‘Wasting Money on This?’: Donald Trump’s ‘Shameful’ Soviet-Style Parade Tribute to Himself for Birthday Sparks Backlash Amid Budget Crunch
In the U.S., presidential birthdays typically aren’t recognized until after the president leaves office. Or dies. There are exceptions, none more memorable than JFK’s 45th birthday, when the president was serenaded by Marilyn Monroe.
Of course, Donald Trump doesn’t much care about tradition or appearances. Concerns over his authoritarian tendencies will only rise after he’s seen saluting a phalanx of tanks or fighter planes marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, part of a grand military parade the White House is proposing for the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary celebration, which happens to fall on June 14, the president’s 79th birthday.
“This is what I’d expect from North Korea,” wrote one Trump critic on X.
And while the aesthetics are troubling, critics say the cost of such a self-serving spectacle is even more alarming, especially at a time when Trump’s own Department of Government Efficiency has ordered more than $4 billion in cuts to medical research for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and pediatric cancer. In addition, DOGE has cut more than 120,000 federal jobs.
“Cutting cancer research while wasting money on this? Shameful,” Republicans Against Trump scolded on X.
In 2018, inspired by the parade he had seen in France on Bastille Day, Trump called for a similar display in Washington. Estimates of the cost of such a celebration neared $100 million, and that, along with concerns that heavily armored vehicles would tear up the roads, led to its demise.
But Trump, who blamed price gouging on the cancellation of the 2018 military parade, refuses to let the dream die, and, with few voices in the administration willing to challenge him, the odds of it happening this time around appear far greater.
A military processional like the one Trump wants was not a part of the Army’s initial plans. A parade would entail 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and possibly a couple thousand civilians, according to The Associated Press.
The sheer logistics of such an event are staggering — from the movement of military vehicles, equipment, aircraft and troops from across the country to Washington and the need to feed and house thousands of service members who would participate.
The AP’s article coincides with news that the Trump administration plans to cut funding to NPR and PBS. The two agencies combined receive fewer federal dollars annually than the anticipated cost of one military parade.
“We’re told cutting news and kids programming to fund an authoritarian birthday bash somehow ‘makes America great again,’ ” wrote Democratic operative Melanie D’Arrigo, on X.
Of course, as far as MAGA is concerned, dismantling the public broadcasting apparatus is a good thing, as is anything Trump wants.
“Trump wants to celebrate the dismantling of the progressive, Marxist, Obama-led grifters trying to steal the American economy and give it to brown people,” claimed one Trump supporter. “You want to continue to indoctrinate kids. Screw you. All the way into the ground.”
Spokesman Col. Dave Butler added that the Army is excited about the plans for its anniversary.
“We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us,” Butler said. “We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers. A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.”
Butler’s expectations are a bit optimistic, as the country remains firmly divided on the Trump agenda and the man himself. Polls show that opposition to the president, based largely on his handling of a lackluster economy, is growing. His approval rating is hovering around 44 percent and is trending down in the most recent polling.
Plans for a parade are unlikely to meet with Republican opposition. Back in February, New York congresswoman Claudia Tenney introduced the Trump’s Birthday and Flag Day Holiday Establishment Act to officially designate June 14 as a federal holiday commemorating the president’s birthday and Flag Day.