I am honored to say that I am a veteran and was part of the finest fighting force in all of human history. We knew it, the world knew it, and we have always projected our strength through peaceful missions as opposed to oppression and empire-building.  I would always look with disgust at dictators who always used their military as a means of intimidation or a spectacle to stroke the dictator’s fragile ego.

Let's be perfectly clear, Trump’s militarization of the July 4th is completely for Donald Trump—-no one else.  A man with five deferments for bone spurs, which magically healed when the war was over, wants a parade of soldiers, airmen, marines, and sailors to honor HIM. Flights will be grounded at Reagan National Airport, the Reflecting Pool will be cordoned off as a “VIP” area for RNC ticket holders and Trump’s political donors, and three times the number of National Guard troops will be deployed.  All of this so Trump can be the center of attention.  Kellyanne Conway already admitted his speech will focus on Trump’s favorite subject—himself.

The great success of this administration in opening up so many jobs for individuals, what we've done for veterans. There's no final form yet. But America will hear the whole speech.

The military overwhelmingly doesn’t want to do this. Leaders in the Pentagon risked their careers to deny Trump rolling tanks through the city. They would rather the resources go to troop needs or veteran’s programs as opposed to Trump’s vanity. The Park Service had to move millions to pay a portion of the Trump Tribute, and yet the Trump administration is simultaneously arguing they can’t afford to provide soap and toothpaste to the children they are caging.

But DC doesn’t have to take this lying down.

Her residents overwhelmingly hate Donald Trump, and with good reason. Protesters should be out in force.  The best thing we can do is disrupt the image Trump is trying to present.

The entire point of him hijacking our national celebration is that he wants the dictator imagery. He wants to see throngs of supporters with the planes flying over head, while military troops surround him. It’s what he craves.

Millions of DC residents can disrupt this image.  

All dictators have an image they want to project, while simultaneously have certain looks they absolutely hate, and even try to ban. Being flooded with those types of images can counteract their goal.  Trump isn’t bothered by pictures of children suffering, but he extremely bothered by the media using photos of  his trademark goofy grin with a double-chin.  That is what he rails against on Twitter.  

It’s not the only thing.  I’d love to see giant banners hanging from every shop, building, and residence of scenes that have always, really disturbed him:

• Images of John McCain
• Images of Trump and Putin/ Trump fondling
• Images of Trump leering at/fondling Ivanka (there are no shortage of those)
• Images of Trump horribly out of shape (most of these are golf pictures, for some reason)

I’m happy the Trump blimp WILL make an appearance, which he has a particular ire against.  We need to see more of that.  Seriously, if there ever was a time to present the 16-foot “Dumping Trump” robot, this would be it.   

No billboards nearby? These guys solved that problem:

And what if you don’t have giant banners?  That doesn’t matter, as long as you have the people:

DC has millions of residents—all with the right to protest. That’s the big difference between a dictator’s parade in a foreign land and a wannabe dictator’s parade here.

We may not be able to stop his obscene parade, but we can damn sure can stop it’s objective.