It was supposed to be a thunderclap of power. A triumphal march of steel, discipline, and deadly serious expressions. But instead: waving, smiling, swaying. And all of it \u2013 in front of empty stands. Donald Trump is furious. The man who celebrated not just the army but himself on his 79th birthday feels robbed of the spectacle of a lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s angry at the soldiers,\u201d reports biographer Michael Wolff. \u201cHe\u2019s accusing them of hamming it up \u2013 by that, he seems to mean they looked too cheerful, waved, appeared happy, and didn\u2019t show a serious military face.\u201d A festival of confusion on all fronts, then, marching through the gray light of Washington, D.C., past bleachers that felt more like a cancellation than a state of emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president\u2019s wrath hits one man: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. By phone, apparently loud and clear. \u201cHe reamed Hegseth out. He told him - the tone was all wrong. Why was the tone wrong? Who staged this? Over and over he emphasized - the tone!\u201d Tone \u2013 meaning the atmosphere, the framing, the pathos. Not the clatter of boots or the rumble of tank tracks. No \u2013 the aura, the narrative, the visual promise of a looming future in which Trump marches at the front and everyone knows: this is the end of democratic pleasantries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what did he get instead? Soldiers waved. The parade felt \u201cfestive\u201d instead of \u201cmenacing,\u201d \u201ccheerful\u201d instead of \u201cfearsome.\u201d The president, it is said, saw it as an affront \u2013 against him, against the idea of total discipline, against the choreography of an omnipresent commander in chief. \u201cIt didn\u2019t send the message Trump apparently wanted - that he was the commander of a threatening apparatus of power,\u201d Wolff explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, a lot went wrong. The troops were out of step at times, the few spectators got lost between barricades, and a thick cloud cover hung over everything like a symbolic warning - even the weather refused to cooperate. And yet Trump claimed it was a total success. \u201cIt was beautiful. No rain. The people were fantastic.\u201d Only no one saw them. Instead of applause, mockery rained down \u2013 online, offline, internationally. While millions marched in the nationwide \u201cNo Kings\u201d demonstrations, Trump\u2019s tanks rolled into a void. And so the great day of the Great Leader leaves behind one heavy-handed punchline above all: the president angry at soldiers for being too friendly. Welcome to America, 2025.<\/p>\n
Es h\u00e4tte ein Donnerhall der Macht werden sollen. Ein Triumphmarsch aus Stahl, Disziplin und todernster Miene. Doch stattdessen: gewunken, gel\u00e4chelt, gewippt. Und das alles \u2013 vor leeren R\u00e4ngen. Donald Trump ist au\u00dfer sich. Der Mann, der an seinem 79. Geburtstag nicht nur die Armee feierte, sondern auch sich selbst, sieht sich um die Inszenierung seines […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":3,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,41,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-topstory","category-trump-s-world","category-trump-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n