Porky Trump's Parade and the Roman Triumph

I suppose it was inevitable, and nobody should be surprised. 

When you have a bloated authoritarian would be dictator like Donald Trump in the White House.

One who needs to be told how great he is every day of the year, it was only a matter of time.

Sooner or later he was going to want a parade.



Of one kind or the other...



No matter how monstrous, no matter how absurd.



But as the Washington Post's Dana Milbank points out, Trump doesn't really need a parade, he needs a Roman Triumph. 

The triumph was a public ceremony, including a parade, to celebrate as a near-deity the emperor or a triumphant general — complete with laurels, thrown flowers, adoring troops, war spoils and vanquished enemies in chains. It is, in short, just the sort of parade Trump would enjoy if done in his honor.

For surely nobody can deny that this kind of ghastly spectacle has Trump written all over it. 

First in the Roman triumph procession were the magistrates and members of the Senate; first in the Trump triumph would come Devin Nunes, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Tom Cotton and the other magistrates supportive of Trump. Next in the Roman triumph came the spoils of war: gold and silver, treasures, and paintings and carvings showing moments from the conflict. In Trump’s triumph, the spoils would include models of Trump hotel and golf properties, the nuclear football, a float with a very large button, and chunks of the border wall, carried by Mexicans. 

And nothing would please America's mad emperor more than this bloody climax.



Next in the Roman triumph, to the crowd’s jeers, came the captured prisoners in chains: leaders, soldiers and sometimes family members, to be put on display after the parade or executed. Trump’s triumph would feature all his foes, in irons: the “dreamers,” NFL players who kneel for the national anthem, women who alleged sexual misconduct by Trump, the fake-news media, Robert Mueller, James Comey, FBI agents, Puerto Ricans, Trump’s primary opponents, Hillary Clinton, Steve Bannon.

But sadly for Trump most Americans don't see him as a conquering hero, or a new Patton as he sees himself.

They see him as an absurd clown, albeit a dangerous one.

And as CNN's Jeanne Moos reports, many are already lining up to rain on his parade... 



And no that wasn't an illusion.

But yes, this is as true today as it was yesterday, and will be tomorrow.

Nobody will be safe, until this fascist hog, this porky Caesar, is driven from power.

And sent to the place where he belongs...