Trump’s dream of holding a military parade in the American capital will finally come true this July 4th, which epitomizes his promise to “Make America Great Again” and might even begin a new annual tradition.
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President Trump is an unapologetic American nationalist who came to power on his promise to “Make America Great Again” (MAGA), and being the showbiz celebrity that he is, he’s about to put on a big show this July 4th by holding a military parade in the capital.
He’s been wanting to do this for a few years already but only recently was able to pull it off after the Secretary of Interior announced the details at the end of last month. According to the Cabinet member, “for the first time in many years, the World War II Memorial and areas around the Reflecting Pool will be open for the public to enjoy a stunning fireworks display and an address by our Commander-in-Chief”, which might begin a new annual tradition. Furthermore, a separate “Salute to America” event will also be held to honor the Armed Forces, whom Trump has the deepest admiration for.
His love of the military isn’t just due to his patriotism, but is also connected to his business interests, too. The US is the world’s largest arms exporter by far, which has only increased since Trump entered into office and began “poaching” some of Russia’s traditional military partners like India. The US’ exercise of “military diplomacy” differs from Russia’s in that Washington wants to disrupt the balance of power in various regions of the world by selling its customers arms that allow them to gain an edge over their adversaries and therefore increase the odds of conflict breaking out, whereas Russia prefers to maintain the balance of power by selling arms to competing rivals (ex: Armenia/Azerbaijan, Iran/Saudi Arabia, China/India, China/Vietnam) in order to reduce the risk of war and encourage a political solution to their disputes.
Accordingly, the upcoming parade will probably be used to also showcase American arms, which might lead to an increase in sales throughout the rest of the year. It’s important for the US to maintain its dominance in the international arms market because of the myriad behind-the-scenes partnerships that grow out of these transactions, which include training, maintenance (especially the profitable sale of spare parts), and sometimes even interoperability with the American military. That’s why the parade is such a big deal and perfectly epitomizes Trump’s MAGA slogan because it proudly shows the world that America’s global leadership is upheld first and foremost by its military, which secures its trade routes and coerces geopolitically independent countries to tow the line of the so-called Washington Consensus.
There is no America without the might of the American military, which doesn’t necessarily make the country “great” or not but is just a fact of life nowadays even though it wasn’t always like this. The US has expanded its interests and become so dependent on the rest of the world for their resources, products, and markets over the past century that it cannot realistically extricate itself from the hyper-imperial “security dilemma” that it’s trapped in. That’s not to say that it should wage wars of aggression and carry out regime change subversion all across the globe, but just that it’s driven by strategic necessity to do so to a certain extent, though one that’s more intense and has a much wider reach than any of its competitors. The military is the backbone of modern-day America, for better or for worse, which is why Trump wants to celebrate it.
Objectively speaking, a country isn’t truly sovereign (or at least as much as is possible in today’s interconnected globalized world) unless it has a strong military, so it’s understandable why the US and others would want to pay tribute to their Armed Forces on patriotic holidays such as their day of independence. The US is no different in this respect even if its military is much more controversial than probably anyone else’s other than Israel’s. Be it through the direct use of military force, the threat thereof, or “military diplomacy”, the American military is a force to be reckoned with and has a reputation for being among the most lethal in the world, which is why other countries might shudder at its Fourth of July military parade but most Americans will wildly applaud it.
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Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
