During US President Donald Trump's first term, the Pentagon opposed his desire for a military parade in Washington, as it wanted to keep the armed forces away from politics. However, during Trump's second term, these considerations disappeared - this June there will be a parade, and on the president's 79th birthday, as it coincides with the 250th anniversary of the creation of the US army, writes the “New York Times“, BTA reported.
The plan for the parade includes a grand spectacle in the center of Washington - 28 "Abrams" tanks, 28 "Stryker" armored vehicles (Stryker), more than 100 other vehicles, a World War II B-25 bomber, 6,700 troops, 50 helicopters, 34 horses, two mules and a dog will march through the streets of the US capital, the publication notes.
On June 14, a wreath-laying ceremony will be held at Arlington National Cemetery in the morning, followed by a fitness competition and a festival celebrating the birthday of the US Army on the National Mall in Washington, Reuters reports. The festival will include an exhibition of military equipment and demonstrations. The day will end with a parade and a ceremony to re-swear the oath of allegiance to soldiers. There will also be fireworks. After the parade, the team of "Golden Knights" of the US Army will parachute down and present Trump with a flag.
The Army estimates that the spectacle will cost between $25 million and $45 million, the New York Times reports. However, the cost could be higher because the Army has promised to repair all streets damaged by the parade, and the cost of cleanup and police protection has not yet been included in the estimate. While the $45 million is only a small fraction of Trump's proposed $1.01 trillion Pentagon budget for fiscal year 2026, it comes at a time when the administration is seeking to cut funding for education, health care and social assistance, the newspaper said.
“That's a lot of money,” admits Army spokesman Steve Warren. "But I think that amount is insignificant compared to the 250 years of service and sacrifice of the American military," he added.
Democratic lawmakers accused Republican Trump of usurping the military's birthday, Reuters reported.
“This is Trump. "It's about his ego and making everything revolve around him, which I think is a disgrace to the military and the military," said Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen has introduced a bill that would ban the use of public funds for "shows of military power for personal glory."
However, officials say planning for the military's 250th anniversary celebration began last year - before Trump won the presidential election in November.
Trump's desire to organize a parade is linked to his participation in 2017. on France's annual national holiday, Bastille Day, which celebrates the country's revolutionary history, values and culture, USA Today notes. After watching with admiration the passage of tanks and fighter jets down the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron that he wanted to "outdo" him. "It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen. It was military might," he added a few months later.
But the French parade wasn't really a show of military might, historians and military experts say. And countries like Iran, North Korea and Russia, which regularly stage large military parades, do so in part to send aggressive political and propaganda messages to their adversaries at home and abroad, the publication said.
“There is definitely a connection between staging military parades and authoritarian regimes“, said Markus Schiller, CEO of Munich-based security consultancy ST Analytics.
“These parades are meant to send a message to other countries and also to domestic political rivals,” he said.
“You won't see parades like this in Germany, Norway or Australia because they cost a lot of money and everyone will just shake their heads and say, “Why would the government do this?“, Schiller said.
Trump says the cost of the parade will be worth it. "It's a small amount of money compared to the benefits," he says. "We have the best missiles in the world. We have the best submarines in the world. We have the best tanks in the world. We have the best weapons in the world. And we're going to celebrate it."
Lyle Goldstein, a former professor at the U.S. Naval War College, says that while military parades abroad are often associated with authoritarian regimes "whose goals are expressed through the parade, and a lot of those goals are related to nationalism," the parades can also have a higher purpose. They honor sacrifices, instill national pride and provide reassurance about defense spending, he says.
They can also act as a deterrent to democracy and reveal insecurity, Goldstein warns.
“We know from human behavior that if you feel insecure, you might react aggressively or try to make yourself feel important. If we as Americans were truly confident in our armed forces, we wouldn't have to demonstrate our military might,“ says Goldstein, who currently directs the Asia program at the Washington think tank “Defense Priorities” (Defense Priorities).
And while critics call the parade an authoritarian show of force, public discourse in America has focused mainly on logistics, costs and potential damage to infrastructure, with limited attention paid to the political and symbolic implications, writes “The Guardian“. This restrained reaction raises questions about the normalization of authoritarian aesthetics in American political culture, the publication comments. The British newspaper warns that the emphasis in the American media on superficial issues distracts from the deeper and more troubling aspects of the event.