Washington D.C. hosted an extravagant military parade on June 14, ostensibly to celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary and the National Flag Day. What was extraordinary was its large scale as well as being held on the 79th birthday of U.S. President Donald Trump. What did Trump hope to achieve by staging the extravaganza even as massive anti-Trump protests erupted across the country? And did he achieve what he wanted?

A controversial 'birthday parade'

The military parade was supposed to be dedicated to the U.S. Army's achievements over the past 250 years. However, its scale, cost and timing created a controversy. To start with, large-scale military parades have been relatively rare in the U.S. The last time such an event was held was more than three decades ago, when then President George H.W. Bush celebrated the victory of the Gulf War in 1991.  

The Biden administration had planned a more modest 250th anniversary commemoration, but it was significantly upgraded by Trump to a grand parade of over 7,000 uniformed soldiers, dozens of tanks and military vehicles, plus marching bands. Many Americans are questioning the necessity of such an extravagant parade, especially as the U.S. had already held the annual National Memorial Day Parade on May 26.

Trump, who arrived at the parade to a 21-gun salute and "Happy birthday" sung by the crowd, is accused of putting it on as a birthday gift to himself, using public funds for personal aggrandizement. According to the U.S. Army, the event cost up to $45 million.  

Trump called the cost "peanuts compared to the value of doing it" on NBC's "Meet the Press" last month. But such extravagant use of public funds runs counter to the federal spending cut. As the latest NBC News Decision Desk Poll showed, two-thirds of the respondents opposed the use of government funds for the spectacle.

Given the controversy, why did Trump insist on it? Because staging a grand military parade has been his stated goal since his first term. In 2018, The intended to hold a military parade in honor of Veterans Day, after observing France's Bastille Day parade, but had to cancel it due to the domestic pushback. Now, after his return to the White House with a "strong mandate," he decided to follow through on his dream. After all, he desires to go down in history like the four "great presidents" on Mount Rushmore: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. 

Internationally, the parade amounted to a demonstration of U.S. muscle-flexing. Previous U.S. military parades were mostly held during times of war, such as in 1946 around World War II, and then President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961, when the Vietnam War escalated.  

At the parade, Trump claimed that U.S. soldiers "fight, fight fight and they win, win win," which is being read as America's readiness for another war. The Trump administration's defense budget for the fiscal year 2026 is a record $1 trillion, including $25 billion for the Golden Dome missile defense system. The parade also served as a grand expo for American weaponry, at a time when the U.S. military-industrial complex is expected to benefit greatly from the raging conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.  

Massive anti-Trump protests  

Trump seems to have also used the parade to boost his "strongman" image in the face of greater domestic divisions. The parade occurred during violent street protests sparked in Los Angeles by the crackdown on illegal immigrants, which then spread to other major cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and New York.  

In addition, a grassroots movement, "No Kings Day of Defiance," also spread on the day of the parade to protest against Trump's authoritarian ways. According to U.S. news outlets, over 2,000 "No Kings" demonstrations erupted across all 50 states. Coordinated by more than 200 organizations, they reflected the widespread public discontent with the Trump administration's overreach of power. Though the protests were largely peaceful and intentionally skipped Washington, D.C. to avoid clashing with the military parade, the entire Washington, D.C. was designated as a "no-fly" zone, and even the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was closed during the parade.  

The heightened tensions between the Trump administration and the U.S. public reflect the enlarging divisions within the American society. Whether it will rein in the propensity of the Trump administration to militarize, or prompt it to seek to divert attention by exacerbating the turmoils abroad will have grave implications in the days to come, both for the U.S. and the rest of the world. （By Yuan Sha, Source: CGTN)