We survived the parade. I wasn't sure whether we would be able to or not. And I do confess I think I've said this publicly. I think I've said it on there. I know I've said it to friends that I had a little I was worrisome about the pearete the parade. Does everybody know what parade I'm talking about. No, I'm not talking about the No Kings bull crap. I'm talking about the Army's two hundred and fiftieth birthday celebration parade that took place along Constitution Avenue in front of
the Ellipse in Washington, d C. Over the weekend. And I confess that I thought either one or two things might occur. I thought one that it might be and could easily fall into the trap of be a gigantic birthday celebration for Donald Trump, and therefore it would be perceived as, particularly with the cabal, it would be perceived as, oh, it was nothing more than this, you know, Trump using you know, the military to celebrate his birthday. I really
was concerned about that. I was concerned that some of the people surrounding Trump might turn it into that. But I was more concerned that the cabal would turn it into that, because if the cabal has the opportunity to take anything that is good and decent and turn it into crap, the cabal will do that. If the cabal has any opportunity to take anything that is just fairly routine political discourse or debate or arguments in this country and turn it into a full fledged, you know, World
War three, they will do that. So I got to watch the beginnings of it, some coverage of it. Then obviously I saw highlights, because you know, I'm not gonna sit around watch it in the entire time because I've got other things to do. So I watched the beginning, then I watched bits and pieces, and then of course then doing show prep yesterday.
I saw even more of it.
Well, Trump's decision to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States Army with this military parade in Washington turned out that it was not a political stunt, and it was not an exercise in pomp and circumstances. I would describe it as a moral act of national restoration after years of demoralization, as exemplified by the inability
to meet recruitment numbers through politicized mandates. You know you you know DEI requirements, lowering the standards for the military, device EVE ideological training, a pure institutional neglect, just truly
neglecting the military. That parade offered a chance to remind Americans who we are and what the Army has long stood for duty, honor, and country, and it was presented in a way that was actually now the Obviously I was watching watching it on Fox News, although I would occasionally flip over to CNN and MSNBC to see what their coverage was, and when I would, I would find that most often or more often than not, they weren't showing the parade, and they weren't carrying the the sound
of the parade announcer in said they had some talking head talking about something. So then I go back over to Fox because I wanted to see the parade and I wanted to hear what the announcer was saying, because the announcer was doing a what I would would say was an extraordinary job talking about the history of what was being presented in front of those along the parade route,
what they were seeing. Now, I know the critics are goring to scoff and as I was fearful it could it could, it could have turned into one of these authoritarian relics, signs of militarism, uh, signs of the you know, the the old Red Square, and all the Soviet Union leaders from Gorbatchov back to Khrushchev and others standing on the walls of the Kremlin as the tanks and the missiles and all the armaments were presented, and they all stood and saluted, you know, reigning over their military. But
one that didn't occur. But that objection completely collapsed under the presentation of the history that was presented, and it got me to say, military parades and democracies. For example, I over the weekend I casually mentioned that in my hometown we have what's called Pioneer Days. It's usually, I think the first weekend in May. I haven't been to it in ages, but I remember as a kid watching
it all the time. And of course there would be floats, there would be you know, marching bands, there would be horses and cows. People would march, you know, they would bring the longhorns, long horn steers in from some of the ranches around and people would march, you know, steer and cattle and cows whatever. They'd march along, and of course the horses and the horses and the cows are all pooping, and I would think to myself, oh my gosh, how many cows, I mean, how many cows do you
have to see? Because there's there wasn't any history.
To the cattle.
Now, some of the parade floats would present the history of the Oklahoma Panhandle, and so there would be you know, there would be floats that would talk about the dust Bow or you know, certain periods of time, and it would, you know, go up and it'd be sponsored by you know, local merchants or you know, the Chamber of Commerce or different organizations. Churches would have floats and they would have, you know, maybe a little bit of history of their church on the float.
Well that's kind of what this was. Now.
It wasn't a bunch of steers, it wasn't a bunch of cows. There weren't too many horses, and there wasn't a lot of poop left on the streets. But it made me realize that really a military parade in a constitutional republic is not an expression of tyranny. What we saw on Saturday was actually an affirmation of gratitude. It was thanking those and you could tell from the faces of the people that were in the parade that they
were actually enjoying themselves. They were kind of relishing in the attention that they were getting, and I think rightfully so. And it also served another purpose. It reminded us that freedom has always had a cost, and that someone's son or daughter was willing to pay for it. I can't take I can't take credit for finding this. It appeared on my X speed yesterday. By the way, if you're not following me on X, I don't know why you're not.
You should be at Michael Brown USA. Let's go back to June eighth, nineteen ninety one, the CBS Evening News with Bob Scheffer. Bob Sheefer, who I think just passed away recently. But Bob Schefer, who was with CBS News probably his entire career, was not a Walter Cronkite. He was not an Edward Ard Murrow. Bob she He for truly was a die hard liberal. He was a fanatical liberal.
But here he is as the anchor of the CBS Evening News on June eighth, nineteen ninety one, I'll let you figure out the importance of the date.
Poy good evening. Well already they are saying tonight. It was the biggest military celebration in the nation's capital since World War II, as Washington today honored the U S servicemen and women who fought in the Gulf War, both those who returned and those who died. Two hundred thousand enthusiastic spectators watched a parade of troops and their weapons, all part of the National Victory Celebration.
Eric Kingbert has our report.
It was a day for saying thank you to heroes. Kiddingly, it began with those who did not come back, Hey todd Man Arlington National Cemetery. President Bush placed a wreath at the two of the unknowns and fighter planes passed over in the Missing Wingman formation to honor the men and women who died in the Gulf War. The President choked back tears several times as he spoke directly to loved ones of those who die.
We celebrate the fact that each person we commemorate today gave up life for principles larger than each of.
Us, which is something that everyone who joins the United States military knows that that may be the ultimate thing that they have to do, is to give up their life, to sacrifice their life for a principle that is greater than all of us, and that is our freedoms and our liberties.
Principles that at the same time form the muscle and strength of our national heart.
Aileen Rawlins said her son Jeffrey, killed in the desert, would have liked the ceremony.
Jeff was total military.
He left the service.
He loved his country.
Fay Hawes's son Jimmy, died when a missile hit his tank. He loved what he was doing, and he died for what.
He believed in.
On the wide boulevards, just a few blocks from the White House, eight thousand Desert Storm troops were moving out, and once again it was General Norman Schwarzkopf who sept the cadence, leading the way as far as the Presidential Box, where he spent the rest of the parade as cheerleader and spot her for a clearly delighted George Bush. So much military hardware was moving that at times it appeared
Washington was under attack. The Stelf bomber, oddly shaped to deceive radar, led a fleet of eighty two planes over the parade route. The Patriot missile got the what is the applause of the day. Several hundred thousand spectators lined the streets, most with the same message.
We're here just to say thank you and to celebrate our victory, but to say thank you to all the men and women who serve.
In the armed forces.
I think that this is a wonderful occasion, but we don't want it to happen again.
Enterprise, we don't want war.
Peace.
Activists had protested against today's celebrations, but they drew only a few protesters to their rally. A Harrier jetfighter on display near the parade was splashed with blood, and the protesters were arrested and taken away, But the overall mood BOB was overwhelmingly celebratory and upbeat. And now on Washington's Mall, several hundred thousand people have gathered for a USO show tonight, which will be capped off by what they say will be the biggest fireworks display.
In Washington history.
Derek.
This of course, was called a celebration to honor those who fought this war, but in many ways it was also in honor of the people back home.
Must I think that's.
Right, Bob. I think that we sent one of the most professional armies in American history to fight the war against Addam Hussein. They didn't expect any parades on the way back. They just felt that they had done what they were told to do and had accomplished their job.
But I think the civilian sector of the country, the Americans who remember Vietnam and the divisions of that era, all wanted to make sure that the mistakes that happened at the end of that war weren't repeated, and that these troops were given a hearty thank you, and that was all accomplished.
Today this is the cabal now.
Granted it's nineteen ninety one, but my, how they have changed. Can you imagine that kind of reporting from any place other than say, Fox News, Newsmax or Away in today?
Thank Aarin.
Marching isn't always fun, but for these soldiers and today's the experience was one big love feast. Pentagon. Correspond to Jim Stewart, now with that.
Than you you help that you deserve it. If it was in uniform today, it got hugged, kissed, saluted, and cheered because the American military experienced an outpouring of affection not witnessed here in forty five years. Fantastic is huge.
There's so many people.
I ain't seen as many people in my life. It was a day in search of superlatives. It's a spectacular.
I think it's great.
Fantastic, breathtaking is nice.
Sortas think this a nice little key. You don't legacy it, don't get an a.
Credit to a day for the heroes of Desert Storm to struct their stuff. Right now, listener Hummus is telling me that the weapon is Plessinger, a day when soldiers became celebrities. I may autograph it three or.
Four does now you're trying to get the writer's cramp.
Had a hereby for me. I've had people give me shirts T shirts. Well, I had one lady in particular, in an airport in Law.
I was in the uniform and she started crying and she was just welcoming home.
And it was very overwhelming for me because I just didn't expect anything like that.
No one quite expected anything like this.
I felt it Thos, you know, I could feel the electricity throughout the crowd as we were marching through.
Good Maybe good town or a little small town in your hometown have prayed for you, but nothing like this.
I think it's fantastic.
I was also in Vietnam and we didn't have.
Anything like this coming back.
I think it's great. Everyone, it seemed, had that other war on their mind as well.
Today everyone's a little guilty about the Vietnam that they didn't have as.
Much recognition that it's a way of showing that we're sorry and let's.
Start all over again. Work and some did thank you, welcome home. I owe you, thank you. Jim Stewart's CBS News Washington.
Can you imagine that report today?
You know? Often Trump has referred to the French parade the Bestille Parade every year since eighteen eighty. The French of line the champsy Lese on July fourteenth to witness the Bastille Day Parade in twenty seventeen. It featured thirty seven hundred soldiers, two hundred eleven vehicles and callous aircraft, and not a sole accused France and descending into fascism.
Instead.
In twenty seventeen, then and now French President Emmanuel Macrone stood shoulder to shoulder with President Trump, in recognition of shared Western values and the marshal traditions that protect him. In Great Britain Trooping the color that's been held annually since seventeen forty eight, celebrating the monarch's official birthday, over fourteen hundred soldiers participate, two hundred horses, four hundred musicians.
Controversy of the prey and Great Britain is beloved. It's televised, attended by the royals, embraced by Britain's across the entire political spectrum. So why do these nations France, Britain, Canada, and yes, now the United States hold military parades because we know that a nation that forgets its defenders is a nation that is going to be conquered. In fact, is saying to the world we can be conquered. Civic rituals,
however grand, however humble, help reinforce our identity. And despite the bleeding of the of the academicians, the protesters, all of the goobers on the other side of the political spectrum. I think the average American understands the difference between reverence and nationalism run amok, and they're not just symbols. I think what we saw over the weekend had a material
psychological impact. It helps increase civic engagement, national cohesion. It fosters pride among civilians and veterans alike, and it counters the alienation that some service members feel. And economically, of course, is a boom to tourism, which brings us to the towns. Un In America in more than nineteen thousand incorporated places. Thousands of parades like this take place annually, and of
course generally over the fourth of July. So when Trump called for that parade to honor the Armies two hundred and fifty on their versary, he's not calling for a spectacle.
He's calling for a renewal.
He's saying enough is enough, enough to the forced injections, enough to dei struggles, enough to see unfit officers promoted because they checked the right boxes. The parade was not performity, it was security. It was an antidote to demoralization, and I think it accomplished everything.
Good morning, Michael and Dragon.
I'm not sure if it's back yet.
Oh this is your favorite jew goober, and I would like to tell you that when I was back in high school, I was at RGC and I was in the parade on the Veterans Day Parade, and it was awesome walking down the sheet and everybody's waving at It's pretty awesome. And I was watching the parade myself and it was just amazing. It was said, goose bumps down my spine. So yeah, hey, have a good week.
Mad dog? What mad what? Mad dog?
At the you you're a nice angry dog in the background.
Oh, I couldn't hear.
I didn't.
I didn't notice it.
You didn't hear the growling.
No, I'm just used to listening to our what he claims. He thinks that he's our favorite jew, but he doesn't realize that we have several Jews in the audience.
And listen close this time. Okay, it was just amazing.
It was it was bumps down my spine.
So yeah, well there is something in the background. I'm not quite sure what of it. Angry dog growling here. I boosted it, demon dog. He hasn't been fed yet. They don't.
I don't know why they they they'd rather talk to us than you know, feed the poor pets.
That's just how good of a show.
This is.
Exactly right. And he got hungry cat.
Quite frankly, I'm hungry. So there you got that too. So this parade is and I think the reason I want to emphasize the parade even though it's over with, is because it is not performative at all. I would argue that it was actually kind of curity. It was an antidote to the demoralization that for nearly four years, the not just the army, but the entire military has had to I mean, they just had to apologize for existing.
Soldiers.
Well, your masculinity is toxic, your traditions are exclusionary, they're spree to core. Well, it must have been to the altar of intersectionality. In other words, they were trying to take something that's supposed to be uh, uniformed, disciplined, you know, has a singular mission, and trying to fit it into all of the bull crap cultural stuff that goes on in our society. They you know, imagine, imagine having to
sit through a lecture on gender fluidity, white fragility. And as I said earlier, the recruitment recruitment numbers just fell to the worst levels in the history of the military, and our readiness continued to decline. So you end up with the crisis of morale and a crisis of trust. Now just compare and contrast that with what Trump presented yesterday. I thought one of the most significant moments. Imagine the honor.
I mean, you enlisten in the military, and you know you get sworn in, but this time you get sworn in by the commander in chief, the President of the United States of America swears you in. That that's Trump's vision, a vision of a proud, strong, and unapologetic army marching through the United States capital, a country that loves them, and he that loves them also, and not because they're ponds of policy, but because they are the guardians of our liberty. What I find interesting is that many of
the cabal would argue that he's politicizing the military. But that's actually an inversion of what's really going on. It's not politicizing in this case, in particular the army. It depoliticizes it. It replaces identity politics with national unity. It replaces bureaucratic jargon with sacred tradition. It allows the soldier to actually be a soldier, not a test subject, not a social experiment.
And moreover, it sent.
A message not just to the world. But to us, it reminded us of our history going all the way back to the Revolutionary War. And of course all of our adversaries are watching it too, and they see that that American spirit that was probably, if not dead, at least on life support for the past four years, the Republic has not surrendered to cynicism. And even within a philosophical tradition, there's always precedent for public ritual We have
customs and rituals that well. Aristotle taught that habituation forms character. A parade habituates a nation to gratitude. It reminds people of forgetful people, the people that are isolated and tend to be divorced from the military, that there is real courage out there, that sacrifice is noble, that freedom is never free. That was not a call to arms. That what I saw on Saturday was not a call to arms.
It was a call for a moment of appreciation, the revival of a civic rhythm that unites rich and poor, red.
And blue, urban and rule.
All the divides that exist. We can come together in that. Oh, yes, all of you know, somebody posted on my right. They didn't post, but I saw my timeline.
Pictures.
It was a side by side of the No King's group somewhere I don't know whether there doesn't make any difference, and over here was a picture next to it, side by side was a picture of the soldiers marching in the parade, and it has some snarky comment and so I reposted and simply said, you know what the poster fails to recognize is that the ability of the people on the left side in that side by side photograph, the protesters and the marcher, what preserves, protects and allows
and permits them to do what they're doing, is guarded and preserved by the people on the right. And I think that's what we witnessed. That's exactly, and quite frankly, I think that's what somebody and over at MSNBC, Chris Hayes and others, I think it's what they recognized. Short little SoundBite from MSNBC's coverage of the parade.
One thing I will say, I want to go back to you Ali that that again, when we talk about this sort of tension in the country, and sometimes you know, you and I have both been at Trump rallies, those can be you know, very tense kind of I would say like kind of a dark, malevolent energy sometimes in them, not always, but it doesn't seem like that's the energy on the on the mall today, which I think is a good sign, right, correct, that you're you're.
You're really correct about that, Chris. And it's it's something we you know, we were watching for.
It's something we were watching for. You know what he really means to say, it's something that we were hoping for. It's something that we've got. You know, we're here because we've got to cover it because it's a big national event. But we were hoping to the dark side of it. We were hoping to find all the militarism. We were hoping to find that at some point Trump couldn't resist and he would just give a Nazi salute, pile Trump. Oh, they were hoping for it. They were desperate for it.
They didn't find it. What they found was the real America. What they found was there's still something common in this country and that they might find themselves in the minority of Oh, we came, we looked, and we couldn't find the darkness. The darkness wasn't there. Oh, we were ready to report on it. Yes, we came in on a Saturday. Chris Hayes is working on a Saturday. He's gonna report, he's going to show, oh my gosh, look how bad this is. And they couldn't find.
The one thing.
I will say, I want to go back to you Ali that that again, when we talk about the sort of tension in the country, and sometimes you know, you and I have both been at Trump rallies, those can be you know, very tense kind of I would say, like kind of a dark malevolent energy sometimes in them, not always, but it doesn't seem like that energy on the c on the mall today, which I think is a good sign, right.
Correct that you're you're you're really correct about that, Chris. And it's something we you know, we we were watching for. I'm just sort of surprised by the number of people who were at the front of the parade watching, cheering, and then would come and ask to.
Take a selfie. This is a very different this is a very different mood here. It's people seem to be.
Going out of their way to to say that they're here to celebrate the Army's two hundred and fiftieth birthday. Now there are people walking around with signs. A moment ago, while you were dying to gen, guy just came around and said Trump twenty twenty eight, And I said, how does that work?
Exactly?
And he's like laughing and had a bit flag on him. So there's something politicization here, but it is not it's it's not dark, it's not tense, it's not amptup. Yes, it's different, it's a it's it's different from from lovering a.
Trump rally you and I find fascinating, which he can completely goes over his head.
You know, Well we saw a little bit of it, you know.
I you know, I found a guy came up to me who had a Trump twenty twenty eight, you know, draped in a flag or something, and I asked him exactly how does that work?
And he just laughed.
He does not the reporter does not get that we all know Trump cannot and will not run for president in twenty twenty eight. He's just trolling the media and they don't get they don't get the joke. They don't get the joke whatsoever. And it's so easy to troll them that they completely missed the point altogether. So I would say, hats off. Not just to the President, but to the United States Army, to the Pentagon, to the
Department of Defense. For the organizers, the producers, all of the people that organize are doing all the logistics and pulling up of what turned out to be a really magnificent celebration of what group of people and all of the technology and all of the armaments and everything else that we have that keep this country free and living in liberty.
It was today, June.
Sixteenth, twenty fifteen, that Donald Trump descended that golden escalator in Trump Tower and right into the history books. And if you think back to that day, the press corps snicker, they laughed, The consultant class all rolled their eyes, all the Establishment of Republicans snickered in the hallways of Congress. Late night comedians had a feast, and a lot of
people thought it was a joke. I think what they missed, and what they still miss is the a Trump isn't Trump's not the guy that invented the anger that powered his campaign. Trump noticed the anger and he was the first to notice it. And then the pundas what did they do?
Well?
They focused on Trump's bombast. Trump was always bombasting, and you think back prior to that day. On June sixteenth, twenty fifteen, everybody in the cabal always want you know, Oprah and everybody all you know the view, they all, oh, they all wanted to be around Donald Trump. When Donald Trump and Malania got married, every Democrat politician in New
York wanted to go rub shoulders with them. But I think what everybody missed was that voters in twenty fifteen turns out in twenty sixteen, they were focus on something else. And I think that was because Trump was saying out loud the things that you and I had been thinking for years. In twenty fifteen, Trump said, how many of us have always thought this about China. They're ripping us off. That's not elegant, but that's exactly how you and I think, Yeah,
they're ripping us off. And it was true. So all the elitists were still chasing free trade utopias, praising the rules based international order. But Trump tapped into what the voters already knew from experience that all those free trade agreements napped, as it was called at the time, factories were empty, Cheap goods didn't make up for lost jobs. Beijing wasn't playing fair, We recognized and we're bitching about immigration,
his now infamous remarks about the border. In that very I remember that very first speech that he gave about the border.
Oh my gosh. The critics were just that they were.
They were shocked. How dare you say that? And so while the cabal is shocked, ordinary Americans are saying that guy thinks like I do, that guy talks like I do. We were frustrated with rising crime, strained resources, told that we have to live on less and less and less, that we have to change all these things about how we transport, how we house ourselves, what we eat, everything that we've talked about for you know, two almost two
decades on this program. And of course I think what I find most fascinating thinking back to that, having been in d C for almost six years, was the institutional distrust. I mean, I remember leaving d C thinking there's not a damn thing about DC that I trust. By twenty fifteen, faith in the media, the government, the justice system, everything was collapsing. Now Trump hasn't restored trust necessarily, but he
confirmed that the distrust was justified. And that's why the whole mantra about draining the swamp landed and hit so hard and stuck. That's why his remember fake news. We don't hear so much about fake news anymore because.
We well, we know that it is.
He didn't win because he was a polished politician. He won because he was early and willing to say what. He was just a reflection of the everyman. So what's the next unstayable truth? You know what, I'm going to revamp the next hour. What what's the next unsailable truth?