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MILITARY parades are not uncommon in many parts of the world. Lines of tanks, contingents of marching soldiers, missiles, along with fighter jets and helicopters flying overhead, create just the sort of martial theatre that makes watching crowds feel nationalistic and strong. When the fates of leaders and their armies rely on such a spectacle, it follows that they are not infrequent.
This is not the case in the US, at least not until now. Since the end of the Cold War, America has projected itself as the world’s diplomat. Even as it has waged wars all over the world, the domestic population remains largely disconnected from the military and its hardware. It may also be the case that when you know you are the superpower and have the deadliest weapons in the world, you need not show them off. It would not be incorrect to say that American projections of power have not been parades but actual decades of wars and occupations.
This is about to change. On Saturday, a military parade is supposed to take place in Washington, D.C. The timing is portentous; it is the 250th anniversary of the US Army. It is also American President Donald Trump’s birthday. The confluence may have made it possible for Trump to stage the $45-million parade that will include 6,600 soldiers. Even Republicans have smelled the rancid odour coming from a wannabe authoritarian holding a military parade on his birthday. To use the lingo of Gen Z, it’s giving dictatorship, it’s giving Dear Leader, it’s giving a man who thinks he is king.
If the stench of the parade was not terrible enough, the timing adds to the mess. For the entire preceding week, the Trump administration almost gleefully cracked down on protesters in Los Angeles, who have been thwarting deportation raids by ICE officers.
In the first few days of the protests, angry demonstrators confronted by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials armed with military equipment grew violent and burned some businesses and cars.
The administration, which has been chomping at the bit to have a confrontation of just this sort; began to reiterate its line about all migrants being criminals and, in the words of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Los Angeles itself being a “city of criminals”.
Over 1,600 protests are expected against Trump’s military parade.
To drive home this point, Trump who has a long-standing enmity with California Governor Gavin Newsom, decided to call out the National Guard to assist ICE officials in California against the state’s wishes. The move, no doubt motivated by Trump’s contempt for California (a Democratic state), where the majority are racial minorities, was seen as overreach. Then, even though the protests had been quelled and were restricted to a couple of blocks in a city of millions, Trump insisted on deploying the Marines in California.
It is important to understand the consequence of such a move. While those who have lived under authoritarian regimes may be attracted to Trump and his strongman moves, the American public is less tolerant of such exercises.
First, protest is a protected right under the First Amendment. Second, the idea that the Marines, a force trained to kill, would be called out against unarmed protesters is the sort of overkill that Trump loves and everyone else detests. Finally, the cost itself — Americans point out that the parade is simply not good use of money.
Over 1,600 protests are expected to take place in the US against Trump’s military parade. Saturday has been dubbed ‘No Kings Day’, alluding to Trump’s predilection for believing that he is indeed the King of the United States of America. His constant allusions to contesting elections for a third term and his infatuation with the kings he encounters in the Middle East do not help in this regard. Even those who do not protest are beginning to dislike him. Polls show that his approval ratings plunged to an 80-year-low recently. Trump has also lost public confidence in his handling of immigration as the travel bans, ICE raids, border harassment and general rounding up of anyone thought to be a migrant have unfolded.
Saturday’s parade is seen as the use of presidential power to stage a spectacle whose only real purpose is to nourish the ego of a man who will turn 79 on that day. No one is impressed. The fact that he has decided to call out the military in Los Angeles, forcing troops trained to kill to crack down on unarmed protesters, creates a ghastly image of the downfall of America that is visible to all but Trump. The poorly thought-out move, and the price tag attached, may well be the beginning of the end of Trump’s honeymoon period. Six months into his presidency, Americans have not seen the economic gains that he promised, while the things he is delivering on are ones that no one wants.
The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy.
Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2025
