Nicolle Wallace Unloads on Trump's ‘Perverted' Military Parade

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace called out Donald Trump for 'gleefully and brazenly using troops as pawns' ahead of the big big military parade that will mark his 79th birthday Saturday,
Wallace, guest-hosting Pod Save America with former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau on Friday, discussed 'the North Korean-style birthday party' Trump has 'wanted for years.'
'This is so perverted from what's normal,' Wallace said of Trump's usurping the Army's 250th birthday for his own celebration. As Trump's team reportedly screened the military members in the audience for allegiance and physical appearance ahead of his Fort Bragg speech Tuesday, Wallace wondered aloud, 'Who else is being vetted? Who else is being staged? Who else is being pushed out of the picture for being fat? I mean, what else is really happening there?'
Trump's military parade is expected to take place Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET. The president's birthday celebration will cost taxpayers an estimated $45 million, but Wallace said Trump's 'perversion' of the non-partisan military will cost Americans more than just tax dollars long-term. 'I think that we probably only see the tip of the iceberg,' she said.
The Fort Bragg speech, which served as a 'pre-celebration' of sorts for the president, featured men and women in uniform booing Democrats. Wallace, a former communications director for George W. Bush, reflected on the traditional separation of politics from the U.S. military.
'You and I both wrote speeches for presidents that were delivered in front of troops,' she said. 'You're cognizant that the applause lines don't have anything to do with your president's policies because you don't want them to look like they have to applaud a policymaker.'
'You craft the speeches so that there's only an applause when you're celebrating the men and women of the military, either their current courage or their historic greatness,' she continued. For Trump to have encouraged and cherry-picked uniformed military members into a divisive display of loyalty to one side is troubling, Wallace said, but not surprising.
'To see this event at Fort Bragg and to see the way they are gleefully and brazenly using troops as pawns—the greatest victim of that is the troops, is the military,' she said. 'And I think it's actually shocking that the Republican senators are complicit.'
Wallace went on to express little hope that any Republican lawmakers will speak out. 'Where are the people who are still willing to sort of put their body between brazen partisanship and the military?' she asked. 'In the Republican Party, there aren't any.'
'Even the former generals are afraid to speak out, or restrained from speaking out,' Wallace said, but she maintained that she will not be keeping quiet.
'I'm not not scared. I just don't think it makes me safer to be quiet,' she explained. 'I feel that way as a cable host. I'm not not concerned that they're not looking for anyone in the media to make a mistake and then come after the media. I just don't think you're in a safer posture in a defensive crouch.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

38 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Protesters gather after immigration raid targets car wash in L.A. County

Protesters gathered in southeast Los Angeles County Friday evening, facing off with masked men in fatigues after federal agents detained at least three people at a car wash in the city of Bell, according to witnesses, and visited another car wash in neighboring Maywood. The immigration action in Bell took place at Jack's Car Wash and Detailing, located in the 7000 block of Atlantic Avenue, just north of Florence Avenue. Security camera footage reviewed by The Times shows masked men wearing olive vests chasing a car wash employee, who was wearing a bright green uniform and cap. The video shows another employee — wearing a bright green cap, a white long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans — surrounded by the masked men, his hands restrained behind his back. The employee is tackled to the ground as customers and others gathered, with some taking out their phones to record videos. The man in the white-long sleeved shirt is a car wash worker who is a U.S. citizen, according to the employee's brother, Jesús Rafael Cervantes. He said his brother, who lives in Bell Gardens, wanted to defend a coworker— an action that, Cervantes said, prompted agents to detain his brother. "Just for defending someone, they came and knocked him down. As you can see in the videos, they came and knocked him down like that, just like that. And that's unfair, that they come and grab a person like that as if he were an animal or something," Cervantes told The Times. Protesters gathered to confront the agents in the area, which is about 6 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. In one video shared with The Times, a protester sprays white paint on a silver SUV and a voice can be heard saying, "Get the ... out of here!" while others jeer. People can be seen hitting the vehicle. Read more: 'They are grabbing people.' L.A. and Orange County car wash workers targeted by federal immigration raids Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment. In a statement posted on social media, the agency said Border Patrol vehicles "were violently targeted during lawful operations" in Bell and neighboring Maywood. The Department of Homeland Security said one vehicle was rammed and had its tires slashed on Atlantic Boulevard. On Slauson Avenue, a civilian struck a federal vehicle, totaling it, according to the department. "The driver was arrested for suspicion of vehicular assault as a mob formed and slashed additional tires," the department said. The statement included photos showing silver vehicles with cracked or shattered windows. One silver SUV was shown with dented doors and scratched paint. "Federal law enforcement is facing an ever-escalating increase in assaults—but we will not be deterred," the department said. "If you assault a federal officer, you will be prosecuted." The statement did not indicate how many were detained on immigration-related matters. The protest in Bell, a city with a large Latino and Lebanese community, comes as the federal government continues its campaign in Los Angeles to find and capture undocumented immigrants. The actions have spurred backlash from local and state officials and have forced some residents into hiding. "We're not sure who these armed men are. They show up without uniforms. They show up completely masked. They refuse to give ID. They're driving regular cars with tinted windows and in some cases, out of state license plates. Who are these people?" Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said at a briefing Friday night. "If they're federal officials, why is it that they do not identify themselves?" Bass asked. Around Atlantic and Brompton avenues, crowds of people gathered, taking videos and looking at the agents — armed individuals wearing balaclavas, some carrying long weapons, wearing vests and camoflauge pants. They stood in the street near a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop. The crowd and agents were separated by yellow tape. One woman with a bullhorn hurled obscenities at the agents and President Trump; others waved a Mexican flag and an upside-down U.S. flag, traditionally a symbol of protest or distress. "Losers!" another woman called out. "Go fight a real war!" Another shouted, "Shame on you!" Read more: More L.A. car washes targeted in immigration raids, some closed amid fears of further sweeps Elsewhere, one of the armed people wore a U.S. flag on his vest, and some onlookers called out to them. "Are you a bounty hunter? How much is the bounty for an illegal right now?" someone on the street yelled. Cudahy Mayor Elizabeth Alcantar Loza was in Bell as the crowds gathered, and said the mood on Atlantic Avenue shifted when suddenly an unmarked silver SUV drove toward her and other people standing near her, angering the crowd. Some began to hit and throw objects at the SUV. A second unmarked vehicle attempted to do the same thing moments later, she said. "It felt like there was a point being made to incite violence," Alcantar Loza said. "People were peacefully protesting, and it became something completely different because of the vehicle that was trying to drive into the crowd." "We've seen it across the board, folks show up to an immigration activity and then violence is enacted upon them. Then they respond and we're shown as violent protesters—when in reality folks were calm, they were chanting, they were protesting. And they tried to run people over," she said. Just after 8 p.m., peaceful protesters waving Mexican and American flags gathered around Jack's Car Wash in Bell, as motorists honked their horns in support. "ICE out of everywhere!!!" one sign said. "Immigrants built this country," said another. There was another immigration action that appeared to focus on a car wash in Maywood on Friday, according to Maywood Councilman Eddie De La Riva. Ultimately no one was taken from that business, he said. At one point, there was considerable commotion near the car wash. Video shared with The Times shows a minor collision between a blue BMW and a blue SUV with at least three agents inside, all wearing green vests. One of the passengers in the SUV opens his door in front of the slowly moving BMW, causing the BMW to hit the SUV's door. Agents detained the BMW's driver, who was later released, the councilman said, after onlookers shouted at the agents to let the driver go. By then, a crowd of protesters had formed. Fernando Botello, 39, was driving back to Maywood after picking up his girlfriend's 14-year-old son when he got an alert on his citizen app that people suspected to be immigration agents were spotted in the area. Moments later, he said, he learned that the agents were at an Xpress Wash at Slauson and Alamo avenues, just blocks from his home. When Botello got close to the intersection, he could see several vehicles were blocking the roadway. Read more: Tensions over L.A. immigration sweeps boil over as Padilla is tackled, ICE arrests pick up Unable to move, he got out of the car and watched the scene. He said the crowd started screaming to let the man go. He could hear people asking for the agents' badge numbers. After five minutes, he said, local police arrived. It was at that point, he said, the agents got in their vehicles and threw tear gas at a group standing on a corner near a park. A video taken by Botello shows an armed masked man standing from the ledge of an open door of a black SUV slowly driving along a street near Maywood's Riverfront Park. The video shows the agent throwing an object toward a crowd of people, and a loud bang can be heard as he gets back in the vehicle. Botello said the object was a flash bang grenade, and was tossed at people who were taking video. "They knew what they wanted to do," he said. As he recounted the situation, Botello paused, trying to hold back tears. "I was upset because the people were exercising their right. They weren't hitting the officers' vehicles, they weren't in the middle of the street," he said. "You're punishing people for standing up for their neighbors and yourself." "It feels surreal. I don't know how long this is going to last." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Washington Post

an hour ago

• Washington Post

Doonesbury Comic Strips by Garry Trudeau - June 20, 2025

........Trump on Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell: "A stupid person."....CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten on polling unpopularity of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill: "Oh my God! You need Greg Louganis to get that far underwater!"....Trump on Sen. Alex Padilla: "Nobody's every heard of this like an illegal."....Padilla on Trump, speaking on Senate floor: "A vindictive president on a tour of never had a tyrant as a commander-in-chief."....Trump on Elon Musk: "The man who has lost his mind."....Steve Bannon on Musk: "He should be deported from the country immediately."....DHS Sec. Kristi Noem on LA: "They're not a city of immigrants. They're a city of criminals."....Trump on LA demonstrations against ICE raids: "These are paid insurrectionists, paid trouble-makers; they get money."....Tina Brown: "There's nothing Trump is better at than doubling down on a lie."....Speaker Mike Johnson on CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "He should be tarred and feathered."....Trump, on whether "border czar" Tom Homan should arrest Newsom: "I would."....ABC's Terry Moran on Trump adviser Stephen Miller: "He's a world-class can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate."....Steve Schmidt: "What the American people are witnessing is Trump and Miller's rolling Reichstag fire...A monstrous lie being used as a pretext to assert power."....Lucian K. Truscott IV on Trump parade: "The whole thing looked like amateur hour at Dictatorville."...Andrew Sullivan: "This, in the president's mind, is not America's military, but his own."....Rep. Jamie Raskin: "We clearly have too many DUI hires in the Trump administration, starting with Secretary Hegseth."....Trump on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard: "I don't care what she said."....Trump: "I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen."....Rachel Maddow on Trump: "For a would-be strong man he's not strong. He is a remarkably weak and feckless political figure, who is nonetheless trying to overthrow the American form of government."....Sen. Rand Paul on Trump disinviting him from annual WH picnic: "The level of immaturity is beyond words."....Robert Lipsyte: "Pete Rose and Donald Trump are the dregs of American maleness."....Fox host Jesse Watters on Sports Illustrated swimsuit show: "Remember back in the Biden era, all of the swimsuit models were obese?"....Elon Musk: "Is there a worse publication on the face of the Earth than the Wall Street Journal? I wouldn't use that to line my cage for parrot droppings.".... ........Trump on Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell: "A stupid person."....CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten on polling unpopularity of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill: "Oh my God! You need Greg Louganis to get that far underwater!"....Trump on Sen. Alex Padilla: "Nobody's every heard of this like an illegal."....Padilla on Trump, speaking on Senate floor: "A vindictive president on a tour of never had a tyrant as a commander-in-chief."....Trump on Elon Musk: "The man who has lost his mind."....Steve Bannon on Musk: "He should be deported from the country immediately."....DHS Sec. Kristi Noem on LA: "They're not a city of immigrants. They're a city of criminals."....Trump on LA demonstrations against ICE raids: "These are paid insurrectionists, paid trouble-makers; they get money."....Tina Brown: "There's nothing Trump is better at than doubling down on a lie."....Speaker Mike Johnson on CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "He should be tarred and feathered."....Trump, on whether "border czar" Tom Homan should arrest Newsom: "I would."....ABC's Terry Moran on Trump adviser Stephen Miller: "He's a world-class can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate."....Steve Schmidt: "What the American people are witnessing is Trump and Miller's rolling Reichstag fire...A monstrous lie being used as a pretext to assert power."....Lucian K. Truscott IV on Trump parade: "The whole thing looked like amateur hour at Dictatorville."...Andrew Sullivan: "This, in the president's mind, is not America's military, but his own."....Rep. Jamie Raskin: "We clearly have too many DUI hires in the Trump administration, starting with Secretary Hegseth."....Trump on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard: "I don't care what she said."....Trump: "I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen."....Rachel Maddow on Trump: "For a would-be strong man he's not strong. He is a remarkably weak and feckless political figure, who is nonetheless trying to overthrow the American form of government."....Sen. Rand Paul on Trump disinviting him from annual WH picnic: "The level of immaturity is beyond words."....Robert Lipsyte: "Pete Rose and Donald Trump are the dregs of American maleness."....Fox host Jesse Watters on Sports Illustrated swimsuit show: "Remember back in the Biden era, all of the swimsuit models were obese?"....Elon Musk: "Is there a worse publication on the face of the Earth than the Wall Street Journal? I wouldn't use that to line my cage for parrot droppings.".... ........Trump on Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell: "A stupid person."....CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten on polling unpopularity of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill: "Oh my God! You need Greg Louganis to get that far underwater!"....Trump on Sen. Alex Padilla: "Nobody's every heard of this like an illegal."....Padilla on Trump, speaking on Senate floor: "A vindictive president on a tour of never had a tyrant as a commander-in-chief."....Trump on Elon Musk: "The man who has lost his mind."....Steve Bannon on Musk: "He should be deported from the country immediately."....DHS Sec. Kristi Noem on LA: "They're not a city of immigrants. They're a city of criminals."....Trump on LA demonstrations against ICE raids: "These are paid insurrectionists, paid trouble-makers; they get money."....Tina Brown: "There's nothing Trump is better at than doubling down on a lie."....Speaker Mike Johnson on CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "He should be tarred and feathered."....Trump, on whether "border czar" Tom Homan should arrest Newsom: "I would."....ABC's Terry Moran on Trump adviser Stephen Miller: "He's a world-class can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate."....Steve Schmidt: "What the American people are witnessing is Trump and Miller's rolling Reichstag fire...A monstrous lie being used as a pretext to assert power."....Lucian K. Truscott IV on Trump parade: "The whole thing looked like amateur hour at Dictatorville."...Andrew Sullivan: "This, in the president's mind, is not America's military, but his own."....Rep. Jamie Raskin: "We clearly have too many DUI hires in the Trump administration, starting with Secretary Hegseth."....Trump on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard: "I don't care what she said."....Trump: "I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen."....Rachel Maddow on Trump: "For a would-be strong man he's not strong. He is a remarkably weak and feckless political figure, who is nonetheless trying to overthrow the American form of government."....Sen. Rand Paul on Trump disinviting him from annual WH picnic: "The level of immaturity is beyond words."....Robert Lipsyte: "Pete Rose and Donald Trump are the dregs of American maleness."....Fox host Jesse Watters on Sports Illustrated swimsuit show: "Remember back in the Biden era, all of the swimsuit models were obese?"....Elon Musk: "Is there a worse publication on the face of the Earth than the Wall Street Journal? I wouldn't use that to line my cage for parrot droppings."....

CNN

an hour ago

• CNN

Republicans might redraw House maps in Ohio and Texas to try to protect narrow majority

CNN — Facing the possibility of losing control of the U.S. House next year, Republicans are weighing aggressively redrawing congressional districts in two states in hopes of ousting several longtime Democratic lawmakers. In Ohio, a quirk in state law is giving Republican state legislators another run at drawing new lines for the state's 15 congressional districts. The goal would be to knock off two Democratic members of the House, giving the GOP a 12-3 advantage in the state's congressional delegation. State lawmakers could go even further and target a third Democratic seat. In Texas, meanwhile, Republicans are considering whether to hold a special legislative session to undertake a rare mid-decade map-drawing that supporters hope could result in the GOP picking up as many as five additional seats. Democrats need a net gain of just three seats to win the House, raising the stakes for Republicans and President Donald Trump, who could see a Democrat-led House block his legislative agenda and open new investigations of him in the second half of his final term. But redistricting is a double-edged sword: In drawing new lines, both states could also endanger GOP lawmakers by moving safe Republican territory into districts currently represented by Democrats. Adam Kincaid, president and executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, favors an aggressive redistricting approach. 'It's a priority to keep the House, and Republicans should be looking for as many seats as we can get,' he said. The GOP's redistricting gains in 2022 were key to the party flipping the chamber in that election and retaining their majority in 2024, he added. 'There were a handful of seats that weren't politically possible to get before that may be possible now,' he added. 'It makes sense for Republicans to try ahead of 2026.' Redrawing maps is potentially risky for GOP incumbents if 2026 proves to be a favorable year for Democrats. Republicans will have to run in a year when Trump himself is not the ballot, helping to boost conservative turnout. 'It's both a gamble and an opportunity,' said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball, a newsletter published by University of Virginia's Center for Politics. 'From the White House's perspective, would an aggressive Texas redraw increase their chances of holding the House next year? Yeah, probably. But it wouldn't guarantee anything.' Redistricting generally happens at the start of each decade to account for population shifts and ensure that each congressional and state legislative district holds roughly the same number of people. Some Democrats have denounced the potential rounds of mid-decade map-drawing, arguing that Republicans are trying to rig the process. 'Republicans are exploring further manipulation of egregious gerrymanders in red states like Texas and Ohio for one reason: they are terrified of the voters,' said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, in a statement. 'It's a brazenly corrupt attempt to shield themselves from accountability at the ballot box and it must be stopped.' A third redistricting battle, meanwhile, is playing out in Wisconsin where two legal actions filed last month are challenging a congressional map that favors Republicans in a battleground state that's narrowly divided along partisan lines. Both cases are before the state Supreme Court, which has a liberal majority. Texas could go after border Democrats All but one Republican member of the Texas congressional delegation won their seats with more than 60% of the vote last November. All 25 GOP-held districts voted for Trump by at least 15 points in 2024, Kondik noted. A new GOP map in Texas is likely to shift voters from safely red districts into ones held by Democrats to help boost the number of Republicans that Texas sends to Congress. Currently, under a 2021 map, Republicans control 25 of the state's 38 House seats. (One safely Democratic seat in the Houston area is vacant following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner. The current Texas congressional maps are the subject of litigation brought by groups representing Black and Latino voters who contend the lines drawn in 2021 discriminate against voters of color.) Clear targets include Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, who represent border communities that have shifted to the right in recent years. Trump won both districts in 2024, part of a broader realignment among Latino voters. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, argued recently that an aggressive redraw could backfire on Republicans. 'If you make any changes to that map … they are going to endanger four to six Republican incumbents who are serving in the Congress right now,' he said to reporters. 'Be careful what you wish for.' Other Democrats have condemned any effort to change the district lines to further benefit the GOP. 'Texas Republicans should stand by the rule of law and the maps they drew four years ago, or they should finally work with Democrats to draw fair, independent congressional maps,' state Rep. Gene Wu, who chairs the Democratic caucus in the Texas House, said in a statement. 'Anything less is a desperate power grab from a party that knows Texas voters are ready to show them the door.' The White House did not respond to a CNN inquiry about the effort, which has been the subject of recent closed-door meetings in Washington among members of the state's congressional delegation. The state legislature, which finished its regular session earlier this month, is not scheduled to meet again until 2027. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the authority to call special sessions and determine the issues lawmakers will address. Aides to the Texas governor did not respond to CNN inquiries. Last week, Abbott told reporters that he had not 'identified a need for a special session,' according to the Dallas Morning News. The governor, however, did not close the door on the possibility, saying he was reviewing bills from the regular legislative session that could result in vetoes that would require him to summon lawmakers back to Austin to address outstanding matters. Abbott also declined to tell journalists whether Trump had asked him to order a redraw. Ohio GOP looks for as many as three seats In Ohio, the mid-decade redrawing of its congressional districts is an outgrowth of a state law that requires maps approved without bipartisan support to be redrawn after four years. Crafting new maps for next year's midterms will ultimately fall to the Republican-controlled General Assembly. The current map, crafted by a GOP-led legislature in 2022, has 10 Republicans and five Democrats. Two Democratic incumbents are viewed as likely targets of the GOP: Reps. Marcy Kaptur, a veteran lawmaker who represents northwestern Ohio, and Emilia Skyes, whose district includes Akron. Last year, Kaptur eked out a win even as her district went for Trump. Skyes, meanwhile, represents a highly competitive district that former Vice President Kamala Harris barely won. If Republicans choose an even more aggressive approach, a third Democrat, Rep. Greg Landsman, who represents Cincinnati, could be endangered.