Pentagon May Solicit Funds For Trump’s Military Parade

President Trump has ordered a military parade in Washington DC on Veteran’s Day, one with “lots of military flyovers.” Since such a diversion of troops and equipment will cost up to $30 million that isn’t in the defense budget, the Pentagon is considering shaking down soliciting donations from patriotic citizens like, you know, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and  Northrop Grumman.

More:

“Trump directs Pentagon to schedule military parade for Veterans Day,” Eliana Johnson, Politico

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Trump Wants His Own Parade

President Donald Trump (Capt., New York Military Academy High School, retired), who calls the U.S. military leadership “my generals,” has given those leaders their “marching orders.” He wants a parade. A big, magnificent military parade, bigger than the one in Paris on Bastille Day, with thousands of marching troops, flags and bands and military pomp, cannons and missiles and fighter jet overflights, with humvees and tanks and stuff. The parade would go down Pennsylvania Avenue, right past the Trump International Hotel (reserve your room now!), on July 4th. Or Memorial Day. Or maybe Veteran’s Day. It would honor our troops, our president, U.S. military might, our president, America’s proud military tradition, and our brilliant commander-in chief.

A Big League parade. Bigger than Macron’s. Bigger than Eisenhower’s. Bigger than Kim Jong-Un’s. Bigger than Putin’s, or Erdogan’s, or Mao’s, or Mussolini’s or that other guy’s. Oh sure, it would take U.S. troops out of training and take equipment off-line and cost tens of millions of dollars, and the tank treads would chew up DC pavement, but what a grand spectacle!

Town Hall ‘Concerned Citizens’ Are Paid Actors

“Last December, the town council in Camarillo, a small town in southern California, a man called Prince Jordan Tyson stood up and delivered a three minute speech as a “concerned citizen” about a planned construction project before the council.

Tyson is not a concerned citizen of Camarillo: he’s a struggling actor from Beverly Hills, who was paid $100 to deliver a scripted position from the podium while misrepresenting himself as a local, sincere citizen.

Tyson worked for Adam Swart, a recent UCLA grad, who runs a company called ‘Crowds on Demand,’ which hires actors to attend politicians’ campaign meetings, and to deliver scripted dialog in the guise of concerned citizens. Swart says that he has been paid by ‘dozens of campaigns for state officials, and 2016 presidential candidates’ whom he won’t name, because if he did ‘nobody would hire us.'”

–“‘Citizens’ who speak at town meetings are hired, scripted actors,” Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

More:

“Concerned Citizens Turn Out to Be Political Theater,” Marin Austin, NBC Los Angeles

“There’s a Real Company That Hires Fake Supporters to Cheer on Political Candidates,” Chris Smith, BGR

“1-800-HIRE-A-CROWD,” Dan Schneider, The Atlantic

“The lucrative business of crowds for hire,” Kieron Monks, CNN

“Company with crowds for hire sees opportunity in politics,” CBS News

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Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-ng8

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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