• FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The president isn’t military, he’s not even supposed to salute. I know it’s become expected, but he is a civilian. Ignoring that, the only disrespectful is the type of hat he is wearing. You’re actually supposed to wear your cover outdoors, look at the actual military members in the photo. There are so many legit reasons to hate Trump we don’t need to make ones up.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      20 hours ago

      To add to what you said, the origin of the salute is related to headgear.

      One potential origin of the salute is knights raising their faceguards, which obviously requires you to be wearing one. Another potential origin of the salute is the courtesy of removing your hat in the presence of a superior officer. You still see this (though mostly in period historical dramas) with the hat tip.

      The military still retains that link, you’re not supposed to salute while wearing your hat. For civilians, the equivalent respectful move is to remove your hat in certain situations. These days you mostly encounter that at a sporting event where people sometimes remove their hats during the national anthem.

      So, for a president who isn’t part of the military, the official protocol is probably to stand at attention while not wearing a hat. An acceptable modern alternative is to salute, and since hats are uncommon these days it’s mostly to salute while not wearing a hat. Saluting while wearing a hat is probably a reasonable variation on that. A disrespectful move would be to wear a hat and not salute. Of course, the fact it’s a MAGA campaign merch hat is disrespectful in itself.

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Correct, and as he’s not military the preferred sign of respect is to remove his hat and put his hand over his heart. Like all prior presidents (whom have not served) do, and as other civilians in this photo are doing.

      Trump has a long history of giving zero shits about signs of respect to the military though, so I’d say it’s always worth pointing them out for the crayon eaters that still vote for him in droves.

      Example of a different enfeebled elderly president that actually respects the military signalling his respect to the fallen:

      13614

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        Also just to further snub Trump but Biden looks pretty good in his suit, well tailored and fitted to him. Unlike Trump who somehow wears clothes more I’ll fitting than mine, difference is I can’t get my clothes tailored and have a weird as build.

    • BranBucket@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Was it Regan who started returning salutes when saluted by military members? I’m not 100% sure but I want to say before that most presents just acknowledged the salute and went on. I seem to remember it was Ronnie that started the trend.

      I can’t think of any recent presidents from either side who would have caught dead pulling the maneuver in this photo, however.

    • calmblue75@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      Fascists have this weird tendency to appear as if they are soldiers. Attire, manner, etc. Hitler used to do this too.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        20 hours ago

        I’m not sure why wearing a suit and a MAGA campaign merch hat is trying to appear as if he’s a soldier. If you mean the salute, presidents have been doing that for ages. The general public knows so little about salutes and related protocols that they’d take it as disrespectful if he didn’t salute.