It's an extra-long weekend for many citizens in the U.S. as America celebrates Independence Day. Thursday's July 4th festivities include vacations, beach trips, backyard BBQs, pool parties and the like, but President Donald Trump is gearing up for a military-style parade. According to CNN, the event will feature highly destructive military weapons including M1 Abrams tanks, and while the spectacle may be fun in theory, the outlet suggests that not everyone is on board with the display as they don't want the military to be used as a partisan, political tool.
"Military members may not participate in political campaigns," said Jordan Libowitz who acts as the Communications Director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "This is likely the reason why they're hesitant to participate, because the guidelines are pretty clear about what they can and cannot do. If they come to stand next to him for a political speech while in uniform, representing the military, it could become a problem."
Critics haven't been shy about sharing their opposition to Trump's July 4th parade, including super-producer Swizz Beatz. "My family, personally, we don't celebrate [the] fourth of July," Swizz recently told TMZ when asked his thoughts about the ceremony. "We celebrate Juneteenth, so that's where we at. So, all the theatrics and things like that, maybe they should host the theatrics for the Central Park [Five] situation and put some light on that and do a parade in D.C. for how we can change those things up."
"Bring out all the toys for the toy show?" Swizz asked regarding the military weapons that will be on display. "Look at what we dealing with. We dealing with theatrics right now, that's why most of us gotta have knowledge of self to where we can be dealing with reality." He said that as a culture we need to recognize what is real and what's for show, and people should "bring more awareness to the things that's necessary." Check out Swizz's full clip below.