On the ground at the President’s military parade

Washington, DC

“Every other country celebrates their victories, it’s about time America did too,” Donald Trump told a whooping, albeit smaller-than-anticipated crowd on the National Mall tonight. “We’re the hottest country in the world right now,” the President boasted. Temperature-wise, that’s debatable. But he’s right that the whole world has been watching on, as the President turned his plans for a military parade from conception into reality.

If you gave a 79-year-old man some say in what he did for his birthday, he’d choose one of two things: nap, or pay a laudatory tribute to the US military that everyone had to watch. Donald Trump’s predecessor did the former, so naturally it fell to our baby boomer President to bring tanks to the streets of Washington for the first time in over three decades. 

The ostensible purpose for Saturday’s festivities was to mark the 250th anniversary of the US Army. Yet today Washington DC became a Rorschach test for how every American feels about the Donald. Do you want to see the military equipment on American streets as a sign of creeping authoritarianism? Then head to one of the well-organized, so-far-peaceful protests at Union Station or Logan Circle. But if you miss MAGA rallies and hoped to relive the halcyon days of 2017, the US Army – and basically every defense contractor in town – had an offer for you on the Mall. 

“I think most normal people are staying away from this area,” one attendee said to his friend as we approached security. But the festivities ahead of the parade saw a lot of families joining in. A black female DJ in army-style clothes was playing Dua Lipa in the mid-morning, as different units competed against each other in a fitness challenge. Kids were racing up rock-climbing towers. The Rangers were letting attendees pose with rifles and mortars. 

Still, there were dissenters placed all over – even on the other side of the strict security cordon. The left-wing anti-war group Code Pink demonstrated outside a drone exhibit. An older woman with long hair wandered around the stands, wearing a shirt that said “Resist like it’s 1938 Germany.” A young man held up a “NO KINGS” sign during Trump’s remarks. There were no signs of direct conflict between the protestors and the massive military and police presence. It certainly didn’t feel like the end of democracy. Yet where some saw families, others saw fascism. 

The most contentious part of the celebrations was the parade down Constitution Avenue, which included M1A2 Abrams tanks, Bradleys, Paladins, Strykers and HIMARS. The smell of leaded gasoline from the older vehicles was overpowering; the fumes from the newer ones were visible. Yet the event itself proved rather pedestrian. The parade told the story of the US Army in chronological order. Soldiers from different branches of the army marched in the uniforms of the American Revolutionaries, the Union Forces and so on. The military vehicles and tanks were interspersed at various points – and there were a lot of them, their operators waving at the crowd as they drove. The theme from Band of Brothers played as the 82nd Airborne marched past. A photographer I spoke to, who grew up in the Soviet Union, was not very impressed. “It’s really boring,” he said. “Look at all the old equipment. And how they walk, the lines!” Is President Putin smirking?

At the Union Station protest, fewer than 50 people gathered to hear remarks from the Democrats’ 27th most popular 2020 candidate, Eric Swalwell. “We surrender to no one and never to a mad king,” he told the crowd of mostly journalists. “He has got to go.” Attendees chanted “Swalwell!” as he exited.

Across town at Logan Circle, there was a bit more buzz. Around 250 protesters gathered to march to the only part of Lafayette Square that wasn’t gated off. “Would you guys care to wave a California flag?” one marshal asked a young couple. “Fight fascism” signs were handed out. Across the park, a diverse crowd of MPD bike cops watched on, bemused. 

Another protest marshal seemed prepared for the worst: she had written her phone number in Sharpie marker on her arm, ready for arrest. The area code indicated origins in the more affluent part of Connecticut. Some activists had fashioned their own crudely worded signs. Others opted to make popculture references with their placards. One man had a Captain America shield stuck to his backpack. Another sign read, “I have friends everywhere,” a line from the Star Wars show Andor. 

Vice President J.D. Vance, a former Marine, served as the warm-up for his boss tonight, lauding the servicemen and women present. “Let me tell you the way we honor and respect you,” he said. “Number one, we never ask you to go to war unless you absolutely have to. Number two, when we do ask you to go to war, we give you the weapons and the support needed to kick the hell out of the enemy and come back home safely.” Here, perhaps, Vance offered a hint on how he can straddle the widening MAGA right-tech right divide. The MAGA right is proud that the administration has launched no new wars – while the tech right is looking to revolutionize warfare with drones and AI (one of the sponsors for the parade was Anduril). 

For all the emphasis on the heroic stories of the US Army’s past today, the remote-controlled tanks and sinister robot dogs at the parade’s height seemed to represent the future. Maybe the world will see more of them if Trump decides to do another parade for America’s 250th birthday next year.