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Post by Admin on Jul 4, 2019 17:31:23 GMT
July 4th In Washington, Trump’s ‘Salute To America’ Military Event | NBC News From marching bands and parade floats to military tanks and flyovers, Washington D.C. is host to Independence Day events, including a military-style display hosted by President Trump at 6:30pmET. America's National Independence Day Parade, hosted by the National Park Service. "The Parade consists of invited bands, fife and drum corps, floats, military and specialty units, giant balloons, equestrian, drill teams, VIP’s, national dignitaries, and celebrity participants."
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Post by Admin on Jul 4, 2019 23:15:25 GMT
President Trump’s dream of a celebration showing off America's military capabilities will become a reality on Thursday, as the president confirmed tanks will play a role in Washington, D.C.’s Fourth of July festivities -- and the vehicles were seen being hauled in on a freight train. An Associated Press photographer spotted the two M1A1 Abrams tanks, along with four other military vehicles, in a railyard at the southeastern edge of Washington. A military official earlier told the AP that the tanks were transported north from Fort Stewart in Georgia. The vehicles include M1A1 Abrams tanks, the type currently used by American armed forces, as well as Sherman tanks, the kind commonly used during World War II, according to the president. Having tanks rolling down the streets of D.C. had raised concerns due to their weight, with the Abrams tanks weighing upwards of 60 tons each. Trump acknowledged these concerns Monday, without offering many details. "You've got to be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks," Trump said Monday. "So we have to put them in certain areas, but we have the brand new Sherman tanks and we have the brand new Abrams tanks." The military display is all part of the “Salute to America” event that Trump is putting on this Thursday. "I'm going to say a few words and we're going to have planes going overhead, the best fighter jets in the world and other planes, too," Trump said. This includes a demonstration by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.
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Post by Admin on Jul 5, 2019 4:12:53 GMT
President Donald Trump celebrated the story of America as “the greatest political journey in human history” in a Fourth of July commemoration before a soggy but cheering crowd of spectators, many of them invited, on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. Supporters welcomed his tribute to the U.S. military while protesters assailed him for putting himself center stage on a holiday devoted to unity. As rain fell on him, Trump called on Americans to “stay true to our cause” during a program that adhered to patriotic themes and hailed an eclectic mix of history’s heroes, from the armed forces, space, civil rights and other endeavors of American life. He largely stuck to his script, avoiding diversions into his agenda or re-election campaign. But in one exception, he vowed, “Very soon, we will plant the American flag on Mars,” actually a distant goal not likely to be achieved until late in the 2020s if even then. A late afternoon downpour drenched the capital’s Independence Day crowds and Trump’s speech unfolded in occasional rain. The warplanes and presidential aircraft he had summoned conducted their flyovers as planned, capped by the Navy Blue Angels aerobatics team. By adding his own, one-hour “Salute to America” production to capital festivities that typically draw hundreds of thousands anyway, Trump became the first president in nearly seven decades to address a crowd at the National Mall on the Fourth of July.
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Post by Admin on Jul 5, 2019 17:24:09 GMT
It's true that Trump was excited by that parade was very excited by it and started making plans for a D.C. version on his way to the airport in Paris. But Trump had wanted the big tanks and marching soldiers and flyovers well before that. According to the Huffington Post, he had requested a full-dress military parade for his inauguration and was told it couldn't be done because of the infrastructure in D.C. He explained to the Washington Post around the same time that he had big plans for the future: “Being a great president has to do with a lot of things, but one of them is being a great cheerleader for the country. And we’re going to show the people as we build up our military, we’re going to display our military. That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades. I mean, we’re going to be showing our military." The U.S. doesn't do that stuff for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that we aren't supposed to be a military dictatorship that uses military pageants to scare its own citizens. Donald Trump may be the only person on the planet who believes the United States of America needs to prove its military might to the world with a big show of heavy armor and airplanes. Everyone else is fully aware that the U.S. has the most advanced, sophisticated and fearsome military on earth. Trump alone believes that America has long been perceived as weak and poor and without defenses, and that the way to get respect once again is to spend lavishly on the military, start an incoherent trade war, suck up to every strongman dictator around the globe and tear up as many treaties and international agreements as possible while offending all our allies. If giving him a parade would stop him from doing all that, maybe we should have one once a month.
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Post by Admin on Jul 7, 2019 17:29:16 GMT
Melania Trump wore a white sundress and bright pink stilettos for the Fourth of July’s “Salute to America” celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. In the late afternoon, the first couple appeared at the “Salute to America” event at the Lincoln Memorial — which the president had promised to be “The show of a lifetime” — looking thrilled. The first lady wore a Carolina Herrera white dress with multi-colored stripes and asymmetrical sleeves, along with fuchsia heels. "As we gather this evening, in the joy of freedom, we remember that all share a truly extraordinary heritage. Together we are part of one of the greatest stories ever told, the story of America," President Trump said. Earlier, the administration kicked off the holiday with a National Independence Day Parade on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., and a speech from Vice-President Mike Pence at the National Archives to welcome 44 new U.S. citizens from 24 countries, according to CBS News.
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