Last edited Tue Sep 30, 2025, 11:24 PM - Edit history (2)
...military brass and other officers do not applaud or cheer for civilian elected officials during speeches to uphold the tradition of political neutrality and reinforce civilian control of the military.
This tradition is intended to ensure that military loyalty is to the Constitution and the nation, rather than to any specific political party or leader.
It seems obvious they had no idea everything they said would be met with stoic silence. If they had had a clue, I don't think they would have staged this thing.
But how could they be so clueless?
It's not like the tradition is some sort of secret.
For viewers, watching those top brass listening to the MAGA rally bullshit in stoic silence must have been striking to people who saw it live and didn't know stoic silence was the norm. Particularly when you add in 47's nervous reaction to the silence and Hegseth's pauses for reaction.
I have a feeling that this event may end up being far more damaging to the 47 regime than almost anything so far. A MAGA rally stripped of the emotional reaction lays bare a reality. When 47 is met with cheers, viewers who aren't predisposed to despise the man can be pulled in. (Look how people respond! Must be something to it.)
Strip that away, and you are left with a litany of evil, vile, stuff with no "audience response track" to cue you about how your are supposed to respond.
I'm not quite sure why, but it brings to mind "The President's Speech" in Oliver Sack's, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. I think because it is about how removing certain "contexts" that are part of normal perception can lay bare a truth. In this case, MAGA's "normal" perception of Trump come's with a "response track." Take that away, and perhaps some reality breaks through.
If you aren't familiar. It is a fascinating story of how people with different types of aphasias responded to a speech from Reagan. Some roared with laughter, others were simply bewildered ("'He is not cogent" ). Sacks concludes this:
Here then was the paradox of the President's speech. We normals -
aided, doubtless, by our wish to be fooled, were indeed well and
truly fooled ('Populus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur'). And so cunningly
was deceptive word-use combined with deceptive tone, that only
the brain-damaged remained intact, undeceived.
You can read the entire anecdote here:
https://plantainclan.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Oliver-Sacks-The-PresidentS-Speech.pdf
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