‘Let's celebrate his birthday, too': Trump marches military into uncharted territory with Washington parade, energizing both supporters and the opposition
'It was the little push to go,' Levitre said.
He was aware of the intense criticism Trump's parade has attracted, particularly regarding the use of the military for a president's personal and political aims.
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'I know he has an ego; I believe that,' Levitre said. 'But maybe it can be a win-win … good for the people, good for our service … if it's good for Trump, can't it be good for America?'
But the convergence of the political world with the historically nonpartisan sphere of the military was clearly obvious to some protesters who came to the Mall to express alarm and outrage at Trump's decision in an echo of
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'It is always about him,' said Bob Patchen, a retiree from Washington who was holding a sign that said, 'support our troops — dump Trump."
In the span of one week, Trump has taken a trio of highly controversial steps that pose an unprecedented test for the longstanding boundary between the US military and partisan politics.
By
warn Trump is threatening to spread the nation's deep polarization to the last remaining bastion of strong bipartisan support in the federal government: America's armed forces.
'Every president wants to bolster his own popularity and legitimacy by associating himself with the military … but they've all been pretty careful about how they do that,' said Yvonne Chiu, a Jeane Kirkpatrick visiting fellow at the center-right American Enterprise Institute think tank and associate professor at the US Naval War College. 'It's all been pretty small potatoes compared to what is happening now.'
While plenty of other Trump supporters in MAGA apparel thronged to the Mall, many attendees wore patriotic attire or hats and shirts with all manner of military symbols and slogans, and some downplayed any political charge to the event.
Shannon Wilson, a northern Virginia resident who was there with her husband and son — both of whom served in the military — said she came to experience the special camaraderie of military families and to honor their sacrifices.
'It's not political at all to me personally,' she said.
However, Democratic military veterans in Congress charged Trump is using the military as a political prop, which they say is both
ironic and insulting for
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'He's abusing our military and destroying the tradition of the military being aside from politics and he's doing what every authoritarian dictator has done, which is co-opt the military for their own personal goals,' said Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot who lost her legs in a rocket-propelled grenade attack while serving in Iraq. 'What I'm concerned about is the damage to the military and America's trust in our nation's military.'
Trump's critics are particularly galled he chose to spend
Administration officials said it's just a coincidence the Army was founded on the same day as Trump's birthday. But the Navy and Marine Corps aren't scheduled to get similar Washington celebrations on their 250th anniversaries this year.
Trump said in May
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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee who was in Washington to testify at a congressional hearing, said he went for a run on the National Mall Friday morning and was disturbed by the array of tanks and military equipment on display, which he said resembled a scene from the capital of North Korea.
'It looks weak rather than strong,' Walz, a retired officer in the Army National Guard, told reporters at the Center for American Progress Friday afternoon. 'I think it's just another manifestation of this president seeing this as his Army.'
Congressional Republicans defended the parade, even though
'He's showing support for the military in a way that maybe other presidents have not, and he takes pride in our military,' said Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican who planned to be back home this weekend. 'It's not a celebration of Trump's birthday. It's a celebration of the Army.'
It's also the type of military celebration Trump has wanted to preside over since witnessing a similar one in Paris on Bastille Day in 2017.
'It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen,'
But during his first term, Pentagon leadership pushed back because of the disturbing parallels to military dictatorships.
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In his second term,
'You see civilians around the president mirror his own enthusiasm for violating military professional norms rather than serving as the kind of guardrails,' said Carrie A. Lee, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Washington think tank focused on trans-Atlantic relations.
She said Trump has broken with those norms by federalizing the California National Guard and sending Marines to Los Angeles last weekend over the objections of state officials — the first such move in 60 years. And, in
'Having the parade coincident with his birthday … would just be poor taste and bad optics," said Lee, former director of the Civil-Military Relations Center at the US Army War College. 'But in the context of everything else, the parade becomes a symptom of what is now a civil-military challenge for the United States.'
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'We saw in his first term that he degraded that public support. We're seeing in his second term, that he's degrading that public support,' Auchincloss said. 'That's bad for national security if our armed forces don't enjoy broad bipartisan support.'
While the Army's anniversary should be celebrated, Auchincloss said, he couldn't bring himself to attend an event he described as 'an expensive birthday party for a man-child.'
'I'd rather get rolled over by one of the tanks,' he said.
On the Mall in Washington,
Javier Mery, who served in the Army for 25 years after emigrating from Uruguay, said he was a political independent, but bought a black and gold MAGA hat from a vendor as he headed toward the festivities.
'My honest opinion — I don't care," Mery said, when asked about the parade's timing. 'Let's celebrate his birthday, too.'
Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at
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