Trump's Birthday Parade and His Response to Widespread No Kings Protests Is Coming Hard

It's Probably Even Worse Than You Think

Jun 14, 2025

Protestors hold signs during a political demonstration. — Photo by Mike Newbry on Unsplash

Tomorrow, on June 14th, Trump will spend $45 million in taxpayer funds to celebrate his birthday on the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army in a dictator style show of military might and a transparent attempt to associate himself and his hateful ideology with the service and expertise our forces represent. His speech earlier in the week at Fort Bragg with handpicked troops based on political leaning and appearance (also mostly male), behind him cheering as he made partisan comments and attacked his foes, was a marked departure from Pentagon rules on a nonpartisan military.

As a former Army Officer, I was educated that the military’s role is to protect and defend the nation and its citizens regardless of who is in the White House, or one’s own political beliefs. We took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and execute all lawful orders. We were also educated to understand that the Posse Comitatus Act prohibited active duty military from being used in law enforcement against our citizens on U.S. soil and that it was our duty to defy an unlawful order. While certain exceptions certainly apply, including the invocation of the Insurrection Act, during times of extreme emergency, what Trump and Hegseth are engaging in is a steady degradation of the line between what troops have been told they cannot do and what they are now being ordered to do.

Today, without invoking the Insurrection Act, a U.S. citizen who is an immigrant and veteran was detained by the Marines for the first time in our nation’s history. The hair stood up on the back of many veterans’ necks including my own,. when I heard this news. Yes, he was transferred to civilian authorities and yes, the Marines were tasked with protecting a federal building, but the optics were intended to both cross the line on what the military can do and make crossing the line the new normal for the military. Once it becomes something they do without question, the most powerful, most lethal, best-trained military in the world becomes the President’s fist against the American people. Trump has vowed to shut down protests. Not violent protests. Protests period. This is how he plans to do it and how he plans to terrorize those who dissent. We’re five months into this presidency. Imagine what this looks like two years from now.

The first step was to make the military his own, not the people’s. He began that process at Ft Bragg with the military crossing the line into partisanship. Tomorrow, he completes that step as the military, in a dictatorial fashion, is used as a display of his power over the people. The planes, the helicopters, the troops, the tanks, the dog–all his. All an extension of him on his 79th Birthday. The fracturing of the apolitical military has begun. What Trump and Hegseth want is a military loyal to Trump’s agenda, not the citizens, not the constitution, but to them. Anyone who they believe doesn’t fit that vision will be systemeatically removed. And as time passes and troops begin to question this new partisan military, the goal will be to discipline them into submission or removal. The military will begin to faction and fracture.

Displays like this parade are generally unpopular with troops because they require vast resources, tons of practice, are a distraction from actual training and missions, and generally just suck for troops. They usually take place on a day you’d be with your family and occur for the pleasure of people who have no idea what it means to have to deal with everything about the military that sucks. Donald Trump is a classic example of someone who has no idea what military life is like and has no problem making it suck even more for those who have commited their lives to service. For this reason and the vast waste of taxpayer funds, 70% of veterans in one poll opposed the parade, including a majority of Republican veterans.

Tomorrow, as tanks and troops roll through the streets of D.C, protests against the bill in the Senate, cuts to healthcare, government agencies, veteran aid, and the Administration’s latest crackdown on undocumented immigrants, among so many other controversial polices, will be in full force all across the nation. Couple that with war in the Middle East, and the Nation’s anxiety is at peak panic.

All of this is also a distraction from “The Big Beautiful Bill,” about to pass the Senate, which contains legislation that would shield the Trump Administration from accountability when they break the law, including the 170 times they’ve already done so. There’s also a provision that would impose a ten-year ban on any regulation of AI, including the use of politically motivated AI, which could sway an election.

If protests in D.C. and across the nation become violent (and at least in some capacity, they will), Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act in the coming days or weeks. What follows will be a severe crackdown on protests, which will exacerbate citizens’ frustration and increase the violence, resulting in further disappearance of people to include more immigrants AND U.S. citizens, the arrest of minority party lawmakers, and eventually a postponement or cancellation of midterm elections. If you think these things couldn’t happen without the courts intervening, ask yourself what Army the courts have to enforce the laws a president and his party refuse to obey, and then couple that with the eventual passage of a bill that will protect them from being held accountable for disobeying. If you’re doing nothing, trying to get through your day, and bracing yourself to make it to the midterms, there’s a good chance we don’t make it to the midterms. Not without the American people rising up against these threats and Republican lawmakers growing a pair and John McCaining this tyrant. There isn’t much time left.

Do something.

Amy Martin's–Crashworthy

Discussion about this post