Dispatches From Trump’s Cartoonishly Bad, North Korea-esque Military Parade
"For the first time in my life, I burned the American flag before I came down here," Army combat veteran Rig told our Ashley Bishop at D.C. protests of Trump's parade.
More than five million people, in over 2,100 cities and towns across the country, showed up on June 14th for “No Kings Day," a nationwide day of protest against Trump’s grandiose, North Korea-esque military parade conveniently occurring on his 79th birthday.
I reported on the good times on-the-ground from Washington, D.C.
While the White House had projected attendance at around 200,000 — and has since claimed they hit the mark — more credible estimates place turnout between “tens of thousands” and 80,000. Who could have guessed a buffoonish display of would-be military might, born from severely terminal political ineptitude, wouldn’t draw a couple hundred thousand people amid an economic downturn and heightened threats of war? 🤷🏻♀️
Those who did show up were treated to massive tanks rolling — or should I say, squeaking — their way down Constitution Avenue while military members marched out of step (causing some to speculate this was a deliberate “silent protest” launched by active military members).
On both sides of Trump’s low-energy military spectacle were near-empty bleachers. The whole fiasco was a cartoonish parody of itself — showcasing not military might, but a network of popsicle sticks and scotch tape holding up the garish facade.
The Trump administration hasn’t disclosed the full cost of the spectacle, but estimates range from $50 million to $143 million. Naturally, a mish-mosh of the military industrial complex, surveillance state, and corrupt capitalism helped foot the bill: Lockheed Martin, Amazon, UFC, Coinbase, and Palantir helpfully pitched in private donations. Nonetheless, taxpayers are still on the hook for $25 to $50 million.
[WATCH OUR ON-THE-GROUND COVERAGE FROM TRUMP’S PARADE DUD]
Meanwhile, back in the realm of the proletariat, the Trump administration has been feverishly gutting social programs that working people rely on in the name of “efficiency” and “cutting government waste.”
And nothing screams government efficiency like a $25 to $50 million dollar birthday-party-military-parade for our dear leader!
But, of course, bootlickers are gonna lick boots; over at state-sponsored TV—eh hem, clear throat, Fox News—Marc Thiessen tried to rouse support for what was a clear flop, warning Iran’s Ayatollah, as if he was watching the parade, to be “very frightened” and to think twice about striking the U.S.
Someone please cue the squeaking tanks.
But far from the intimidating display of force that Trump — our wanna-be dictator — has been hankering for since his first term, parade day instead marked the largest day of protests since his return to office.
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While there was no official No Kings Day protest organized in D.C. — despite the protests expressly opposing Trump’s military megalomania — an organization called Refuse Fascism organized an anti-Trump protest in the nation’s capital.
After the parade began, a counter-protest also sprung up.
On-the ground, I spoke to a surprising amount of veterans—as well as teachers working with shoe-string budgets, first-generation immigrants, among others—who all had their own reasons for being there. Though, there were some common themesS, including: opposition to ICE, the millions spent on this parade—especially amid cuts to spending at the expense of working people—inappropriate use of the military, and the rise of an authoritarian U.S.
Here are some highlights, and excerpts, edited only for space and clarity (you can watch the full interviews from the first protest here (and I would highly recommend that you do).
Sunsara Taylor of Refuse Fascism, and one of the speakers at the protest, told Status Coup while we marched to the White House:
“We think it's incredibly powerful and righteous and important that people are standing up nationwide saying “no kings” in a thousand cities. It shows the power of the people and the profound opposition to Trump and his fascist regime. At the same time, to those leaders who said, ‘Don't come to DC,’ we respectfully disagreed. We think this is where the eyes of the world are. And it became all the more important when Donald Trump threatened ‘very big force’ three times against peaceful protest. If we concede in advance to Trump's fascist intimidations and threats, we will lose our rights. We have to stand up. And so we salute everybody in the streets, but we felt it was very important to be here. And I'm so thrilled to see there was a lot of people who agreed that this is the place to be.”
Rig, a decorated army combat vet with 16 medals, told us:
“I’m here for many reasons, but the main reason is I watched Afghan interpreters that saved our asses get swept up by ICE and being sent back to be executed by the Taliban. I think it's fucking disgusting. And for the first time in my life, I burned the American flag before I came down here. Donald Trump represents the worst of us. He is a feckless traitor and he's made America a pariah on the world stage. That's why I'm here.
We are only, what, not even 6 months in right now? Look at the damage he's doing. When in your lifetime have you seen a senator slammed to the ground and cuffed like a damn common criminal? I've never seen no shit like this. And they’re still trying to normalize this nonsense.
How far do you want to slide into autocracy? What are you going to do — wait for the tanks to pull up to get you? If they could snatch children, Mexican children out of school and elementary school, they damn sure could come lynch us at night.
Remember, Hitler destroyed Germany's democracy in 55 days, and this fellow is well on his way to destroying ours.”
One self-described history buff said:
“One thing that's got me is kind of how disingenuous a lot of people on the right are where they say they want to cut foreign aid because they want to protect the people at home and then they spend $137 million on a military parade. That's not taking care of the people at home. That's throwing a big birthday party for somebody who wants to be a fascist, who wants to be a dictator, who wants the image of a strong man.”
The above history buff’s protest-partner said she was there because:
“There is a large disparity of wealth distribution in our society. That is definitely causing a lot of issues societal-wise — different funding, different abilities to live. No one should go — and this is my own personal belief — no one should go into debt trying to stay healthy. No one should be trying to have a quality of life that is decent, at the bare minimum, decent, and not be able to afford it. We are a nation that is bountiful and plentiful. We are the pioneer power in the world. But yet, we have homeless in our street. We have people who are struggling day to day to get their basic needs met. That is unacceptable, especially from the supposed first-world power. It is disheartening to see that we are supposed to be that global dominant force and we can barely take care of our own people.”
Another veteran we spoke with told us:
”I think what really made the decision for me is the fact that when I was talking about going out to a protest this weekend, a lot of people told me that they were worried that there would be violence and that protests would be met with violence from police, from military. I'm a veteran myself. I don't believe in the use of the military for this type of thing. I don't think that these are good things to be doing. I think that if there is a time when you're scared to speak up, when you're scared to exercise your First Amendment rights to just say what is on your mind, when you are scared of that, that is exactly the time that you need to speak up. You need to vocalize. You need to say this isn’t okay, that I am afraid to even say what's on my mind. I think if anyone says this isn’t what they voted for, they’re wrong. This was one of the first actions he took, bringing back for‑profit prisons and making for‑profit detention centers. It's all about making money for corporations. None of it is even about the immigrants. It's just an avenue to commercialize and profit off human suffering.”
One woman, who described herself as “military aligned,” told us:
“I’m actually a gold star wife and I lost my husband serving the Air Force in 2007. And so, I just, am really upset about what Trump has not only been doing to our military and our veterans, but also what he said about them and how he's using them… We live in Arizona on the border and we've experienced a lot of the ICE raids and seeing just a lot of that go on in where we live. I’m just utterly disgusted to see that he would use our military as like a token for himself — and a lot of our service members feel the same way.”
After the protesters marched to the White House — or better put, up to the fence surrounding the White House — Sunsara and several others spoke again. While there was a police presence, no arrests were made.
Later in the day, a counter-protests to Trump’s military, birthday party erupted near where people were queuing up to enter. Demonstrators shouted “shame!” and “learn to read!” at attendees as they entered, and later when they left, the parade.
Here’s what some of them told me:
An activist from West Virginia, who spoke to the crowd during the protest, told us:
“I would push back against the narrative that this is a military parade. If you take a look… 99% of people here have Trump merch on, Trump hats. This is happy birthday, Trump… We have just increased the military budget this year to a trillion dollars — a clean $1 trillion. And I’ll tell you that money is not going to better barracks for the soldiers. It's not going to a better quality of life for the soldiers. The money is going almost entirely to defense contractors and kickbacks to generals who retire and accept positions in, you know, defense contracts overseas. I don't think this country has its spending priorities correct. You have a lot more in common with a working-class person in Iran than you have with a billionaire in the United States."
A Washington D.C. teacher told us:
“I showed up for my students. I'm a teacher here in D.C. and just watching the impact of Trump's rhetoric and his hate, and like, all the people that he's just building more and more momentum of hate towards, and watching the direct impact on kids. It's always the kids. It's always the kids that suffer. So, I'm here for them.
Honestly, like the day after he was elected, our kids… they came into the school shaking, scared, anxious. I had a kid who had to get hospitalized over anxiety because of all the fears and the, like, just the racist things they're reading, even online. The things that they're seeing people are saying about them, their families. So, I, every single day, I'm watching — they know what's happening. They see it and they're scared and they're sad and they're hurt and they're confused and it's killing their mental health. And then to top it off, every single cut to the funding, the funding in D.C., funding for the education department, civil rights, liberties, it's hitting all these kids. We're both in special education and that's directly impacted. So, it’s, I mean, it's like every single day.”
Another D.C. teacher, the friend referenced by the above teacher, told us:
“Pencils in my classroom. So, I have no pencils in my classroom. The computers are always broken. Like, we're underresourced, but there's a $45 million parade for god knows what here… The night of the election I think a lot of people really wanted to think that America wasn't going to vote this man in. And that sometimes I think that it's a privilege to believe that. It's a privilege to hope that those things are going to happen. But for me, it was more like no, this is America that I see and know every day. And I just knew that he was going to be reelected. In my gut, I knew… We were, I was in the Bethesda protest earlier and I saw a lot of like white people come out and protest too, which is great. But, I wonder if people of color were at home resting because this is America that we know and like at this point in time, maybe it is our time to have a seat. So, I'm here in solidarity and trying to figure out like where do I stand and seeing my own people not show up because of the exhaustion.”
One woman holding up a t-shirt reading,”We the People Know, No Kings in America Since 1776,” said:
“So, I’m Mexican and, well, being Hispanic, I am aware of when corruption’s in the government and how it looks like when you have an authoritarian regime — when you have a dictator — and when that’s starting to happen, right? Again, I’m Mexican, right? So, seeing a lot of people that are — that look like me, right, or that I identify with — and being kicked out in vans, in what looks like a governmental kidnapping without any rights that they do have being respected — it’s really hard. So yeah, I’m protesting that. I’m not protesting the military, and I’m not protesting, you know, government agencies or anything like that. Use them correctly. That’s what I’m saying."
One law student told Status Coup:
“So, I showed up here today because both of my Black grandparents served in the Navy their whole lives. They were sent, deployed, and when they came back, they had no resources. They were sick. And when my grandfather came back from Vietnam, he was still told to go through the back door because he was a negro. Now, I'm in law school. I study the Constitution. In fact, this whole last year, I have been in constitutional law learning every ridiculous fucking case, all of their ridiculous reasoning. And yet, due process is under attack.
Our First Amendment is under attack. The Third Article that establishes our judiciary is under attack. So, I want to know, what are we really about? What is this country really about when we say justice and liberty for all? When we say that we have unalienable rights — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I want to know how patriotic you really are. And so, that's why I'm here. Because where else could I be on this day in this city? I'm here. Where else could we be — to be in our homes? To see it on Instagram? It's not enough anymore. It's not enough.”
And finally, one younger protester, the “son of an immigrant,” said:
“I came here today to represent my — my dad and any immigrant who's going through the same thing I am because I am a son of an immigrant. My dad is an immigrant. He came here to build a better life for himself and he did. But unfortunately, you know, cancer, a tumor, grew in his back and it came in a time where Trump and Musk came in and destroyed everything we relied on like Medicaid, Medicare — all the safety net. They want to take it all away in the worst timing of my life and my father's life and everyone's life right now. And yeah, he deserves to live. That's all.”
Again, you can watch the full interviews here.
And here.
And for some bonus coverage of the parade courtesy of Fox News and a very drunk Rebekah Koffler, please enjoy.
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Evidently you have not watched one of North Korea’s military parades. Comparing Felon47 birthday parade to North Korea’s organized spectacle does a disservice to the credibility of your writing.