You could call it the cherry on President Trump’s wannabe dictator cake: practically ordering the Pentagon to put together a military parade in Washington sometime this year in order to exhibit America’s military might.

Naturally, he wants a parade “the likes of which the world has never seen,” to borrow his words from another context. Which reminds me of what Michael Wolff reveals in his controversial tell-all, “Fire and Fury,” i.e., that the president has often angrily demanded, “Big things, we need big things … I need big. Bring me big.”

So very Trumpian. Mr. Supercalifragilistic.

The president claims he got the idea for this needless, multi-million dollar extravaganza from a military parade he viewed in Paris last summer — to which I say: not buying.

It seems likelier that what is really going on here is a game of one-upmanship with Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. Recall how he tried to scare the latter last month when he shot out a tough guy tweet apprising him that his nuclear button is way bigger.

The surprising thing is that he didn’t instantly accuse politicians opposed to his parade of being “un-American, even treasonous,” as he did when he lamely upbraided Democrats for not applauding him when he gave his State of the Union speech recently.

I winced when I laid eyes on the photo of Trump that accompanied the article on the parade (Feb. 7). Truly, he has all the charm of a declining, world-weary crime boss.

William LaRochelle, Lewiston


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