Would Trump military parade merely honor the REMFs of the world?

I find it somewhat odd that President Donald J. Trump would be taking inspiration from France and Bastille Day for a way to put on a great big spectacle ultimately paying tribute to himself.

This is what inspired Donald Trump to think of a military parade in the streets of D.C.

For the storming of the Bastille, which led to the ultimate overthrow of King Louis XVI, was literally a moment when the peasants of France overthrew their wealthy royal nobleman of a leader who actually supported the concept of American independence – someone who along with Marie Antoinette were most definitely not of the people.

YOU’D THINK THAT even Trump would realize that he’s the comparative figure to Louis (with first lady Melania being the equivalent of the alleged “cake eating” lady). The comparable move would be if the masses of this country (the majority of whom didn’t vote for him) were to get fed up enough to violently overthrow him.

Is that really the image Trump wants to put in the public mindset? Besides, I thought the Trump-types were the ones who openly denounced anything associated with France?

Somebody’s not thinking this all the way through. But as Trump himself said, he saw the big Bastille Day parade last year in France, saw the grand martial display of power and authority, and wishes he could have something similar to pay tribute to himself.

How Trumpian is the image of old ...

Which has led to countless numbers of people using their Photoshop software to create all kinds of goofy images portraying Trump as some sort of equivalent of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

WHICH WOULD BE the closest you’d find to photographic images of Trump in a military uniform – for as so many have pointed out, he was of military age during the Vietnam War era, yet managed to avoid doing any sort of military service.

Heck, even George W. Bush could claim to have been in the Texas Air National Guard (although some insist he didn’t even fulfill the minimum service requirements) back in that era.

Not that I expect the ideologues who claim to value military service to mind so much – maybe they can be bought off by the image of a military parade. Forget about a Trump presidency actually accomplishing anything significant or meeting any of its promises.

... of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette?

You got a great big garish parade!!!

IF YOU’VE GOT the impression by now that I don’t think much of the idea of a parade, you’d be correct.

It’s actually mostly because I don’t really care much for parades in general. There are more sincere ways to pay tribute to someone than to stage a grand spectacle clogging the streets of the city, while expecting the masses to stand passively by.

I think those who serve in the military deserve more than a parade whose real purpose would be to pay tribute to the man with the bad combover whom many (including my sister-in-law, Vicki) refer to as the “big cheetoh.”

Perhaps it’s because I remember the two big military spectacles in Chicago during my adult life – back in 1986 and 1991. The latter was a series of parades held across the country to pay tribute to those who were in the military (including a cousin of mine) during the Gulf War of 1990.

Is this Trump's image of himself?

REMEMBER WHEN WE were foolish enough to have thought we resolved all the disarray and chaos of the Middle East in a matter of two months in Kuwait?

The former was when some types of people felt the need to finally put an end to the Vietnam era by staging parades welcoming back the troops who were so callously ignored when they really returned home more than a decade earlier.

I still remember watching that parade, and being told by veterans who actually saw combat that the crowds of former soldiers on display here were most likely the “REMFs” who never even came close to the front lines of fighting (figure out the obscenity for yourself). Is that what we’re most likely to see from a military spectacle in this Age of Trump?

DUCKWORTH: Most accurate?

If that’s the case, then perhaps Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is correct with her latest fund-raising e-mail, in which she says troops, “don’t need a show of bravado. They need steady leadership. They need long term funding.” And if they don’t get it, perhaps someday the masses will be offended enough to revolt in a Bastille-style image against Trump Tower buildings around the country. That would be gory.

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It just doesn’t “feel” right

I comprehend the idea of a shorter Taste of Chicago as an event that fits better within the budget of city officials.



Grant Park's pristine beauty will be besmirched for a few days this week for our city's annual, but abbreviated, food fest



I’m sure there are many people who only go one day per year. So they will still have five days to pick from beginning Wednesday, and they will have the option of gorging themselves on whatever edibles they choose to spend lots of money on.

AND AS FOR those people who work downtown and like to make several stops, they’ll still be able to do that for a few days this week.

But somehow, I can’t help but think that this year’s Taste of Chicago just doesn’t feel right. And it’s not because of the fact that the guy who cooks those ridiculously huge turkey legs (bigger that some peoples’ heads) won’t be among the event’s vendors.

It’s the timing of the event. I can’t help but think this is taking place a week late. Monday should be the day that we do the final review of how much cleanup had to be done to restore Grant Park to its potentially-pristine condition. Because it should be over by now.

But it isn’t. It hasn’t yet begun.

IT’S GOING TO take some getting used to.

Because in my mind, and those of many other Chicago residents, the Taste of Chicago is a summer-time event that coincides with Independence Day celebration.

It was a 10-day string that would be scheduled to include the July 4 holiday proper, along with the July 3 fireworks display along the lakefront near Navy Pier.

Chicago knew how to throw an Independence Day party. But that is all now history.

FOR CITY OFFICIALS gave up a couple of years ago on the downtown fireworks display – leaving many Chicago-area residents who used to converge on the central and near North part of the city to have to resort to whatever nearby suburban village was having its own fireworks show.

And now, we’re waiting until after Independence Day is over and done with before even beginning the Taste of Chicago. Although I suppose those people who show up on Saturday can claim to be celebrating Bastille Day!

Even if, to the best of my knowledge, none of the restaurants whose foodstuffs are being offered up are serving anything even remotely resembling French cuisine

For those who want to rant that it would be wrong to celebrate a French holiday, keep in mind that Milwaukee has an official festival for that date each and every year.

AND IT WAS the French who were the original European colonizers to much of the Midwestern U.S. Does anyone really believe that the English would have come up with a name like Illinois?

Even if they tried to use variations on native tribal names, they likely would have come up with a more Anglicized spelling than anything ending in an “ois.”

Not that I’m pushing for a Bastille Day celebration in Chicago any time soon. Or that I even care all that much personally about the idea of a shorter Taste of Chicago.

It just seems that we’ve lost something that made the event rather special by having it tied into the holiday in which we celebrate our nation’s birth.

BECAUSE WITHOUT THAT tie, the event becomes nothing more than a chance to feed one’s face with too many variations of pizza and barbecue, along with various takes on ethnic cuisines ranging from Italian to Mexican to Irish to African.

And, of course, fried chicken from Harold’s – which portrays itself as the ultimate South Side joint.

Although if Taste of Chicago officials really wanted good chicken from a neighborhood joint, they’d include a stand from Hienie’s -- located around 104^th Street on Torrence Avenue, for those of you who never venture south of Roosevelt Road.

Smothered in the store’s “hot” sauce (forget the mild version), it is a treat I don’t get all that often. But is something that adds to the cuisine character of Chicago. Which is what this event is supposed to be all about!

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