrent: once you have the capacity to blow civilization up, as a practical matter anything you build beyond that is a waste.

Hence his warning about the "Military Industrial Complex". Impressive coming from a retired 5-Star General....

I was stationed in the Pentagon and took my family downtown in DC for the Gulf War parade in 1991. The estimate was 200,000 people attended, and estimated to cost $8 million. 27 years ago.

Trust me, 99% of the military thinks this is a stupid, wasteful idea....

[Terry]

Hence his warning about the "Military Industrial Complex". Impressive coming from a retired 5-Star General....

I was stationed in the Pentagon and took my family downtown in DC for the Gulf War parade in 1991. The estimate was 200,000 people attended, and estimated to cost $8 million. 27 years ago.

Trust me, 99% of the military thinks this is a stupid, wasteful idea....

I found one comment (I can't remember offhand who made it) in response to this idea interesting, in that it's the countries who lack confidence in their military abilities or feel they have something to prove to the rest of the world, THOSE are the countries who have massive military parades not tied to celebrating a specific victory. That the countries who KNOW they have superior militaries relative to the rest of the world have no need for such public displays.

For all the campaign rhetoric (which has been perpetually going on since at least the late 1970s from my own personal memory) about how our military is underfunded or how we need to build it up again, one thing America still has is military superiority over virtually everyone else in the world. We know it, and so does everybody else.

And I've never hear ANYBODY actually serving in a military capacity saying that they feel they've been cheated by a lack of parades celebrating the military.

[Seshmeister]

It gets the public used to seeing tanks in the streets...

[Nickdfresh]

The ex-SEAL that shot Bin Laden is calling this all "third-world shit!" It's almost universally panned and shows what an out-of-touch idiot Trump is...

[Fairwrning]

Funny..I have always thought the stealth of our military is a huge advantage..Bin-Laden anyone?