Just look away. Don't give legs to Donald Trump's attempt to rebrand the traditional Fourth of July holiday celebration as one of his MAGA re-election rallies - complete with tanks and flyovers to match dictatorial muscle displays halfway around the world.
Back in February, Trump tweeted: HOLD THE DATE! We will be having one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C., on July 4th. It will be called 'A Salute To America' and will be held at the Lincoln Memorial. Major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!"
Tuesday he was at it again.
"Big 4th of July in D.C. 'Salute to America.' The Pentagon & our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this & showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World. Incredible Flyovers & biggest ever Fireworks!"
We know our military is world class. This instead is a self-made salute to Donald Trump - "Me!"
Michelle Cottle of The New York Times put it well: "[I]n hijacking America's birthday party, Mr. Trump is doing more than merely indulging his petty narcissism. He is trampling a longstanding tradition of keeping these events nonpartisan - apolitical even - and focused on bringing the nation together."
Bringing together is not Trump's strong suit.
Traditionally, Fourth of July celebrations, especially in Washington, D.C., have been tailored to play down politics and instead celebrate America. It is our democracy's birthday, after all, not the revolution, that we are observing.
A holiday history by the National Park Service found that on July 4, 1791, President George Washington gave an address in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and then took a walk about town. President Dwight Eisenhower spent the 1953 holiday at Camp David and played a round of golf nearby. In 2008, President George W. Bush hosted a naturalization ceremony at the White House for 72 new U.S. citizens from 30 countries. And in 2010, President Barack Obama hosted a barbecue on the south lawn of the White House for 1,200 members of the military and their families.
Most previous presidents, understanding the power of their bully pulpit, opted to stay away from the day's events on the Mall.
Not Trump. The Washington Post reported on Monday that while major gatherings on the Washington Mall, including inauguration festivities and the new millennium jubilee, have featured designated event producers, in this case, the producer is President Trump himself.
What could possibly go wrong?
The National Park Service, the Secret Service and D.C. law enforcement have in recent weeks had to work out the security and logistical challenges of a presidential appearance. The fireworks show has been moved from the usual location of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to a local park (there had to be more room for "yuuuuuuge" crowds to view the president's speech. Me! Me! Me!
Trump reportedly wanted a patriotic display in the capitol that he could lead even before he was sworn in as president, and he was smitten with the celebration in Paris on Bastille Day in 2017. When he came home and pushed again for something similar here, he was stymied by local and military officials who pointed to the tens of millions of dollars such an event would entail.
But Trump's appetite for attention is insatiable. After all, it's OPM - other people's money. Ours.
This week, after already ordering up a flyover by Air Force One and the Navy's Blue Angels, he pressed to expand the event further with an F-35 stealth fighter and the Marine Helicopter Squadron One, along with a show of military tanks at the Lincoln Memorial - a prospect that may cause damage to the park, even as the National Park Service faces a maintenance backlog of more than $11 billion.
According to Pentagon estimates, the F-35 stealth fighter costs about $30,000 an hour to fly. Each Blue Angel jet costs at least $10,000 an hour, and flying an Air Force One jet is more than $140,000 an hour. A White House aide told USA Today that the preliminary estimate of the cost just to transport several M1A1 Abrams tanks to the event was $870,000. The at-least 300 service members expected to participate, most in military bands and drill teams, also must be factored in.
Did we mention that for the first time (and because the fireworks show was moved to accommodate Trump's speech) flights to and from the Reagan National Airport will be frozen for more than two hours?
The Department of Defense hasn't released any figures of what the Trumpfest will cost. But the military parade Trump wanted and canceled last year was estimated at about $92 million, including $50 million in DOD costs, officials said at the time.
It goes without saying that what Trump the narcissist is missing is that the greatness of America does not reside with its president, but with its people. That's what the Fourth of July is really about, no matter how this president tries to subvert it.