The parade no one came to.

[babylonsister]

Found on FB @ Expand Dem Values in the House and Senate...

The parade no one came to.

Trump finally got his dream. 6,000 soldiers. 128 tanks. A row of flags. A pathetic spectacle staged for TV optics. An audience you could count without taking off your shoes. At best, 3,000 people showed up.

At one point, he looked ready to cry. The tank treads squeaked, echoing down empty streets as the microphones went live and the cameras rolled. The grand moment arrived, but no one came.

Even his own people couldn’t hide it. The cameras caught Pete Hegseth sitting next to him, scowling, visibly irritated to be there. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was yawning repeatedly. Kristi Noem sat there shaking her head like she was bored. It looked less like a celebration and more like a hostage tape.

Meanwhile, across the country, between 7 and 15 million people poured into the streets.

Over 2,100 protests unfolded across the nation under a simple banner: No Kings.

Most cities flooded with Americans who still understand we don’t crown kings here.
While one man staged his fantasy parade, the nation turned its back. The speeches in the streets drowned out the tanks.

Trump’s parade: no applause, no loyalty, no audience, just squeaky wheels echoing through empty bleachers and streets while the republic gathered elsewhere.

You can’t manufacture reverence. You can’t demand respect. You can’t stage a parade big enough to cover the absence of legitimacy or your feeble attempt at power. Real power belongs to the people.

History will record both moments. Only one will be remembered with pride.

I saw a North Korean Kim Jong-un parade today. It was massive compared to Trump’s small, quiet, empty birthday party. Poor little guy. He should’ve taken a page from the dictator and forced everyone to attend. It would’ve played better on TV. 🇺🇸

[malaise]

1. Beautifully written

😀

[Scrivener7]

2. That is beautifully written. ETA: Malaise, I swear I didn't see your post before I wrote that!

I woke up nervous yesterday, but it could not have gone better.

[boonecreek]

3. "It looked less like a celebration

and more like a hostage tape."

[Demovictory9]

4. More paradees than viewers

[NBachers]

5. And his sedated inflate-a-wife couldn't wait for it to be over so she could get away from him.

[CTyankee]

11. "sedated inflate a wife" !!!! I call her "pay per view."

[niyad]

22. Snort!!!

[ZDU]

25. pay per view

bwahahahahahaha

[calimary]

38. Ouch!!!

LOVE it!

[niyad]

23. Snicker

[BattleRow]

34. His Taco Belle

[calimary]

39. Love THIS, too!!!

[spanone]

6. K&R

[70sEraVet]

7. A little fun math --

$45,000,000 (cost of parade) divided by 3,000 (number of audience at parade) equals $15,000 (cost of parade on a per-person basis).
Where is Elon's DOGE when you need them?

[Hugin]

17. I could have done a parade for 90% less.

Get a few companies worth of “troops” on Craig’s list and a half dozen “tanks” from Tractor Supply. Have them run around behind the reviewing stand after each pass and form up for another.

A Potemkin parade for a Potemkin President.

This is not a new idea, by the way. I believe Patton did it at least twice.

[calimary]

44. Hey, I'll get a bunch of pals together with pots, pans, and wooden spoons.

We’ll march along and provide the percussion for everybody!

[Justice matters.]

27. The buffoon on ketamine is notably less "active" on his fascist propaganda machine lately...

A lot less "active" but still spewing his vile vomit from time to time.

[rubbersole]

8. I wonder who was the sap that had to console him...

...Malaria probably took her appearance money and split. Stephen Miller blamed immigrants and went to hang upside down in the basement. Hegseth drained his flask and headed out to "dinner" with Hannity. ICE Barbie and Lewandowski had plans. So Eric and Lara sang 'til it hurt. Which was shorter than tsf's attention span.

[DonCoquixote]

9. dont give him ideas

I saw a North Korean Kim Jong-un parade today. It was massive compared to Trump’s small, quiet, empty birthday party. Poor little guy. He should’ve taken a page from the dictator and forced everyone to attend. It would’ve played better on TV.

Trump may very well start doing that, and bring on king kim's penchant for mass executions.

[paleotn]

13. Yeah, good luck with that shit.

Robespierre called. Said he's got experience in this line of work if we need any assistance. Least he could do for those who inspired his nation's "de-kinging." We'll just need to dust of the old equipage.

[dweller]

30. For the DIY'ers in the back ...

✌🏻

[paleotn]

31. .....

[calimary]

45. Yikes!

[pwb]

10. I only saw clips of it on you tube.

Were there any Bands?

[paleotn]

14. Tech bros. Imagine!

Amazon, Coinbase, and Palantir among others. Tech bros need to be put in their place by any and all means necessary.

[diane in sf]

33. End the Nerd Reich!

[Ohioboy]

12. I never thought about it before, but military parades by nature must be totally boring

How many tanks and people in uniform do you have to see before you've seen them all?

And military hardware is not exactly pretty or fun.

Glad Chump and his toadies had a bad time.

[Ruby the Liberal]

15. He went to bed with a narcissistic injury

Be interesting to see if he woke up with a seething rage for revenge.

The people have spoken.

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. No way 7 to 15 million people showed for No Kings protests

While this is a good description of Trump’s sparsely attended, extravagantly expensive vanity parade, it is just a FB post after all, and no one should take its estimate of the NO Kings turnout as anything approaching accurate.

With the exception of a few large cities like Chicago, turnout in most places was reported to be under 10,000- there’s no way that adds up to 7 million, let alone 15 million, which would be close to 5 percent of the total US population, something that has never happened before, not even during the civil rights/Viet Nam era, when 5 percent would have been a much smaller number.

What is impressive about the No Kings turnout is that it was so widespread- a few thousand here, a few hundred there, even in deep red areas.

[calimary]

46. I'd guess about 15-hundred at the Clackamas rally.

I’m not the greatest at estimating crowd size. There were people everywhere around the parking lot areas, though. A long line here, a long line there, but you really had search to find where the lines ended.

[Fiendish Thingy]

47. And that is what makes No Kings impressive, not total turnout

That fact that people in all corners and pockets of the country showed up to speak out against this authoritarian regime, the breadth of the response, that should be the headline.

[3Hotdogs]

18. Local paper showed a photo of a regiment in Continental Army uniforms. Fer fux sakes.

How much did it cost the gub'mint to get those and when will they ever be worn again?

And how many other historical uniforms were ordered, never to be worn agai --- Oh. stupid me. If we're unlucky, he might have a birthday next year and need another parade. Just take those old uniforms out of the closet.

[mwooldri]

19. I was comparing this US Army's 250th Birthday Parade to...

... The Kings Birthday Parade aka Trooping the Colour. That was on Saturday too.

8,000 in the stands. Thousands more in the Mall and around Buck House. Unlike DC, it was a hot sunny day in London. And unlike the Trump family, folk in the Mountbatten-Windsor household have served in the military. And also unlike the event in DC, Trooping the Colour happens every year. And it's a smaller event, not involving military equipment... 2000 people and horses take part.

I was trying to see if there were any official figures for attendance at both events... Article says 3,000 people attended? A WH spokesperson claimed about 600,000 people. Organisers hopes for 20,000 people. Realistically it was a few thousand - and the weather was blamed in part for why the number was low. Meanwhile Trooping the Colour was sold out (tickets had to be bought). None of the main US broadcast network broadcast the Army event live in its entirety on their main channels, generally streaming the event on their rolling news channels. The BBC had Trooping the Colour live on their main channel.

The US Army's 250th birthday party could have been a great event. The chief problem with the event was who we now have in place as Commander in Chief. And you can't have that kind of event without the CiC.

All I can say is Lord Help us come July 4th, 2026.

[ms liberty]

20. Ooops. Sounds like somebody forgot to book any marching bands

Squeak...squeak...squeak




Dumba***s

[Be Leave On]

36. WW II vintage

I could be wrong, but those squeaky tanks look to be WWII vintage machines, so roughly the same age as the birthday boy.

[chouchou]

21. "Those Sons-a-bitches" "I'll make them pay for their insolence" "This is MY America! "

I'm not kidding. Wouldn't surprise me if he comes up with some ridiculous "Punishment"

[NCDem47]

29. His handlers are hard at work this a.m. figuring out what ego strokefest they have to come up with to counter yesterday

It's all but guranteed.

[Dave Id]

24. My favorite line in the article

"an audience you could count without taking off your shoes." Hahaha! Beautiful!

[Justice matters.]

26. Great. Problem is, if the convicted felon is not gone next year...

8647'ed, or impeached and convicted, or dead ( from old age or dementia, or syphilis, or stroke... not murder ), the convicted felon and traitor will "force" everybody to be there.

[mahina]

28. Not a whole lot sadder than a child when nobody wants to come to their party

[Hassler]

32. I'm disappointed none of the coverage

Caught Kegbreath slipping his flask out of his coat for a sip of courage.

[C Moon]

35. I thought one of the best parts was a soldier walking the parade route, holding up a drone.

[BigmanPigman]

37. Why were they wearing sunglasses in the RAIN?!?!?

Is Noem trying to hide? There was another guy wearing them too. Are they embarrassed? NO! You cannot embarrass these sociopaths. They have no feelings and are truly vile non-humans.

I wish Noem's dog would get his karma on her.

[mdbl]

43. This is why I don't believe in ghosts

There are too many reasons for them to stay and haunt people that deserve it. It wouldn't be just a bunch of dumb dudes running around with flashlights under their chins pretending to find ghosts with electrical meters.

[Emile]

40. The US Navy 250 year anniversary later this year. He gonna have another parade?

Last edited Mon Jun 16, 2025, 06:49 AM - Edit history (1)

Actually the US Navy is even older. Continental Navy pre dates the US Navy.

[BoRaGard]

41. Sad and lonely loser (R)

Post by @beingliberal

View on Threads

/media

[mdbl]

42. Next time he'll have the parade at Mara Lardo

Where some Fla Dumpers might be able to attend.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

48. This made me smile