OPINION:
The left, as it’s wont to do, has been busily pretending it’s something it’s not — heartily defending the Fourth of July as a completely non-partisan, non-political celebratory time where America draws together in love of country, love of patriotism, love of liberty, while scornfully complaining that President Donald Trump’s corrupting the day for petty politician gain.
As if.
As if the left, heavily corrupted by its socialist interest as it is, can seriously call itself an arbiter of what makes for fine America the Glorious, America the Great heyday-ing.
Take a gander at these recent headliners: “Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov fired off a quick hit at Jesse Watters during ’Outnumbered’ after he defended President Donald Trump setting aside seats at a Fourth of July celebration for Republicans,” as Mediaite reported.
What was the quick hit?
Tarlov was upset about Trump’s seat-saving.
“We are talking about the Fourth of July,” she said, “not an inauguration. You can’t politicize it.”
Then there was Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s televised complaint about Trump’s call for tanks and military members to take to the streets of the nation’s Capitol for an extra special show of force — a hat tip to both America’s fighting forces and to ye olde U.S. greatness.
“We hope that the president will … not turn [this] into [a rally],” Bowser said, during an interview on MSNBC. “We hope, too, that we never see the spectacle of our military force being on display as a show of force to our own people.”
Really?
Is that the fear here — that Trump is not-so-subtly sending a signal to the Democrats that he’s got tanks and he’s not afraid to use them, on Americans?
Nope. It’s all about the glaringly open patriotism, and the good feelings that generates among the majority of voters, that has the left running scared. Once again, Trump will be seen as “winning” — as winning the hearts and minds and votes of his rather expansive, and expanding, group of supporters.
For Democrats, it’s not about the country. It’s about the political win.
During this same interview, Rep. Eleanor Homes Norton offered up some complaints of her own.
“[Trump] has converted this into a campaign event for all purposes,” she said, Mediaite reported. “Imagine what the costs will be for a president to be on the mall.”
Don’t know — but perhaps it’s comparable to what it cost for Barack Obama to do his renegade, run-away fly-over photo op over New York City in April of 2009? The one where even Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticized it as a flight of self-centered fancy that “defie[d] the imagination” — remember that?
It’s always nice when Democrats worry about tax dollars being needlessly spent.
Then there was the Washington Post headline: “Trump’s hijacking of the Fourth of July just got a lot uglier.”
And The Atlantic’s: “Trump’s Fourth of July Is a Cheap Version of Patriotism.”
And USA Today’s: “Fourth of July should celebrate liberty, not politicians like Trump.”
On that last — seriously now, what exactly do Democrats know about celebrating liberty?
The party of the socialists ought to leave the matters of liberty to the experts. It’s utter lunacy to believe Democrats — the same Democrats who seem to take their marching orders from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the same Democrats who welcome Sen. Bernie Sanders as a presidential candidate — have even the slightest of awareness of the true value of Fourth of July celebrations, the true roots of the reason for the season.
“[This day] ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty,” wrote John Adams, in a letter to his wife, Abigail, making the case for July 2, not July 4, to be the time of celebration for independence.
He may have lost that argument, but his message remains.
He went on: “It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more,” Adams wrote.
With parade, guns — no doubt, had the weaponry been available in 1776, he would’ve added tanks.
Democrats, hush. Socialists, be still. Progressives, stay home.
Let the patriots celebrate as the Fourth was intended. And if that means separate seats for viewing, so be it.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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