Everyone is referencing North Korea. Come on! You know what he wants.
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Late 1770s-early 1780s the French military was very effective…
Now I think of it, I just read a couple of books on the French Revolution, and the army put together during the revolution (very changed from the days of aristocrat officers) was the one that Napoleon used to beat up most of Europe.
And I know the French military is still part of military efforts in different parts of the world, but why they continue the military parades on Bastille day I don’t know.
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From Jan 2017 in the freaking NY Post of all places:
“But military officials balked because of the optics of having tanks and missile launchers rumbling down Pennsylvania Avenue — and because the tanks, which often weigh more than 100,000 pounds, would destroy the roads, the source said.
“I could absolutely see structural support being a reason [not to use tanks],” a Department of Defense official said. “DC is built on a swamp to begin with.”
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Late 1770’s and early 1780’s? France was the premiere European land power from the start right up until German unification. The only serious foils were Austria (often busy fighting the Ottomans, another choice and often an ally of France) and Spain, but it often ended up being Austria and Spain against France and they still held their own, such as in the 30 Years War, where France declared on the side of the Protestants because a weak HRE would be a check on Habsburg power.
The notion of France as a weak, wimpy army is the result WWII and, as far as I can tell, WWII alone. WWI wasn’t a loss for France. The problem in WWII was largely political with one particularly huge strategic error: they can’t get through that land, not in force at least and certainly not quickly. We can put our weakest divisions there just in case. And so Germany came rumbling through that land, in force, very quickly, and encircled much of the French and British army. Whoops.
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I thought I remembered this: In 1991, they had a military “victory” parade in DC after the first Gulf War:
I think the Angel of History would like to go back and do a little work on this event. Wow.
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Holy fucking shit does that read like some dystopian fiction. But damn, I remember it well, the branding, the teeshirts, that fandom of Desert Storm. what a fucking shitshow.
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Sorry, I was trying to make a weak joke here about their participation in the American war for independence, without which who knows what would have happened? The debt to Lafayette, indeed.
And as I mentioned I thought it was quite incredible how the French overhauled their military during their Revolution, and what they then achieved with those forces (considering the upheaval going on at the time, including multiple regional civil wars). They went from having had incursions across their frontiers, to throwing back these different enemies and going on the offensive. Whatever you think about the Revolution or the French, that was an unbelievable turnaround to pull off much of it going on during the Terror.
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Literally and figuratively.
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The tanks will strain the swamp?
El Douche will have to get himself a commander-in-chief uniform for that.
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Trump: “Get me General Schwarzkopf for the NSC.”
Kelly: “He’s retired.”
Trump: “Okay, how about this General Scheisskopf? Close enough, right?”
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This is more Donnie’s speed.
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Everyday I wonder who is worse for his country and people.
It’s close. 
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Every goddamned day.
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What a ridiculous notion.
Though it does point more and more towards the obvious solution to this shambolic clusterfuck of a presidency.
Leave Donny to wave at parades, cut ribbons, tweet and play golf, while some adults with a semblance of organisation do the power thing. However, the downside to that is we might actually get someone competently evil (exhibit one- Dick Cheney).
Also, I’m not quite sure about this part of the objection:
Okay, one- I don’t think the US military is hard up for cash in any way shape or form, and two- deploying loads of soldiers and military equipment to a specified place is kind of supposed to be their skill set.
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oh come on my american friends/ comrades, he will surely get kisliyak and russian scanners by his side during the parade, it will not be a parade for a giant baby as much as a reconnaisance mission for the russians, on the US taxpayers’ dime
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That doesn’t mean they get to spend it however they want. It’s all allocated toward specific operational costs like payroll and equipment and R&D and whatnot.
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Couldn’t they just send him to Disney World? Would he know the difference?
https://youtu.be/n69A1HHlyG0?t=49s
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the french are excellent military commanders, there are two significant portions of their history, the reign of LOUIS XIV and the reign of Napoleon I, where the grand marechals of France dominated their european counterparts. it is the reason why military manoeuvers (this is french!) and technical terms are french in origin.
some historiographers even posit that the later dominations by britain and nazi germany were reprisals for their earlier defeats at the hands of the french army
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The Supreme Leader wants the Pentagon to honor him with a parade.
I hope the military have been working on their goose-step.
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