President Trump’s desire to celebrate a massive national event, comparable to the annual French Bastille Day military parade, to showcase and honor the Armed Forces of the United States has been pounced upon by the liberal media as a perfect opportunity to portray Trump as a budding tyrant.
Instead of straightforward reporting on Trump administration - and critics’ - views of the proposed parade, media like Spanish-language Estrella TV have rushed to frame the news around the developing event in the worst possible way.
“Dictator style” is how Estrella TV presented the proposed parade on screen to its viewers, with anchor Adriana Yañez characterizing Trump’s patriotic initiative as an "act of madness” and the Los Angeles-based network’s reporter, Oscar Sosa, judging the Bastille Day-based concept to be “in the exact style of Kim Jon Un or Vladimir Putin.”
ADRIANA YAÑEZ, ANCHOR, ESTRELLA TV: And Donald Trump doesn’t stop surprising Americans with his acts of madness. Now, he’s asked for a military parade to intimidate his enemies. Oscar Sosa has more.
OSCAR SOSA, REPORTER, ESTRELLA TV: In the exact style of Kim Jon Un or Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump has asked for a military parade to show off American power and emphasize his role as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
Only later in the report did Sosa make passing reference to White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders statement on the subject, in which she explained that “the President is simply exploring different ways that he can highlight and show the pride that we have in the military, the people that have served and sacrificed to allow us all of the freedoms that we have.”
Sosa entirely omitted from his report that Trump’s idea for the parade was born out of his experience as guest of honor at last year’s Bastille Day Military Parade The President himself was quoted, after watching the impressive, united display of French military forces, that it was a “tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.”
Below is the transcript of the above-referenced report, which aired during the February 7, 2018 edition of Noticiero Estrella TV.
ADRIANA YAÑEZ, ANCHOR, ESTRELLA TV: And Donald Trump doesn’t stop surprising Americans with his acts of madness. Now, he’s asked for a military parade to intimidate his enemies. Oscar Sosa has more.
OSCAR SOSA, REPORTER, ESTRELLA TV: In the exact style of Kim Jon Un or Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump has asked for a military parade to show off American power and emphasize his role as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
The White House and the Pentagon confirmed the President´s request and insisted that they were already evaluating how the parade could be organized, but did not give a date for the event.
The government´s Press Secretary, Sarah Sanders, said that the idea of the President is to recognize the heroic work of U.S. military men and women, who risk their lives to keep the peace of the country and the entire world.
As expected, the President´s proposal unleashed all kinds of criticism from Democrats. One of them was from Congressman Jim McGovern, who described the request as an absurd idea to waste Americans’ money.
The United States has not organized a large scale military parade since June 1991, after winning the first Gulf War. On that occasion, almost 9000 soldiers marched through downtown Washington, attracting some 200,000 thousand spectators.
