What Would Trump’s Military Parade Symbolize?

Donald Trump has asked the Pentagon for a military parade. “I want a parade like the one in France,” he said, referring to a Bastille Day procession he attended, according to the Washington Post. This can hardly tell us anything new about the President; he has expressed his wish for a display of American military might repeatedly over the course of many months. That his perseveration has gradually transformed into an order is an important lesson in the way Trumpism turns the most absurd rhetoric into reality. But the most important aspect of the likely future parade is the meaning it will acquire in American culture and politics.