No Kings Protest

People-Power, Protests, and Pushback on Trump’s Agenda

Dear readers,

Like many of you, I’ve been closely following recent developments in the Middle East. Before sharing my thoughts on the Israel-Iran conflict I wanted to take a moment to reflect on this past weekend and what two different events can tell us about the current state of politics in the United States. June 14th was the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States Army, the beginning of the nationwide “No Kings” protest movement, and Donald Trump’s birthday.

Months ago Donald Trump requested that a military parade be held on his birthday. While the celebration of the Army’s founding was given as a pretext for the parade, it was immediately apparent that this event was intended to stroke Trump’s ego and project power and strength in a time of growing political discontent. The inspiration for this display likely came from Trump’s personal admiration of dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un - both of whom use grand Soviet-style military parades to draw attention away from…