Trump uses the Navy for Content Creation

On Sunday I covered “America’s Navxy 250 - Titans of the Sea: A Salute to the Fleet” in my current hometown of Norfolk, Virginia. There have been many America 250 events happening around the country this year in the lead up to the anniversary of the Nation’s founding in 2026. The events have been organized, in part of entirely by America 250

This event was supposed to happen on Friday, with Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth but President Trump added his name and so the event was moved to Sunday. It was not explicitly open to the public but sailors were given links to invite family. From the audience that attended it seems that it was also opened to a subset of the Trump MAGA base.

The event which was placed between USS Harry S. Truman and the Amphibious Assault Ship USS Kearsarge at the Naval Station Norfolk on a bright and nearly cloudless day.

The Navy band played the classics in front of a fighter plane and a huge American flag.

The troops filed in, some had special passes to be allowed into the main seating area, but most were only allowed to sit on the sides.

All the while a Navy band was playing classics from the USS Harry S. Truman in front of a F-18 and a huge American flag.

The main event started off site, we watched via a poorly synced live feed as ships fired hundreds of thousands of dollars of munitions into the ocean.

Also a submarine appeared occasionally to cheers from sailors attached to the vessel.

We continued to watch via a mostly silent video stream that, when there was audio it was out of sync. Trump landed via Marine One to cheers from the sailors in Norfolk.

Pretty quickly it became obvious that this entire adventure was a just about capturing content, not about honoring the troops who watched everything happen via a poorly produced live feed on a small screen. A screen that many couldn’t actually see.

Trump did at some point off screen acquire a military jacket. Unlike GW Bush it was not a full jumpsuit and there was no MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner above him.

Note that no actual press were allowed to cover this event on the ship that it occurred, just Trump’s White House photogs and cameramen.

The real journalists, the press pool, were on board a Osprey, an aircraft considered too dangerous for the President to fly, landing on the deck of the Truman.

Monica Crowley a former Fox News pundit, now the Chief of Protocol of the United States and Principal Media Representative for America250 told the thousands of sailors and media, “What an absolute gift it is to have President Trump in the white house during this epic moment in our nations history.” Just last week “War” Chief Pete Hegseth claimed that he wanted his department to be apolitical. Her comments would only be the start.

Secretary of “War” Hegseth descended from the Truman via a staircase fist in the air to cheers from the sailors to the Ted Nugent song, Stranglehold.

Fist lady Melania was up next but not before someone brought out a chair for her to sit in during Trump’s speech.

Arriving a classy 40mins late Trump finally arrived via Marine One, as speakers blasted the score from Top Gun.

Trump’s speech was much like his one earlier in the week in front of military brass, except this time he didn’t drop a nazi code number (he did once again get the number wrong saying “11788”).

Once again in front of thousands of troops, went on his usual partisan hangups. He bragged about his health, claiming that he was in better shape than Obama. He ranted about about the “rigged” election. He claimed that the military was “woke” before him. He talked about Democrats as “gnats” on his shoulder that need to be taken care of.

Trump, a man who avoided the draft reveled in the respect he was getting from sailors laughing and cheering his talking points.

Early in the speech there was a “perfectly timed” F-16 flyover. Trump did not mention how much this spectacle was costing the tax-payer. Note that the only invites outside of Navy Sailors and their families were Republican’s like members of Congress Jen Kiggans, Dan Crenshaw and VA Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. This was a hyper-partisan event in every way - using the military as a content generator.

To no one’s surprised Trump was played off by the Village People’s YMCA as sailors chanted USA USA USA. He even did his fan’s favorite little dance.

I’ll be covering the Rod of Iron Gun Festival this weekend in rural PA as I do every year. Covering these events in person are extremely expensive - if you can support my work financially I’d greatly appreciate that. Paypal.me/zdroberts, Venmo/cashapp @ ZDRoberts, Patreon.com/zdroberts