Coffee & Writing

On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress had riflemen sign up to create the Continental Army. 2025 marks the Army’s 250th birthday. Happy Birthday to all the brave men and women who have served our country with their lives and continue to do so!

Unfortunately, this amazing milestone is being overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday, which happens to fall on the same day.

I say unfortunately not because he is having another birthday. Happy Birthday 47! I say unfortunately because that isn’t how any other president would have dared celebrate their birthday. George Washington was not happy about his birthday being marked so grandly, FDR made it as a day of fundraising for polio in communities, while he continued to work and cheer them on over the radio, Yes, there have been presidents who have had celebrity inflamed birthdays, like JFK. Not many people can forget Marilyn Monroe’s version of the Happy Birthday song.

The current president’s birthday is estimated to cost $45 million dollars, according to AlJazeera. That does not shout lowering the deficit in my opinion at all.

47 insisted on the addition of heavy military vehicles, which had not been part of the long project of planning for this big day for the Army. While they prepared the vehicles and the roads the best they could, it is likely to cost $16 million in road damage. A bill the Army has to pick up, not the selfish president who insisted on something that made everything more complicated for the planners.

Soldiers marching in the parade were treated by 47 like little plastic toys, not the brave people they are. They were only there for 47 to say look at what I’ve got! These men and women put stuff aside to put their lives on the line fighting to uphold their oath of enlistment which says:

I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God. (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

The planners did a brilliant job of maintaining their oath of enlistment by obeying the orders of the President.

The oath of office is similar in one way to the oath of enlistment:

 “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” 

Both of them swear to defend the Constitution of the United States. I don’t think you have to be a constitutional scholar to know that 47 should not carry a name until he starts defending what he is supposed to be defending,

-47 froze federal loans and grants worth about $1 trillion. Congress holds the purse, not the president–only they can decide to freeze things.

-ending birthright citizenship

-pardoning everyone from the January 6 riots on the Capitol, which included the Captitol police who were severely injured or murdered.

-and more.

While he is looking for a loophole to get a third term, all I can think of is where is the ammendment to not have convicted felons in office?

People saw his day of dictatorship as an opportunity to protest in what was called No Kings Day..

What is No Kings day exactly?

The No Kings protests were aimed at opposing the policies and actions of the Donald Trump administration. Due to the US Army 250th Anniversary Parade coinciding with President Trump’s 79th birthday, anti-Trump activists interpreted the event as an example of Trump using the US Armed Forces to perform an authoritarian or king-like celebration [emphasis added] of himself. (Wikipedia)

This is an impressive picture of people in San Francisco forming, “NO KING!” My nephew and his dad are part of the people-made sign, and I couldn’t be a more happy aunt for him.; however, there is a twinge of jealousy going on.

Every state in the nation from Hawai’i to Alaska to Virginia, to Texas to New York to Kansas to everywhere had a No Kings protest. Even small town participated in the protests.

Despite being told not to have their No Kings Day protests in Minnesta due a manhunt for the person who shot two state congresspeople, Rep. Melissa Hortman and Sen. John Hoffman and their spouses, people went ahead anyway. Rep. Hortman and her husband died, leaving behind two adult children, and Sen. Hoffman and his wife fortunately survived their injuries.

Hawai’i went one step further and called it what it really was–No Dictator Day.

Alaskans had an interesting take on No King Day.

The Army did not deserve to have their big day belittled by a petty man who does not deserve to be president.

And what about poor dear Flag Day?

Flag Day is a holiday celebrated on June 14 in the United States. It commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by resolution of the Second Continental Congress. The Flag Resolution stated “That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” (Wikipedia)

Regardless of how you feel about 47, June 14, 2025 should never have been about him.

I am a pacifist, however I know militaries are inevitable, and they deserve respect for everything they sacrifice. In America, they should have better healthcare than the average American, and the fact there is such a thing as a homeless veteran is an abomination that should make our cheeks flush with embarrassment. Whatever a veteran needs throughout their entire life, they should get, especially when it’s something as simple as a bag of groceries.

Parents could one day find themselves standing on the tarmac of an airport near Washington, D.C. at 4:30 in the morning while a coffin draped with the American flag comes out of a plane and inside is the body of their 26-year-old daughter. She played field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, she rode horses, taught at a camp for kids with autism, and always wanted to follow in her father’s Army footsteps. She did incredible, moved up the ladder very quickly, and had a promising in future ahead of her. Now, she will have a simple tombstone at Arlington National Cemetery.

This is why June 14, 2025 is about the Army and the American flag, not EVER the president.

Miriam Kavanagh