Speaker 1: We survived the parade. I wasn't sure whether we would
Speaker 1: be able to or not. And I do confess I
Speaker 1: think I've said this publicly. I think I've said it
Speaker 1: on there. I know I've said it to friends that
Speaker 1: I had a little I was worrisome about the pearete
Speaker 1: the parade. Does everybody know what parade I'm talking about. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about the No Kings bull crap. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the Army's two hundred and fiftieth birthday celebration
Speaker 1: parade that took place along Constitution Avenue in front of
Speaker 1: the Ellipse in Washington, d C. Over the weekend. And
Speaker 1: I confess that I thought either one or two things
Speaker 1: might occur. I thought one that it might be and
Speaker 1: could easily fall into the trap of be a gigantic
Speaker 1: birthday celebration for Donald Trump, and therefore it would be
Speaker 1: perceived as, particularly with the cabal, it would be perceived as, oh,
Speaker 1: it was nothing more than this, you know, Trump using
Speaker 1: you know, the military to celebrate his birthday. I really
Speaker 1: was concerned about that. I was concerned that some of
Speaker 1: the people surrounding Trump might turn it into that. But
Speaker 1: I was more concerned that the cabal would turn it
Speaker 1: into that, because if the cabal has the opportunity to
Speaker 1: take anything that is good and decent and turn it
Speaker 1: into crap, the cabal will do that. If the cabal
Speaker 1: has any opportunity to take anything that is just fairly
Speaker 1: routine political discourse or debate or arguments in this country
Speaker 1: and turn it into a full fledged, you know, World
Speaker 1: War three, they will do that. So I got to
Speaker 1: watch the beginnings of it, some coverage of it. Then
Speaker 1: obviously I saw highlights, because you know, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: sit around watch it in the entire time because I've
Speaker 1: got other things to do. So I watched the beginning,
Speaker 1: then I watched bits and pieces, and then of course
Speaker 1: then doing show prep yesterday.
Speaker 2: I saw even more of it.
Speaker 1: Well, Trump's decision to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth
Speaker 1: anniversary of the United States Army with this military parade
Speaker 1: in Washington turned out that it was not a political stunt,
Speaker 1: and it was not an exercise in pomp and circumstances.
Speaker 1: I would describe it as a moral act of national
Speaker 1: restoration after years of demoralization, as exemplified by the inability
Speaker 1: to meet recruitment numbers through politicized mandates. You know you
Speaker 1: you know DEI requirements, lowering the standards for the military,
Speaker 1: device EVE ideological training, a pure institutional neglect, just truly
Speaker 1: neglecting the military. That parade offered a chance to remind
Speaker 1: Americans who we are and what the Army has long
Speaker 1: stood for duty, honor, and country, and it was presented
Speaker 1: in a way that was actually now the Obviously I
Speaker 1: was watching watching it on Fox News, although I would
Speaker 1: occasionally flip over to CNN and MSNBC to see what
Speaker 1: their coverage was, and when I would, I would find
Speaker 1: that most often or more often than not, they weren't
Speaker 1: showing the parade, and they weren't carrying the the sound
Speaker 1: of the parade announcer in said they had some talking
Speaker 1: head talking about something. So then I go back over
Speaker 1: to Fox because I wanted to see the parade and
Speaker 1: I wanted to hear what the announcer was saying, because
Speaker 1: the announcer was doing a what I would would say
Speaker 1: was an extraordinary job talking about the history of what
Speaker 1: was being presented in front of those along the parade route,
Speaker 1: what they were seeing. Now, I know the critics are
Speaker 1: goring to scoff and as I was fearful it could
Speaker 1: it could, it could have turned into one of these
Speaker 1: authoritarian relics, signs of militarism, uh, signs of the you know,
Speaker 1: the the old Red Square, and all the Soviet Union
Speaker 1: leaders from Gorbatchov back to Khrushchev and others standing on
Speaker 1: the walls of the Kremlin as the tanks and the
Speaker 1: missiles and all the armaments were presented, and they all
Speaker 1: stood and saluted, you know, reigning over their military. But
Speaker 1: one that didn't occur. But that objection completely collapsed under
Speaker 1: the presentation of the history that was presented, and it
Speaker 1: got me to say, military parades and democracies. For example,
Speaker 1: I over the weekend I casually mentioned that in my
Speaker 1: hometown we have what's called Pioneer Days. It's usually, I
Speaker 1: think the first weekend in May. I haven't been to
Speaker 1: it in ages, but I remember as a kid watching
Speaker 1: it all the time. And of course there would be floats,
Speaker 1: there would be you know, marching bands, there would be
Speaker 1: horses and cows. People would march, you know, they would
Speaker 1: bring the longhorns, long horn steers in from some of
Speaker 1: the ranches around and people would march, you know, steer
Speaker 1: and cattle and cows whatever. They'd march along, and of
Speaker 1: course the horses and the horses and the cows are
Speaker 1: all pooping, and I would think to myself, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: how many cows, I mean, how many cows do you
Speaker 1: have to see? Because there's there wasn't any history.
Speaker 2: To the cattle.
Speaker 1: Now, some of the parade floats would present the history
Speaker 1: of the Oklahoma Panhandle, and so there would be you know,
Speaker 1: there would be floats that would talk about the dust
Speaker 1: Bow or you know, certain periods of time, and it would,
Speaker 1: you know, go up and it'd be sponsored by you know,
Speaker 1: local merchants or you know, the Chamber of Commerce or
Speaker 1: different organizations. Churches would have floats and they would have,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a little bit of history of their
Speaker 1: church on the float.
Speaker 2: Well that's kind of what this was. Now.
Speaker 1: It wasn't a bunch of steers, it wasn't a bunch
Speaker 1: of cows. There weren't too many horses, and there wasn't
Speaker 1: a lot of poop left on the streets. But it
Speaker 1: made me realize that really a military parade in a
Speaker 1: constitutional republic is not an expression of tyranny. What we
Speaker 1: saw on Saturday was actually an affirmation of gratitude. It
Speaker 1: was thanking those and you could tell from the faces
Speaker 1: of the people that were in the parade that they
Speaker 1: were actually enjoying themselves. They were kind of relishing in
Speaker 1: the attention that they were getting, and I think rightfully so.
Speaker 1: And it also served another purpose. It reminded us that
Speaker 1: freedom has always had a cost, and that someone's son
Speaker 1: or daughter was willing to pay for it. I can't
Speaker 1: take I can't take credit for finding this. It appeared
Speaker 1: on my X speed yesterday. By the way, if you're
Speaker 1: not following me on X, I don't know why you're not.
Speaker 1: You should be at Michael Brown USA. Let's go back
Speaker 1: to June eighth, nineteen ninety one, the CBS Evening News
Speaker 1: with Bob Scheffer. Bob Sheefer, who I think just passed
Speaker 1: away recently. But Bob Schefer, who was with CBS News
Speaker 1: probably his entire career, was not a Walter Cronkite. He
Speaker 1: was not an Edward Ard Murrow. Bob she He for
Speaker 1: truly was a die hard liberal. He was a fanatical liberal.
Speaker 1: But here he is as the anchor of the CBS
Speaker 1: Evening News on June eighth, nineteen ninety one, I'll let
Speaker 1: you figure out the importance of the date.
Speaker 3: Poy good evening. Well already they are saying tonight. It
Speaker 3: was the biggest military celebration in the nation's capital since
Speaker 3: World War II, as Washington today honored the U S
Speaker 3: servicemen and women who fought in the Gulf War, both
Speaker 3: those who returned and those who died. Two hundred thousand
Speaker 3: enthusiastic spectators watched a parade of troops and their weapons,
Speaker 3: all part of the National Victory Celebration.
Speaker 2: Eric Kingbert has our report.
Speaker 4: It was a day for saying thank you to heroes. Kiddingly,
Speaker 4: it began with those who did not come back, Hey
Speaker 4: todd Man Arlington National Cemetery. President Bush placed a wreath
Speaker 4: at the two of the unknowns and fighter planes passed
Speaker 4: over in the Missing Wingman formation to honor the men
Speaker 4: and women who died in the Gulf War. The President
Speaker 4: choked back tears several times as he spoke directly to
Speaker 4: loved ones of those who die.
Speaker 5: We celebrate the fact that each person we commemorate today
Speaker 5: gave up life for principles larger than each of.
Speaker 1: Us, which is something that everyone who joins the United
Speaker 1: States military knows that that may be the ultimate thing
Speaker 1: that they have to do, is to give up their life,
Speaker 1: to sacrifice their life for a principle that is greater
Speaker 1: than all of us, and that is our freedoms and
Speaker 1: our liberties.
Speaker 5: Principles that at the same time form the muscle and
Speaker 5: strength of our national heart.
Speaker 4: Aileen Rawlins said her son Jeffrey, killed in the desert,
Speaker 4: would have liked the ceremony.
Speaker 6: Jeff was total military.
Speaker 5: He left the service.
Speaker 6: He loved his country.
Speaker 4: Fay Hawes's son Jimmy, died when a missile hit his tank.
Speaker 4: He loved what he was doing, and he died for what.
Speaker 6: He believed in.
Speaker 4: On the wide boulevards, just a few blocks from the
Speaker 4: White House, eight thousand Desert Storm troops were moving out,
Speaker 4: and once again it was General Norman Schwarzkopf who sept
Speaker 4: the cadence, leading the way as far as the Presidential Box,
Speaker 4: where he spent the rest of the parade as cheerleader
Speaker 4: and spot her for a clearly delighted George Bush. So
Speaker 4: much military hardware was moving that at times it appeared
Speaker 4: Washington was under attack. The Stelf bomber, oddly shaped to
Speaker 4: deceive radar, led a fleet of eighty two planes over
Speaker 4: the parade route. The Patriot missile got the what is
Speaker 4: the applause of the day. Several hundred thousand spectators lined the streets,
Speaker 4: most with the same message.
Speaker 5: We're here just to say thank you and to celebrate
Speaker 5: our victory, but to say thank you to all the
Speaker 5: men and women who serve.
Speaker 6: In the armed forces.
Speaker 7: I think that this is a wonderful occasion, but we
Speaker 7: don't want it to happen again.
Speaker 4: Enterprise, we don't want war.
Speaker 6: Peace.
Speaker 4: Activists had protested against today's celebrations, but they drew only
Speaker 4: a few protesters to their rally. A Harrier jetfighter on
Speaker 4: display near the parade was splashed with blood, and the
Speaker 4: protesters were arrested and taken away, But the overall mood
Speaker 4: BOB was overwhelmingly celebratory and upbeat. And now on Washington's Mall,
Speaker 4: several hundred thousand people have gathered for a USO show tonight,
Speaker 4: which will be capped off by what they say will
Speaker 4: be the biggest fireworks display.
Speaker 2: In Washington history.
Speaker 4: Derek.
Speaker 3: This of course, was called a celebration to honor those
Speaker 3: who fought this war, but in many ways it was
Speaker 3: also in honor of the people back home.
Speaker 2: Must I think that's.
Speaker 4: Right, Bob. I think that we sent one of the
Speaker 4: most professional armies in American history to fight the war
Speaker 4: against Addam Hussein. They didn't expect any parades on the
Speaker 4: way back. They just felt that they had done what
Speaker 4: they were told to do and had accomplished their job.
Speaker 4: But I think the civilian sector of the country, the
Speaker 4: Americans who remember Vietnam and the divisions of that era,
Speaker 4: all wanted to make sure that the mistakes that happened
Speaker 4: at the end of that war weren't repeated, and that
Speaker 4: these troops were given a hearty thank you, and that
Speaker 4: was all accomplished.
Speaker 2: Today this is the cabal now.
Speaker 1: Granted it's nineteen ninety one, but my, how they have changed.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine that kind of reporting from any place
Speaker 1: other than say, Fox News, Newsmax or Away in today?
Speaker 2: Thank Aarin.
Speaker 3: Marching isn't always fun, but for these soldiers and today's
Speaker 3: the experience was one big love feast. Pentagon. Correspond to
Speaker 3: Jim Stewart, now with that.
Speaker 6: Than you you help that you deserve it. If it
Speaker 6: was in uniform today, it got hugged, kissed, saluted, and
Speaker 6: cheered because the American military experienced an outpouring of affection
Speaker 6: not witnessed here in forty five years. Fantastic is huge.
Speaker 2: There's so many people.
Speaker 6: I ain't seen as many people in my life. It
Speaker 6: was a day in search of superlatives. It's a spectacular.
Speaker 2: I think it's great.
Speaker 6: Fantastic, breathtaking is nice.
Speaker 2: Sortas think this a nice little key. You don't legacy it,
Speaker 2: don't get an a.
Speaker 6: Credit to a day for the heroes of Desert Storm
Speaker 6: to struct their stuff. Right now, listener Hummus is telling
Speaker 6: me that the weapon is Plessinger, a day when soldiers
Speaker 6: became celebrities. I may autograph it three or.
Speaker 4: Four does now you're trying to get the writer's cramp.
Speaker 6: Had a hereby for me. I've had people give me
Speaker 6: shirts T shirts. Well, I had one lady in particular,
Speaker 6: in an airport in Law.
Speaker 7: I was in the uniform and she started crying and
Speaker 7: she was just welcoming home.
Speaker 5: And it was very overwhelming for me because I just
Speaker 5: didn't expect anything like that.
Speaker 6: No one quite expected anything like this.
Speaker 7: I felt it Thos, you know, I could feel the
Speaker 7: electricity throughout the crowd as we were marching through.
Speaker 5: Good Maybe good town or a little small town in
Speaker 5: your hometown have prayed for you, but nothing like this.
Speaker 2: I think it's fantastic.
Speaker 5: I was also in Vietnam and we didn't have.
Speaker 7: Anything like this coming back.
Speaker 6: I think it's great. Everyone, it seemed, had that other
Speaker 6: war on their mind as well.
Speaker 7: Today everyone's a little guilty about the Vietnam that they
Speaker 7: didn't have as.
Speaker 1: Much recognition that it's a way of showing that we're
Speaker 1: sorry and let's.
Speaker 6: Start all over again. Work and some did thank you,
Speaker 6: welcome home. I owe you, thank you. Jim Stewart's CBS
Speaker 6: News Washington.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine that report today?
Speaker 1: You know? Often Trump has referred to the French parade
Speaker 1: the Bestille Parade every year since eighteen eighty. The French
Speaker 1: of line the champsy Lese on July fourteenth to witness
Speaker 1: the Bastille Day Parade in twenty seventeen. It featured thirty
Speaker 1: seven hundred soldiers, two hundred eleven vehicles and callous aircraft,
Speaker 1: and not a sole accused France and descending into fascism.
Speaker 2: Instead.
Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, then and now French President Emmanuel Macrone
Speaker 1: stood shoulder to shoulder with President Trump, in recognition of
Speaker 1: shared Western values and the marshal traditions that protect him.
Speaker 1: In Great Britain Trooping the color that's been held annually
Speaker 1: since seventeen forty eight, celebrating the monarch's official birthday, over
Speaker 1: fourteen hundred soldiers participate, two hundred horses, four hundred musicians.
Speaker 1: Controversy of the prey and Great Britain is beloved. It's televised,
Speaker 1: attended by the royals, embraced by Britain's across the entire
Speaker 1: political spectrum. So why do these nations France, Britain, Canada,
Speaker 1: and yes, now the United States hold military parades because
Speaker 1: we know that a nation that forgets its defenders is
Speaker 1: a nation that is going to be conquered. In fact,
Speaker 1: is saying to the world we can be conquered. Civic rituals,
Speaker 1: however grand, however humble, help reinforce our identity. And despite
Speaker 1: the bleeding of the of the academicians, the protesters, all
Speaker 1: of the goobers on the other side of the political spectrum.
Speaker 1: I think the average American understands the difference between reverence
Speaker 1: and nationalism run amok, and they're not just symbols. I
Speaker 1: think what we saw over the weekend had a material
Speaker 1: psychological impact. It helps increase civic engagement, national cohesion. It
Speaker 1: fosters pride among civilians and veterans alike, and it counters
Speaker 1: the alienation that some service members feel. And economically, of course,
Speaker 1: is a boom to tourism, which brings us to the towns.
Speaker 1: Un In America in more than nineteen thousand incorporated places.
Speaker 1: Thousands of parades like this take place annually, and of
Speaker 1: course generally over the fourth of July. So when Trump
Speaker 1: called for that parade to honor the Armies two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty on their versary, he's not calling for a spectacle.
Speaker 2: He's calling for a renewal.
Speaker 1: He's saying enough is enough, enough to the forced injections,
Speaker 1: enough to dei struggles, enough to see unfit officers promoted
Speaker 1: because they checked the right boxes. The parade was not performity,
Speaker 1: it was security. It was an antidote to demoralization, and
Speaker 1: I think it accomplished everything.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Michael and Dragon.
Speaker 6: I'm not sure if it's back yet.
Speaker 7: Oh this is your favorite jew goober, and I would
Speaker 7: like to tell you that when I was back in
Speaker 7: high school, I was at RGC and I was in
Speaker 7: the parade on the Veterans Day Parade, and it was
Speaker 7: awesome walking down the sheet and everybody's waving at It's
Speaker 7: pretty awesome. And I was watching the parade myself and
Speaker 7: it was just amazing. It was said, goose bumps down
Speaker 7: my spine. So yeah, hey, have a good week.
Speaker 2: Mad dog? What mad what? Mad dog?
Speaker 8: At the you you're a nice angry dog in the background.
Speaker 2: Oh, I couldn't hear.
Speaker 1: I didn't.
Speaker 2: I didn't notice it.
Speaker 6: You didn't hear the growling.
Speaker 1: No, I'm just used to listening to our what he claims.
Speaker 1: He thinks that he's our favorite jew, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: realize that we have several Jews in the audience.
Speaker 2: And listen close this time. Okay, it was just amazing.
Speaker 7: It was it was bumps down my spine.
Speaker 2: So yeah, well there is something in the background. I'm
Speaker 2: not quite sure what of it. Angry dog growling here.
Speaker 2: I boosted it, demon dog. He hasn't been fed yet.
Speaker 2: They don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know why they they they'd rather talk to
Speaker 1: us than you know, feed the poor pets.
Speaker 2: That's just how good of a show.
Speaker 4: This is.
Speaker 2: Exactly right. And he got hungry cat.
Speaker 1: Quite frankly, I'm hungry. So there you got that too.
Speaker 1: So this parade is and I think the reason I
Speaker 1: want to emphasize the parade even though it's over with,
Speaker 1: is because it is not performative at all. I would
Speaker 1: argue that it was actually kind of curity. It was
Speaker 1: an antidote to the demoralization that for nearly four years,
Speaker 1: the not just the army, but the entire military has
Speaker 1: had to I mean, they just had to apologize for existing.
Speaker 2: Soldiers.
Speaker 1: Well, your masculinity is toxic, your traditions are exclusionary, they're
Speaker 1: spree to core. Well, it must have been to the
Speaker 1: altar of intersectionality. In other words, they were trying to
Speaker 1: take something that's supposed to be uh, uniformed, disciplined, you know,
Speaker 1: has a singular mission, and trying to fit it into
Speaker 1: all of the bull crap cultural stuff that goes on
Speaker 1: in our society. They you know, imagine, imagine having to
Speaker 1: sit through a lecture on gender fluidity, white fragility. And
Speaker 1: as I said earlier, the recruitment recruitment numbers just fell
Speaker 1: to the worst levels in the history of the military,
Speaker 1: and our readiness continued to decline. So you end up
Speaker 1: with the crisis of morale and a crisis of trust.
Speaker 1: Now just compare and contrast that with what Trump presented yesterday.
Speaker 1: I thought one of the most significant moments. Imagine the honor.
Speaker 1: I mean, you enlisten in the military, and you know
Speaker 1: you get sworn in, but this time you get sworn
Speaker 1: in by the commander in chief, the President of the
Speaker 1: United States of America swears you in. That that's Trump's vision,
Speaker 1: a vision of a proud, strong, and unapologetic army marching
Speaker 1: through the United States capital, a country that loves them,
Speaker 1: and he that loves them also, and not because they're
Speaker 1: ponds of policy, but because they are the guardians of
Speaker 1: our liberty. What I find interesting is that many of
Speaker 1: the cabal would argue that he's politicizing the military. But
Speaker 1: that's actually an inversion of what's really going on. It's
Speaker 1: not politicizing in this case, in particular the army. It
Speaker 1: depoliticizes it. It replaces identity politics with national unity. It
Speaker 1: replaces bureaucratic jargon with sacred tradition. It allows the soldier
Speaker 1: to actually be a soldier, not a test subject, not
Speaker 1: a social experiment.
Speaker 2: And moreover, it sent.
Speaker 1: A message not just to the world. But to us,
Speaker 1: it reminded us of our history going all the way
Speaker 1: back to the Revolutionary War. And of course all of
Speaker 1: our adversaries are watching it too, and they see that
Speaker 1: that American spirit that was probably, if not dead, at
Speaker 1: least on life support for the past four years, the
Speaker 1: Republic has not surrendered to cynicism. And even within a
Speaker 1: philosophical tradition, there's always precedent for public ritual We have
Speaker 1: customs and rituals that well. Aristotle taught that habituation forms character.
Speaker 1: A parade habituates a nation to gratitude. It reminds people
Speaker 1: of forgetful people, the people that are isolated and tend
Speaker 1: to be divorced from the military, that there is real
Speaker 1: courage out there, that sacrifice is noble, that freedom is
Speaker 1: never free. That was not a call to arms. That
Speaker 1: what I saw on Saturday was not a call to arms.
Speaker 1: It was a call for a moment of appreciation, the
Speaker 1: revival of a civic rhythm that unites rich and poor, red.
Speaker 2: And blue, urban and rule.
Speaker 1: All the divides that exist. We can come together in that. Oh, yes,
Speaker 1: all of you know, somebody posted on my right. They
Speaker 1: didn't post, but I saw my timeline.
Speaker 2: Pictures.
Speaker 1: It was a side by side of the No King's
Speaker 1: group somewhere I don't know whether there doesn't make any difference,
Speaker 1: and over here was a picture next to it, side
Speaker 1: by side was a picture of the soldiers marching in
Speaker 1: the parade, and it has some snarky comment and so
Speaker 1: I reposted and simply said, you know what the poster
Speaker 1: fails to recognize is that the ability of the people
Speaker 1: on the left side in that side by side photograph,
Speaker 1: the protesters and the marcher, what preserves, protects and allows
Speaker 1: and permits them to do what they're doing, is guarded
Speaker 1: and preserved by the people on the right. And I
Speaker 1: think that's what we witnessed. That's exactly, and quite frankly,
Speaker 1: I think that's what somebody and over at MSNBC, Chris
Speaker 1: Hayes and others, I think it's what they recognized. Short
Speaker 1: little SoundBite from MSNBC's coverage of the parade.
Speaker 8: One thing I will say, I want to go back
Speaker 8: to you Ali that that again, when we talk about
Speaker 8: this sort of tension in the country, and sometimes you know,
Speaker 8: you and I have both been at Trump rallies, those
Speaker 8: can be you know, very tense kind of I would
Speaker 8: say like kind of a dark, malevolent energy sometimes in them,
Speaker 8: not always, but it doesn't seem like that's the energy
Speaker 8: on the on the mall today, which I think is
Speaker 8: a good sign, right, correct, that you're you're.
Speaker 9: You're really correct about that, Chris. And it's it's something
Speaker 9: we you know, we were watching for.
Speaker 1: It's something we were watching for. You know what he
Speaker 1: really means to say, it's something that we were hoping for.
Speaker 1: It's something that we've got. You know, we're here because
Speaker 1: we've got to cover it because it's a big national event.
Speaker 1: But we were hoping to the dark side of it.
Speaker 1: We were hoping to find all the militarism. We were
Speaker 1: hoping to find that at some point Trump couldn't resist
Speaker 1: and he would just give a Nazi salute, pile Trump. Oh,
Speaker 1: they were hoping for it. They were desperate for it.
Speaker 1: They didn't find it. What they found was the real America.
Speaker 1: What they found was there's still something common in this
Speaker 1: country and that they might find themselves in the minority
Speaker 1: of Oh, we came, we looked, and we couldn't find
Speaker 1: the darkness. The darkness wasn't there. Oh, we were ready
Speaker 1: to report on it. Yes, we came in on a Saturday.
Speaker 1: Chris Hayes is working on a Saturday. He's gonna report,
Speaker 1: he's going to show, oh my gosh, look how bad
Speaker 1: this is. And they couldn't find.
Speaker 6: The one thing.
Speaker 8: I will say, I want to go back to you
Speaker 8: Ali that that again, when we talk about the sort
Speaker 8: of tension in the country, and sometimes you know, you
Speaker 8: and I have both been at Trump rallies, those can
Speaker 8: be you know, very tense kind of I would say,
Speaker 8: like kind of a dark malevolent energy sometimes in them,
Speaker 8: not always, but it doesn't seem like that energy on
Speaker 8: the c on the mall today, which I think is
Speaker 8: a good sign, right.
Speaker 9: Correct that you're you're you're really correct about that, Chris.
Speaker 9: And it's something we you know, we we were watching for.
Speaker 9: I'm just sort of surprised by the number of people
Speaker 9: who were at the front of the parade watching, cheering,
Speaker 9: and then would come and ask to.
Speaker 6: Take a selfie. This is a very different this is
Speaker 6: a very different mood here. It's people seem to be.
Speaker 9: Going out of their way to to say that they're
Speaker 9: here to celebrate the Army's two hundred and fiftieth birthday.
Speaker 9: Now there are people walking around with signs. A moment ago,
Speaker 9: while you were dying to gen, guy just came around
Speaker 9: and said Trump twenty twenty eight, And I said, how
Speaker 9: does that work?
Speaker 6: Exactly?
Speaker 9: And he's like laughing and had a bit flag on him.
Speaker 9: So there's something politicization here, but it is not it's
Speaker 9: it's not dark, it's not tense, it's not amptup. Yes,
Speaker 9: it's different, it's a it's it's different from from lovering a.
Speaker 1: Trump rally you and I find fascinating, which he can
Speaker 1: completely goes over his head.
Speaker 2: You know, Well we saw a little bit of it,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: I you know, I found a guy came up to
Speaker 1: me who had a Trump twenty twenty eight, you know,
Speaker 1: draped in a flag or something, and I asked him
Speaker 1: exactly how does that work?
Speaker 2: And he just laughed.
Speaker 1: He does not the reporter does not get that we
Speaker 1: all know Trump cannot and will not run for president
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty eight. He's just trolling the media and
Speaker 1: they don't get they don't get the joke. They don't
Speaker 1: get the joke whatsoever. And it's so easy to troll
Speaker 1: them that they completely missed the point altogether. So I
Speaker 1: would say, hats off. Not just to the President, but
Speaker 1: to the United States Army, to the Pentagon, to the
Speaker 1: Department of Defense. For the organizers, the producers, all of
Speaker 1: the people that organize are doing all the logistics and
Speaker 1: pulling up of what turned out to be a really
Speaker 1: magnificent celebration of what group of people and all of
Speaker 1: the technology and all of the armaments and everything else
Speaker 1: that we have that keep this country free and living
Speaker 1: in liberty.
Speaker 2: It was today, June.
Speaker 1: Sixteenth, twenty fifteen, that Donald Trump descended that golden escalator
Speaker 1: in Trump Tower and right into the history books. And
Speaker 1: if you think back to that day, the press corps snicker,
Speaker 1: they laughed, The consultant class all rolled their eyes, all
Speaker 1: the Establishment of Republicans snickered in the hallways of Congress.
Speaker 1: Late night comedians had a feast, and a lot of
Speaker 1: people thought it was a joke. I think what they missed,
Speaker 1: and what they still miss is the a Trump isn't
Speaker 1: Trump's not the guy that invented the anger that powered
Speaker 1: his campaign. Trump noticed the anger and he was the
Speaker 1: first to notice it. And then the pundas what did
Speaker 1: they do?
Speaker 6: Well?
Speaker 1: They focused on Trump's bombast. Trump was always bombasting, and
Speaker 1: you think back prior to that day. On June sixteenth,
Speaker 1: twenty fifteen, everybody in the cabal always want you know,
Speaker 1: Oprah and everybody all you know the view, they all, oh,
Speaker 1: they all wanted to be around Donald Trump. When Donald
Speaker 1: Trump and Malania got married, every Democrat politician in New
Speaker 1: York wanted to go rub shoulders with them. But I
Speaker 1: think what everybody missed was that voters in twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: turns out in twenty sixteen, they were focus on something else.
Speaker 1: And I think that was because Trump was saying out
Speaker 1: loud the things that you and I had been thinking
Speaker 1: for years. In twenty fifteen, Trump said, how many of
Speaker 1: us have always thought this about China. They're ripping us off.
Speaker 1: That's not elegant, but that's exactly how you and I think, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're ripping us off. And it was true. So all
Speaker 1: the elitists were still chasing free trade utopias, praising the
Speaker 1: rules based international order. But Trump tapped into what the
Speaker 1: voters already knew from experience that all those free trade
Speaker 1: agreements napped, as it was called at the time, factories
Speaker 1: were empty, Cheap goods didn't make up for lost jobs.
Speaker 1: Beijing wasn't playing fair, We recognized and we're bitching about immigration,
Speaker 1: his now infamous remarks about the border. In that very
Speaker 1: I remember that very first speech that he gave about
Speaker 1: the border.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. The critics were just that they were.
Speaker 1: They were shocked. How dare you say that? And so
Speaker 1: while the cabal is shocked, ordinary Americans are saying that
Speaker 1: guy thinks like I do, that guy talks like I do.
Speaker 1: We were frustrated with rising crime, strained resources, told that
Speaker 1: we have to live on less and less and less,
Speaker 1: that we have to change all these things about how
Speaker 1: we transport, how we house ourselves, what we eat, everything
Speaker 1: that we've talked about for you know, two almost two
Speaker 1: decades on this program. And of course I think what
Speaker 1: I find most fascinating thinking back to that, having been
Speaker 1: in d C for almost six years, was the institutional distrust.
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember leaving d C thinking there's not
Speaker 1: a damn thing about DC that I trust. By twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: faith in the media, the government, the justice system, everything
Speaker 1: was collapsing. Now Trump hasn't restored trust necessarily, but he
Speaker 1: confirmed that the distrust was justified. And that's why the
Speaker 1: whole mantra about draining the swamp landed and hit so
Speaker 1: hard and stuck. That's why his remember fake news. We
Speaker 1: don't hear so much about fake news anymore because.
Speaker 2: We well, we know that it is.
Speaker 1: He didn't win because he was a polished politician. He
Speaker 1: won because he was early and willing to say what.
Speaker 1: He was just a reflection of the everyman. So what's
Speaker 1: the next unstayable truth? You know what, I'm going to
Speaker 1: revamp the next hour. What what's the next unsailable truth?