President Trump Declares Loyalty Day: Collapse of Democracy Imminent

So, on Friday, President Trump — or at least his press office — proclaimed May 1 as “Loyalty Day.”

As you might imagine, the outrage was immediate:

https://twitter.com/laurenduca/status/858203149731016705

Not the Onion: President Trump Proclaims May 1, 2017 as Loyalty Day (via @PressSec)

— Pwn All The Things (@pwnallthethings) April 28, 2017

Lots of references to Nazis:

https://twitter.com/keywest0007/status/858415964555276288

The Loyalty Day Ivanka Trump Collection
Make a statement in these stylish black leather outfits that let immigrants know you mean business. pic.twitter.com/40FunjbbT4

— The Tweetwit 🆘 (@TheTweetwit) April 29, 2017

Creeping fascism:

https://twitter.com/InxsyS/status/858405848724492289

…but:

Oddly, it wasn't fascist last year: https://t.co/D430XhSS8Z https://t.co/LHR4L1c4LS

— (((Charlie Martin))) (@chasrmartin) April 29, 2017

Let’s not forget North Korea:

"Loyalty Day" is super creepy and so very N. Koreaish of him.

— Marjie Cunningham (@missmarjiec) April 29, 2017

Only one problem here. Loyalty Day is nothing new. It was defined by a Joint Resolution on April 27, 1955:

There were parades:

Today in 1962 30,000 people joined the Annual Loyalty Day Parade on Fifth Ave #thisdayinhistory pic.twitter.com/RKtE3KFFzs

— NYC Dept of Records (@nycrecords) April 28, 2017

In fact, there still are:

Top Five Reasons You Should Not Miss Brandon's Loyalty Day Parade https://t.co/XQ9OGFFJtp

— Northern Plains News (@NPlainsNews) April 19, 2017

39th Annual William A. Athans 18th District VFW Loyalty Day Parade in New Lenox. https://t.co/N99v7e14r5

— New Lenox Patch (@NewLenoxPatch) April 16, 2017

It’s almost as if — I know this will surprise everyone — there’s another Trump Trance at work: one that completely loses all context or sense of history when some story about Trump-the-Madman-Dictator-Fascist comes up.