You'd assume that President Trump's plans for a military parade in Washington would be a big story in the right-wing media, but no. Search for the word "parade" on the Drudge Report page and you'll find it buried in the rightmost column, in tiny type. The word doesn't appear anywhere on the front page of FoxNews.com or Gateway Pundit (at both sites the lead story is some allegedly game-changing revelation from a Peter Strzok-Lisa Page text message). "Parade" also appears nowhere on the front page at National Review, although the Corner has a snarky post from Kevin D. Williamson with allusions to North Korea, mirrored sunglasses, and epaulettes. Breitbart does have a front-page story, but its lead story is "Grassley-Graham Memo: Dossier Author Christopher Steele Lied to FBI, FBI Didn’t Tell FISA Court."
It's possible that they're all waiting for a coordinated set of talking points, but I think it's more likely that conservatives are simply no longer united by the belief that they embody (and have a monopoly on) patriotism. In the Reagan and George W. Bush years, a parade of this kind would have been intended to transmit a simple message: We love America. Join us. It would have been intended as outreach to voting blocs outside the Republican base: blue-collar families in the Rust Belt during the Reagan years, "security moms" in the Bush years. Trust us, the parade would say. We'll defend you. We'll keep you safe.
But the contemporary right doesn't seem to care very much about that. The contemporary right cares more about open combat with Democrats, and dark tales of Deep State perfidy that are barely comprehensible outside the cult.
For the conservative press, the war against the Russia investigation is so all-consuming that writers and editors can't turn away from it. That's what matters: defending the #MAGA God Emperor and crushing his foes. They can't be bothered with a military parade because they're too busy fighting a war.
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