There is a particular kind of foolishness that occurs when the pageantry of power meets the hard reality of physics, a lesson delivered with explosive clarity over a Southern California freeway on Saturday.
In a celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps, intended to showcase military precision and might, a 155-millimeter artillery shell decided to offer its own commentary, exploding prematurely above a shuttered Interstate 5 and raining shrapnel down upon the vice president’s security detail.
The incident, which left a California Highway Patrol car dented and an officer hearing what he described as “pebbles” hitting his motorcycle, brought a sudden, stark end to a live-fire demonstration that had already sparked a furious political row.
The shell, one of approximately 60 scheduled to be fired from an M777 howitzer, detonated in the airspace over the freeway, a major artery connecting Los Angeles and San Diego that had been ordered closed by a governor who had predicted just such a danger.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had labeled the exercise a “profoundly absurd show of force,” had earlier that day defied the assurances of military officials and shut down a 17-mile stretch of the interstate.
“This is a profoundly absurd show of force that could put Californians directly in harm’s way,” Newsom had stated, his warning now bearing the grim weight of prophecy.
The White House had fired back, accusing the governor of lying and insisting the Marines had repeatedly said there were no public safety concerns.
The Marine Corps stated on Wednesday, “no public highways or transportation routes will be closed,” but on Saturday morning, Newsom’s office announced that a section of I-5 would close at the recommendation of California Highway Patrol traffic safety experts.
But as the shell fragments cooled on the asphalt, the debate shifted from rhetoric to consequence. The exercise was terminated immediately.
No one was injured, but the symbolism was as potent as the explosives.
The celebration, attended by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was meant to be a show of unassailable strength.
Instead, it became a spectacle of preventable risk, a vanity parade that nearly crossed into tragedy because incompetent bullies have taken power.
In the end, the Marines’ 250th anniversary will be remembered not just for the speeches against “woke” diversity, but for a single, errant shell that proved even the most disciplined forces are not immune to a very human kind of error.
An investigation is now underway, as officials promise to find the “root cause.”
Perhaps they might also consider the root cause of holding an artillery demonstration over one of the nation’s busiest highways in the first place.
President Trump and Republicans’ priorities are clear: slashing our health care, eliminating cancer research funding, gutting Medicaid, and shutting down our government to give away tax cuts to billionaires.
The shutdown rests squarely on Trump and Republicans’ shoulders. Democrats should keep their commitment to use the leverage they have to fight for our country and save our health care.”
Some lessons, it seems, must be learned the hard way.