Featured Image Credit: C-SPAN
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Reddit, Social Media
Callum Jones
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, Reddit, Social Media
Many people have flocked online to call out a 'sad and pathetic' detail in President Donald Trump's military parade speech over the weekend.
Trump celebrated his 79th birthday on Saturday and the POTUS celebrated it by attending a military parade dedicated to the US Army's 250th anniversary in Washington DC.
The Republican president walked out to 'Hail to the Chief' and 'Happy Birthday' alongside First Lady Melania Trump, his family, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
As the name of the parade suggests, those in attendance witnessed tanks and aircrafts spanning the decades as well as parachuters from the sky and more than 6,000 uniformed soldiers in period consumes patrolling through the capital.
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The parade told the American Army's story, from the Battle of Lexington in the Revolutionary War through to the modern day.
Trump addressed the crowd and military personnel at the end of the parade in an eight-minute-long speech, saying in part: "Every other country celebrates their victories. It's about time America did too.
"We're the hottest country in the world right now," he continued. "If you threaten the American people, our soldiers are coming for you."
The parade was broadcast across many networks in the US and around the world, though it's Fox News' coverage that has much of the internet talking.
Some people on Reddit believe Fox added 'claps and cheering' to their coverage once Trump appeared on stage to deliver his speech to those in attendance - something the network has since denied.
One Redditor dubbed it 'sad and pathetic', while a second added: "That’s so pathetic. I’m embarrassed for… the entire US at this point."
Meanwhile, a third penned: "Lmao! Louder than the band and you can hear it slowly turn down like a volume slider."
And a fourth quipped: "As a sound engineer, to me on a quick listen this sounds like a crowd in a small arena."
However, a fellow person explained how the coverage differed between channels.
They wrote: "They didn't add in clapping, on other streams and sources you can still hear the crowd cheering. More than likely, this is just due to differences in how they set up their audio equipment."
In a statement provided to UNILAD, Fox News rebuffed the claims, saying: "During the President’s remarks and in the time after, FOX News Channel used the network pool feed which is where the singing of Happy Birthday could be heard while FOX Nation was taking the America250 feed where it could not be heard. This is a blatantly false smear and nothing was altered whatsoever."
The White House communications director, Steven Cheung, boasted that more than 250,000 'patriots showed up' to lend their support, 'despite the threat of rain'.
Attendees and images of the parade has prompted many to believe that figure has been vastly inflated with reports from the Associated Press, the New York Times and Fox News suggesting the crowd was much smaller.
The event was also impacted by protesters who organized a clash with the celebration, holding a flagship march in Philadelphia to 'draw a clear contrast between our people-powered movement and the costly, wasteful, and un-American birthday parade in Washington,' according to the 'No Kings' demonstrators as per The Independent.