Get ready for the stunning, loud, political message:
First there will be a UFC fight with 5,000 spectators on the South Lawn of the White House. It will be a show of masculine vigor, dominance to celebrate President Trump’s 80th birthday.
Two weeks later, there will be 860,000 fireworks for July 4, a record display for the nation’s 250th birthday.
A month later comes a never-before-seen sight of high-speed cars racing on the roads around the National Mall.
And look for a “Summer Surge” of National Guard troops, U.S. Marshals and ICE agents offering a theatrical display of uniformed military in the nation’s capital.
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Wait — there is even more to make sure you get the message.
All around Washington, D.C., there will be “Freedom Trucks,” displaying the history of the Founding Fathers based on information from a conservative school, PragerU.
And Freedom Plaza, where the words “Black Lives Matter” once boldly marked the roadway, will be home to statues of history makers, including slave owners.
There will be a sea of American flags, banners with Trump’s picture on federal buildings, and speeches full of calls for patriotic acclaim of the president.
OK, do you get the message now?
President Trump is stirring spectator awe and wrapping it red, white and blue to rally political support for his administration. He is making critics look small and irrelevant, like “nattering nabobs of negativism,” to quote former Vice President Agnew.
Any critical coverage of inflation, war and the president using federal government personnel and facilities, including the hard-to-believe use of the White House as a stage for a bloody fight, will be treated as an afterthought and a buzz kill.
His message of “Patriotic Americans Support Trump” will be amplified by every American news organization. Television coverage, newspaper stories, internet algorithms, and social media feeds will be inundated with coverage of the “Trump Show.”
This year’s Trump media production is unprecedented. But it builds on the big show held last year for Trump’s 2025 birthday celebration. Thousands of troops paraded in the capital. He also had 50 helicopters as well as high-powered military jets flying over the White House. Trump discarded criticism of such an over-the-top exhibition by pointing out that the 250th anniversary of the Army’s founding fell in the same timeframe.
Now there is no pretense, and media will compete to cover one stunning spectacle after another, all featuring the president as the central character, master of ceremonies, and honored guest.
With all the hoopla, don’t expect to be reminded of his 2017 inaugural speech about “American carnage.” Trump evoked images of dysfunctional, crime-soaked American cities and failing American industries while drug addicts haunted the American landscape.
Also, don’t count on reporters to break in with a mention of Trump’s lack of military service. He never served. He got a deferment based on a claim of bone spurs.
And do you expect mention of Trump’s disrespect of a prisoner of war? During the 2015 campaign, Trump denigrated a Navy fighter pilot who spent five years in a Vietnamese prison camp. Trump said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was only considered a “war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
Trump’s references to Americans who lost their lives in war as “suckers,” and “losers,” during a trip to Europe, according to a 2018 story in The Atlantic, will also be hard to find anywhere.
And with all the exploding fireworks, who will be able to hear about Trump castigating the Gold Star parents of a U.S. Army captain? Trump dismissed them after they criticized him at a Democratic convention.
Also, out of the picture for the coming celebration is Trump’s record of putting down military veterans in politics who criticize him as “not patriotic.”
Sen. Mark Kelly (D- Ariz.) was an astronaut and fighter pilot who flew 39 combat missions. Trump has said that Kelly and other Senate Democrats with military service who called on service members to refuse “illegal orders,” have engaged in “seditious behavior,” and it might be “punishable by DEATH.”
Trump also disinvited another veteran, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, to an annual White House dinner for governors. Trump has dismissed Moore as doing a “terrible job,” and “foul-mouthed.”
Moore’s military service is the subject of a new book — and the inspiration for its title — “Courage Can Save Us” by Marine Corps veteran Rye Barcott, co-founder and CEO of With Honor Action, an organization mentoring veterans in public service.
After earning a Rhodes Scholarship, he deployed to Afghanistan as an Army paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne.
Moore began his public service career after the military under a Republican trailblazer: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In 2006, Moore served as a White House Fellow and special assistant to Rice.
Some conservatives have tried to tarnish Moore’s exemplary record. Critics have made exaggerated claims surrounding Moore’s Bronze Star commendation, which was reportedly delayed because of a paperwork error.
Trump has not embraced Moore. He has never apologized for his callous comments about Kelly or even the deceased McCain.
But it will be hard to notice any flaws in Trump in the bloody, red glare of fighters bashing each other and late nights of fireworks bursting in the air.
That’s the message.
