Save the Date - June 14!
On Flag Day, we march.
Donald Trump dreamed of a military parade in his honor during his first term, but at that time there were enough checks on his power that it didn’t happen. This time around, though, it’s full steam ahead.
On June 14, 2025, the United States Army will celebrate its 250th birthday, the nation will observe Flag Day, and the Draft-Dodger-in-Chief will turn 79 years old. The military parade being planned will honor the man who weaseled out of military service even as the U.S. ramped up the number of troops sent to Vietnam, who called service men and women “suckers and losers,” and who said of Senator John McCain (who was a prisoner of war and endured torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese for seven years, AND who refused to be released ahead of his fellow prisoners), “He’s not a war hero. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Reports put the cost of the parade in the tens of millions of dollars, even while the Trump administration is working to eliminate 83,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides health care for millions of veterans, and slashing jobs across the federal government, which disproportionately affects veterans, who make up more than 30% of the federal workforce.
No previous U.S. president has sought a large-scale military parade to be held in their own honor. But other world leaders have. For example, North Korea regularly celebrates the birthdays of their leaders, including Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un, with displays of military might. The birthday of Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin was similarly observed. Large-scale military parades were held in Iraq to celebrate Saddam Hussein, and in China to celebrate Mao Zedong. And on April 20, 1939, a massive military parade was held in Berlin to celebrate the 50th birthday of Adolf Hitler.
German troops goose-step past the reviewing stand during a massive rally and military parade in celebration of Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday. Berlin, April 20, 1939. Hugo Jaeger, Life Magazine