At a celebration of the United States Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary on Saturday in California, Vice President JD Vance encountered some opposition from Governor Gavin Newsom due to a live artillery display. Fighter aircraft, helicopters, Navy ships, and live fire from a towed howitzer were all part of the Camp Pendleton show, which the Marines described as the biggest in ten years in the continental United States.
Due to “extreme life safety risk and distraction to drivers, including sudden unexpected and loud explosions,” Newsom shuttered a portion of Interstate 5 in Southern California. “It is not only wrong, but it is also dangerous to fire live rounds over a busy highway,” said Newsom, a Democrat who has often clashed with the Trump administration, in a statement.
The assertion that the demonstration was unsafe was refuted by Vance’s office. The Marine Corps considered the exercise “an established and safe practice” and “part of routine training at Camp Pendleton,” according to a statement from Vance’s communications director, William Martin, to CNN.
“Gavin Newsom is free to oppose the training exercises that guarantee our Armed Forces are the most lethal and deadly fighting force in the world,” Martin added. “Given his dismal record of failure as governor, it would not be surprising that he would stoop so low.”
“I would not be here today, I would not be the vice president of the United States, I would not be the man I am today were it not for those four years that I served in the Marine Corps,” Vance, the first Marine to hold the position, said in remarks from Camp Pendleton about his time in the military.
After graduating from high school, Vance joined the military, serving four years in the Marines before going on a combat correspondent tour in Iraq in 2005. He also addressed the Trump administration’s battle against “woke” elements of the military in his remarks. “We are not stronger because of our diversity,” Vance stated. “It is our shared goal, our shared mission, and the fact that everyone here is loyal to the Marine Corps.”
A similar argument was made by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who spoke before Vance. “When I look out at this throng, I notice a wide variety of faces. The fact is, you are not strong because of your diversity. Hegseth remarked, “Never has been. Your unity of purpose is your strength.”
The Pentagon has repressed diversity initiatives and reversed attempts to eliminate toxic culture in the military that have been underway for the past ten years since President Donald Trump took office again in January. Vance also gave a message from the president at Saturday’s festivities, blaming Democrats, especially Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, for the weeks-long government shutdown.
“Our commander in chief, Donald J. Trump, sent me greetings today, and he wanted me to tell each and every one of you that he loves you, that he is proud of you, and that he will do everything in his power to ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve,” Vance stated. According to CNN, the Department of Defense is still paying troops with “unobligated research development testing and evaluation funds” while thousands of federal employees are still on furlough or working for no pay.
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