Maybe next time Trump holds a rally at a military base or law enforcement gathering, people attending will be reminded by their leaders that they should behave professionally and keep their political leanings hidden from public view.

A professional reaction like that from military or law enforcement personnel to one of these rallies may even teach Trump a lesson or two...

You never hear the NAACP and other urban organizations teaching “compliance” to their members. Telling people to completely comply with the police’s instructions and commands when encountering law enforcement would make officer-involved shootings a thing of the past! But these organizations make their budgets following “racially motivated” police shootings. I know that sounds extremely cynical, but unless you can provide me with a different reason for why they refuse to promote compliance when dealing with the police, that is the only explanation that I see.

Full disclosure: I saw your words "unless you can provide me" so I specifically became curious whether or not I could determine if anything like what you described might (or might not) exist. I did find:

The 411 on the Five-O

The NAACP Real World Guide to Interacting With Police

While we must support effective law enforcement, we must also exercise our constitutional rights to ensure law enforcement works as it should – to protect
all Americans regardless of race or ethnicity. This guide offers helpful suggestions on how to interact with law enforcement to reduce the probability of conflict.

https://naacp.org/resources/411-five-o

I personally have never seen this promoted anywhere, probably because it doesn't fit the definition of "clickbait" which (to your point) definitely drives reporting in our times. Final full disclosure: I read a few lines and posted it for your review. :)

I should have noted that while many of the officers I know voted for Trump, I know of none who approve of his sending the military into LA to combat protesters. Most disagree with his ICE raids and the way the Constitution is being ignored by Trump. WA State is pretty much all asylum cities, and proudly so. There are a lot of immigrants that live and work on the farms around here. They are not the folks the police here are constantly dealing with day-to-day.

We are very close to Joint Base Lewis-McChord and it is very clear that people are pissed at how the soldiers at Ft. Bragg embarrassed themselves and the whole Army at Trump’s rally. Trump hand-picked the crowd, so you know only the finest were admitted!

There is very little there that I would disagree with.

Except that I think the kinds of actions and rhetoric coming out of the current administration with regard to encouraging the public demonstration of partisanship within institutions such as the courts, the military and law enforcement - like the soldiers' reaction to the president's recent speech at Fort Bragg - can have just as detrimental an impact as any action or rhetoric coming from Democrats.

Law enforcement and military personnel should, I would think, find the policies, tactics and rhetoric sorely lacking from both Democrats and Republicans.

That sounds like a perfectly legitimate viewpoint to take, and it is. But one thing that I am constantly having to remind myself is that the vast majority of people do not follow politics closely. Most have little more knowledge of what is going on beyond the headlines they see and hear. And sadly, since the rise of the internet, news media has resorted to doctoring headlines in their desire for it to fulfill their need for “clickbait” to generate more viewers. It has resulted in headlines that often mislead the viewer from the message the article actually makes. So if you are only basing what you believe on the headlines you have read about a subject… see how badly misinformed people might be?

And I have to be honest and say that while both sides are constantly lying to us, only one side is constantly making their dislike and distrust of law enforcement known at every turn — liberals. Whenever I first hear of an officer-involved shooting, my mind instantly goes to thinking, “Oh please let it be a white person!” Yes, without question the Black community has been the victim of police brutality and misconduct in the past. But we should judge people by their actions today and on the evidence of those actions today — we must let the past stay in the past. The police that would turn fire hoses on protesters and unleash their k9 units to chomp on people are a memory from our past. But many in the Black community still believe that they are at risk of those ghosts returning because they have been led to think that.

One of the greatest tragedies that I feel has hurt the Black community the most has been the refusal to promote compliance when dealing with the police. You never hear the NAACP and other urban organizations teaching “compliance” to their members. Telling people to completely comply with the police’s instructions and commands when encountering law enforcement would make officer-involved shootings a thing of the past! But these organizations make their budgets following “racially motivated” police shootings. I know that sounds extremely cynical, but unless you can provide me with a different reason for why they refuse to promote compliance when dealing with the police, that is the only explanation that I see.

Granted, January 6 was what I refer to as “Bizarro Day” for police tn this country — conservatives physically attacking the police and liberals praising their actions and offering their support and backing — but sadly that was just one “bump” in the path both sides tend to follow.

Donald Trump is an opportunist who generally takes both sides of every issue depending on the crowd he's addressing and/or whichever way the wind is blowing. It should thus surprise no one (regardless of political affiliation) that Trump now seeks to protect himself and by extension the workers he's been exploiting for decades at his winery, clubs, hotels, golf courses, construction sites, etc.

music and tennis are great, but they don't have a government holiday.

JL

Congratulations go out to Cadet Bone Spurs Five Deferments for being the fattest chickenshit at the speech.

He's not a POTUS; he's a princess.

Law enforcement and military personnel should, I would think, find the policies, tactics and rhetoric sorely lacking from both Democrats and Republicans. Which one might conclude should ensure that both institutions would be strictly non-partisan and prominent players, in fact, in the effort to bridge the great political divide that Americans find themselves ensnared in.

The military is not part of “law enforcement” by definition. It has no training in law enforcement and no experience enforcing a state’s laws.

Yeah, I know that, surprisingly. ;)

Not sure why I used the words 'and the rest of' instead of just 'and'. I did preview the comment, too. Oh well.

On the other hand, I've heard former military guys on the tv this weekend talking about the marines and the national guard in the same breath as law enforcement. So, there's that. Which may have confused me. Ahem.

The military is not part of “law enforcement” by definition. It has no training in law enforcement and no experience enforcing a state’s laws.

Ever wonder why the police support Republicans more than Democrats? Maybe it's because Democrats love to ask why so few police officers are charged in officer-involved shooting cases, but they never try to answer the question. Charges are not filed when a shooting is determined to be legally justified under the legal statutes. But Democrats are not ever gonna say that our police in this country are so well trained on when lethal force is justified that it is not surprising that so few are charged. When the shooting is determined not to meet the criteria to be defined as “justified”, officers are charged with a crime.

Where would you feel more comfortable: with people who are always saying that you cannot be trusted and are accused of being unjustly violent against “innocent” citizens; or with people who are thankful for the job that you do serving the community?

That shouldn't have prevented the leaders at Fort Bragg from doing their jobs and ensuring that ALL of the soldiers who would be present during that speech and especially the ones who were selected to be placed behind the president were reminded and instructed to behave professionally.

I wonder if all of these soldiers will have by now undergone a kind of post-Trump-speech class and lesson in how to behave decently and professionally as American military personnel...it seems they could ALL use that instruction. This won't be the last military base that Trump comes to visit, after all.

'The 68-30 vote to advance the bill occurred amid growing scrutiny of President Donald Trump’s various crypto dealings, which have enriched his family and presented unprecedented conflicts of interest for his administration. Eighteen Democrats voted “yea.” A final vote on passage is expected next week.
...
“[Trump]’s gonna have to abide by all the ethics rules that anyone else will,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told HuffPost. “What they want specifically is a carve-out to block him. We could not get that in.”

Gallego’s 2024 Senate campaign was aided by $10 million from super PACs financed by three large crypto companies, including the Coinbase digital currency exchange.'
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/crypto-genius-act-bitcoin-democrats-senate_n_6849b4a9e4b0cf5f0c9acb59

'Just ahead of the president’s attendance at a performance of “Les Misérables,” four drag artists entered the auditorium to a wave of applause from fellow theatergoers.
...
In a video shared on Instagram after the show, Tara Hoot hailed the “delightful time” and said the group “had so much fun.”

“Unfortunately there were some other people there,” Hoot said, appearing to zing Trump and his party,...'
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-kennedy-center-visit-trolled_n_684aa7f6e4b0cf5f0c9b3c9e

'House committee hearing devolved into chaos on Thursday as Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) pressed lawmakers to subpoena Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after her security team assaulted Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) at a press briefing.
...
Frost repeatedly brought up the incident and asked that the committee subpoena Noem over the scuffle, which led to sniping from Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and other Republicans.'
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/james-comer-maxwell-frost-shut-up-alex-padilla-kristi-noem_n_684b10c8e4b0c56511088367

Younger Americans are much more accepting of gender/sexual diversity. We can assume that at least a small percentage of cisgender teenagers will be dissuaded from enlisting because of the treatment of their friends and family members.

So when WWIII breaks out between Israel and Iran, President Bone Spurs will have to beef up the military with either:
* a draft; or
* immigrants.

Karma is a bitch!

It seems that soldiers were screened so that only those who “support the president’s agenda” were selected for the audience. Their lack of professionalism is part of why it’s been a tough time for the Army.

I don't, as a rule, do birthdays, not even my own - but I'll make an exception for the 800th FTP column. WOW. Congratulations, all around! :-)

That rings pretty hollow. Where was this commander and the rest of the Fort Bragg leadership when these troops needed to be prepared for this particular presidential visit and reminded that they should behave in a completely non-partisan manner as is the longstanding tradition in the US military.

I mean, the commander and others there in leadership roles should have had no illusions about what this speech was going to be like and how this president demands fealty. Those soldiers should have been told to be sure to act like the professional military personnel they are - or should be. The soldiers who were cheering Trump on and booing his perceived enemies in such a blatant partisan fashion are America's future military leaders.

If the military joins the rest of law enforcement in being largely partisan and pro-Trump(ism), then the US is in for a very, very long four years.