Glitz versus greatness

The so-called leader who ducked out of military service in Viet Nam has ordered the military to participate in Washington, D.C.'s annual Fourth of July festivities.

White House officials have said Mr. Trump’s speech is not intended to be political, but rather an homage to the military and to the United States. Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, said, “The president loves America and wants to help all Americans celebrate our nation’s independence with a salute to America on the National Mall.”

If what made the United States great was its military, the United States would not have earned the respect of millions (at least before Don Trumpone waddled into the Oval Office).

The U.S. military was a relatively minor component of the nation before World War II. People didn't emigrate to the United States for more than a century because they lusted after its military hardware. They came because they heard the siren call of the nation's promise that all men could be free.

The history of this nation has been a struggle to live up to the ideals enshrined in the Constitution. Those ideals and our determination to embody them in the way we live are the wellspring of this nation's greatness.

To highlight the military on the national holiday that celebrates the country (rather than a religious event like Christmas) is to misconstrue the very nature of the country. The military is a fine institution but it's no accident that it is subordinate to the nation's civilian authority. The nation's heart is its commitment to shared ideals.

Trump comprehends none of this. He is obsessed with surface impressions, with visuals and sparkle. Fighter jets are impressive, tanks are impressive, and that makes them emblems of greatness in his eyes. If he could get a Ford-class aircraft carrier onto the streets of D.C., it would be part of his plans for the Fourth.

Anyway, Trump is uniquely incapable of uniting this nation around shared ideals. Even before his 2016 campaign he specialized in divisive, ugly rhetoric (birtherism, demonizing the Central Park Five, lying about Arab Americans cheering the fall of the World Trade Center towers) because he is incapable of inspiring others. He can only conceive of himself triumphing and others being vanquished. "Greatness" is reserved for him and his adoring followers alone.

Military parades, France's Bastille Day celebration notwithstanding, bring to mind tinpot dictators trying to distract their unhappy populaces. The comparison is all too apt in our own case, I fear.

Trying to link the military so tightly to the nation's "greatness" besmirches both. Trump will go to his grave not understanding that. The rest of us, however, must.