by Xinhua writer Xia Lin
NEW YORK, Jun 16 (NNN-XINHUA) – U.S. President, Donald Trump, on Saturday, hosted a military parade in Washington, D.C. to mark the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, with all-day events and the participation of over 6,000 soldiers, over 120 vehicles, as well as, a flyover, at the reported cost of around 45 million U.S. dollars.
The parade coincided with his 79th birthday and his seizure of control of California’s National Guard and deployment of U.S. Marines, to quell protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles.
It also happened on the same day when some 2,000 “No Kings” protests were staged nationwide.
Trump is “the driving force behind the parade down Washington’s Constitution Avenue, which runs behind the White House, that includes a muscular exhibition of 6,600 soldiers, Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and a Black Hawk helicopter,” Bloomberg News reported about the event, adding that, the cost includes potential damage to major District of Columbia streets from heavy tank treads.
The United States last celebrated its military strength in 1991, after the Gulf War. Trump has been eager to host a military parade ever since attending a Bastille Day parade in Paris, during his first term in 2017. City officials in Washington then warned that heavy military vehicles could damage city streets, and the price tag became a political liability.
“The president’s birthday-themed parade was eight years in the making,” said USA Today. He’s been floating the idea since before his first inauguration. Trump told the Washington Post in 2017 that, he wanted to show off America’s military at parades in D.C. and New York. “We want to show off a little bit,” Trump said in a speech at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, last Tuesday.
“The Army deserves to be celebrated. But this just feels and looks very much like the celebration of a man and not the Constitution and the principles enshrined in it,” said Janessa Goldbeck, a retired Marine, who is now a senior adviser to Vote Vets, a progressive veterans’ organisation.
Eliot A. Cohen, a military historian at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, was more straightforward in disclosing the coincidence of the nationwide protest and the military show, driven and hosted by the president, noting that “A military parade made up of people is honouring service. But a parade with heavy metal rolling is an expression of power.”
Greg Jaffe, a U.S. Pentagon correspondent, who has spent more than a decade covering the military, wrote that, the parade “with its focus on tanks, helicopters and armoured personnel carriers, is unlikely to do much to strengthen the connection between the Army and the country.”
The last time tanks paraded through the streets of Washington, the U.S. Army was at the peak of its confidence and power – it had smashed Saddam Hussein’s army in Iraq in a ground assault that lasted just 100 hours. Three decades later, Army tanks once again took to the streets of the capital, while the service is working through its most profound identity crisis since its defeat in Vietnam.
“The protests, under the label ‘No Kings,’ reflect the concern that Trump is using the military to augment his own image and advance his political goals,” The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) noted.
“There are concerns about the politicisation of the force by a president, who describes protesters as ‘animals’ and often seems to be looking for an excuse to mobilise ground troops, in response to demonstrations or civil unrest,” wrote military reporter Jaffe.
Beyond that, the president’s previous speech highlighted the danger that the Army, which has enjoyed broad support from the American people for the last quarter century, could be perceived as a partisan or political force, the military journalist said. “Both Mr. Trump and Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, speak often about the threat posed to America from within,” he said.
Earlier in June, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Trump, with soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division behind him, denounced his political rivals, former President Joe Biden and California Governor, Gavin Newsom. He also criticised people protesting immigration raids and those attacking public property in Los Angeles as subhuman, warning that they could be targeted by U.S. troops.
According to U.S. media, among the biggest concerns of senior Army leaders is that, Trump could invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, which would give U.S. troops law enforcement powers in American cities, and potentially put them into conflict with their fellow citizens. Some officials worry that he could be laying the groundwork for such a move with his references to a migrant “invasion.”– NNN-XINHUA
