Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty
Dear Commons Community,
Biographer Michael Wolff revealed yesterday that Trump was unhappy with his sparsely attended military parade over the weekend and blamed it on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,
Wolff told The Daily Beast Podcast that Trump wanted a “menacing” show of force to celebrate the Army’s 250th anniversary and his 79th birthday on Saturday—but got a “festive” parade instead.
“He’s p—ed off at the soldiers,” Wolff said. “He’s accusing them of hamming it up, and by that, he seems to mean that they were having a good time, that they were waving, that they were enjoying themselves and showing a convivial face rather than a military face.”
As thousands of soldiers flanked by tanks made their way past empty bleachers along Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., social media users pointed out that the soldiers were marching out of sync, and the muted atmosphere appeared to match the gloomy weather.
That didn’t escape Trump, who pointed the finger at his defense secretary, according to Wolff.
“He kind of reamed out Hegseth for this,” the Trump biographer said. “Apparently, there was a phone call, and he said to Hegseth, the tone was all wrong. Why was the tone wrong? Who staged this? There was the tone problem. Trump, he keeps repeating himself.”
“It didn’t send the message that he apparently wanted, which is that he was the commander in chief of this menacing enterprise,” Wolff added.
Publicly, Trump has insisted that his parade was a “tremendous” success even after it was overshadowed by “No Kings” demonstrations across the country, which drew in millions of Americans who protested against the president’s sweeping immigration agenda.
Trump’ parade showed the world that he is a crass individual who has not learned that respect and leadership is based on what is in one’s heart and brains not in military machines. And in Trump world, there has to be a fall guy and Hegseth was it.
Tony
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