On Balance | Despite growing anger, Trump marches on with his projections of power

There was nothing wrong with the idea that America might want a 250th anniversary celebration of the US Army. The celebration that US President Donald Trump finally got after pushing for it since his first term could have been billed as a front-running event connected to the country’s 250th birthday, since we are almost one year away from that significant date.

And for those longing for a break from the blood sport that US politics has become, the event did not end up as Trumpian as might have been expected. Although the president was positioned between two tanks on his reviewing stand – a set piece that made him appear as the central figure – he still managed to get through his speech without repeating election lies or lashing out at his political enemies. A gold star for him.

Beginning with a historically costumed fife and drum corps and then continuing through the eras of battle machinery, the presentation did not veer into political territory unless you were watching on Fox News, where Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth offered commentary including: “The haters can hate. Let them. We don’t care.”

The Trump-friendly Newsmax offered up commentary that would make North Korean leader Kim Jong-un blush. Meanwhile, major broadcast media such as CNN toggled between images of the parade and the millions of Americans at “No Kings” demonstrations that proceeded from Bucksport, Maine to Los Angeles, where police used tear gas and flash bangs to disperse protesters.

The president must have known in the run-up to the parade how large and widespread the protests against him were shaping up to be. If he didn’t, the political assassination of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, which Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called an act of “targeted political violence”, should have given him the message that the nation needed a salve.