POINT - COUNTERPOINT Regarding Donald Trump's "Salute to America"

Eugene Robinson wrote:President Trump chose the wrong backdrop for his attempt to make Independence Day all about himself. Standing beneath the majestic statue of Abraham Lincoln, occupying a space where great orators have stood, Trump looked and sounded quite small.

He gave a triumphalist speech, of course. “Our nation is stronger today than it ever was. It is its strongest now,” Trump claimed. He went on to give extended salutes to each of the nation’s armed services, punctuated by flyovers by Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Army aircraft and the singing of the corresponding anthems. Anyone who came to see an elaborate military pageant did not go home disappointed.

Trump declared that “we are one people chasing one dream and one magnificent destiny,” but that misses the point. We are, in fact, a nation, bound together not by blood but by our creeds, our institutions and our laws. Trump treats the law like an inconvenience, an annoyance.

Missing, as Trump spoke in Lincoln’s shadow, was any sense of humility as a vital aspect of American greatness. But you might have guessed that.

Since he visited French President Emmanuel Macron two years ago and witnessed the Bastille Day parade in Paris, Trump has wanted a big military extravaganza of his own. On Thursday, he got one — and, predictably, he put himself smack at the center of it.

All week, reporters and citizen-journalists spotted heavy-duty Defense Department hardware being trucked into town for Trump’s martial-themed celebration of “your favorite president, me” — Bradley Fighting Vehicles, M1A2 Abrams tanks, an M88A2 Hercules recovery vehicle. The flyovers included a B-2 stealth bomber, two F-22 Raptors, two V-22 Ospreys, two F/A-18 Super Hornets, two F-35s, one of the planes used as Air Force One, the famed Blue Angels and various other military aircraft. All that was missing was a reviewing stand, like the one on Red Square where grim-faced Soviet leaders used to watch the tanks roll past.

Oh, wait, there was a reviewing stand of sorts — a closed-off VIP section near the Lincoln Memorial where Republican Party donors and bigwigs could sit up front, basking in the glow of their maximum leader. Democratic Party luminaries were not invited.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-salute-to-america-was-a-made-for-television-reelection-event/2019/07/04/b58c9b34-9eaa-11e9-b27f-ed2942f73d70_story.html?utm_term=.ff28fd1c7761

Lukas Mikelionis wrote:President Trump struck a patriotic, nonpartisan and unifying note during his address at Fourth of July celebrations in Washington, D.C., as the massive crowd of attendees avoided clashes despite provocations from protesters.

The event defied the critics who said the celebration on Thursday would be a partisan political spectacle that would not even attract a significant crowd. CBS, ABC, NBC and MSNBC snubbed the celebration and didn’t air it live, save for their online streaming platforms.

Yet a massive crowd gathered on the Lincoln Memorial despite the rain, with Trump later tweeting an aerial photo showing an audience that filled both sides of the memorial’s Reflecting Pool and stretched to the Washington Monument.

The president used the speech to call on Americans to “stay true to our cause” and praised American heroes including the Armed Forces and civil rights leaders.

“Our nation is stronger today than it ever was before. It is its strongest now,” Trump said. “We celebrate our history, our people, and the heroes who proudly defend our flag: the brave men and women of the United States military.”

“For over 65 years, no enemy Air Force has managed to kill a single American soldier. Because the skies belong to the United States of America,” he added.

He went on to pay tribute to the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and hailed Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, African-Americans who campaigned to abolish slavery over 100 years ago, as great Americans.

The visuals -- flyovers by every branch of the military, a display of tanks and other military hardware, the president rallying Americans before the Lincoln Memorial -- drew complaints from critics that Trump was politicizing the holiday while flexing U.S. military might to an uncomfortable degree. The tenor of the address, however, still marked a contrast with the predictions made by 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who said that Trump would focus on his presidency rather than American ideals. Instead, he strictly stuck to history as he cited numerous tales of valor to weave a story of the American spirit.

“I wonder what Donald Trump will say this evening, when he speaks to the nation at an event designed more to stroke his ego than celebrate American ideals,” former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic primary front-runner, said during an event in Iowa.

Incredible to see all in attendance to hear our @POTUS speak & celebrate our great nation’s Independence Day! pic.twitter.com/2graxKsR5H

— Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) July 5, 2019

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York also fired away at Trump, telling reporters  that the event was “a waste of money, you know he’s having a parade for himself, putting tanks out there for himself, and if he really cares about the men and women of our nation he would be investing in higher pay, better housing, better health care.”

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard seconded, saying the event “dishonors our troops, dishonors our service members and veterans.”

She added: “Because it’s really all about Trump. It’s not about our service members, it’s not about their sacrifices it’s not about my brothers and sisters who lost their lives in service to this country and that’s the most unfortunate thing.”

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-defies-predictions-july-salute