Trump's show of strength was 'weak'

DONALD Trump's ridiculous military parade was never about the troops. It wasn’t about patriotism, unity, or honouring the 250th anniversary of the US Army, no matter how many flags were waved, uniforms pressed, or tanks rolled by on their squeaky, embarrassing tracks.

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

The spectacle was about one thing only: Donald J Trump and his need to be worshipped.

Billed as a grand celebration of America’s armed forces, the taxpayer-funded farce was, in truth, a grotesque birthday party for a man who has spent a lifetime confusing love with loyalty and admiration with obedience.

The tanks, the troops, the brass bands, all orchestrated not to salute American service, but to feed Trump’s unrelenting ego as he marked 79 years of being the world’s biggest narcissist.

It wasn’t a show of strength. It was a hollow pantomime, a pitiful imitation of the authoritarian pageantry practised by the very dictators Trump most admires - Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.