Recognizable television personality turned President, Donald Trump, acts on the notion that striking visuals carry significant influence. Within the span of one week, nationwide audiences have borne witness to two remarkable images. The first is the deployment of federalized National Guard and ready-for-action Marines on the bustling streets of Los Angeles, poised to face off against civilians protesting immigration and customs law enforcement activities.
Following this, a grand military procession was staged in the heart of Washington, D.C., commemorating the Army’s 250th birthday—a landmark event that also entailed a celebratory nod toward President Trump’s own birthday. The spectacle of armored vehicles rolling down the avenues in mass numbers, a view conventionally associated with more politically turbulent nations, served to enliven the collective imagination.
Trump, it seems, is enthusiastic about offering visual narratives that align with his public claims. By suggesting that public opposition could signify a critical danger to national stability, he steadily promotes a novel and more domestic vision of our military forces.
In Trump’s projection of the United States, the perception of armed forces requires a shift. No longer would they be considered an apolitical entity committed to upholding constitutional principles; instead, the military would be regarded as an entity obliged to obey and execute the directives of a single leader, irrespective of the ideological and political implications that may diverge from established democratic norms concerning the role of the armed forces.
Security personnel, in many societal situations, become the facade for escalated levels of violence and moral aberration—an unfortunate byproduct of an authoritarian regime seizing power. Service members can play crucial roles in both the demise of a weakening state, like that of Syrian soldiers abandoning their positions during the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s rule, and amplify autocratic power by carrying out orders against their own people, as was seen during Chile’s era of dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet.
Whether America will showcase an instance of the latter spotlights an ongoing debate. The recent court ruling placed a temporary hold on the Trump administration’s activation of the National Guard. This resulted in an immediate transfer of control back over to the California Governor, Gavin Newsom, yet the decision was shortly held in abeyance by a higher court.
These actions have clearly revealed the strategic approach of the Trump administration. When the Los Angeles Police Department, the third largest police body in the nation, reassured that they could manage the protests, the response from the federal authorities displayed a distinct preference for a more dramatic narrative.
An LAPD-based response would indeed suffice but would not provide the captivating optics offered by larger-scale federal involvement. Trump’s strategy celebrates the pivotal moment when Los Angeles shifted under the national spotlight; a sight that can be accessed across the globe, reinforcing the unique strength of the President’s position.
The post Trump Captivates the Nation with Military Spectacles appeared first on Real News Now.
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