Comedian Bill Maher on Friday lauded President Trump’s military parade for its patriotic spirit but criticized the public display of weaponry.
“Trump said, we’re going to celebrate our country for a change. Like so many things with him, like he very often has an idea which in the ether is not a bad idea,” Maher said during a Friday episode of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” highlighted by Mediaite.
During his panel with featured guests, political scientist Ian Bremmer and historian Rutger Bregman, Maher slammed the Democratic Party, which has largely criticized the parade, arguing they don’t “appreciate” the U.S. or its history.
“They have no perspective about it. They think we’re irredeemably racist and horrible and colonialist, as if every other country in the world at one time or another wasn’t like us or even worse,” Maher said.
However, he noted that Trump’s show of nationalism could quickly turn militaristic.
“Should we appreciate America more, and in more perspective? Yes,” Maher said.
“But not tanks in the streets! This really worries me, I mean, I just feel like you’re getting, I don’t even know if that’s his grand scheme, thought out that much, but you’re getting people used to a site that we have never seen in this country before,” he added, noting GOP Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and John Kennedy (La.), who spoke out about the spectacle.
Saturday’s parade comes as protesters gather across the country against Trump and his agenda, particularly his crackdown on immigration. Ahead of the June 14 festivities, the president warned demonstrators not to disrupt the Army celebration in Washington.