By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
A demonstrator blocks the path of a tank convoy along the Avenue of Eternal Peace near Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, June 1989
Opinion: Could one lone figure standing in Trump’s ghoulish parade become the catalyst to a democratic rebound in America? writes John Casey
Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington, D.C., slated for Saturdat his 79th birthday, is being spun as a grand celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary. But that narrative is as phony as Trump’s tough-guy image.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
This spectacle, a nearly one‑mile cavalcade that will include about 6,600 soldiers, over 100 military vehicles, and 50 helicopters, is a thinly veiled but patently obvious ego boost for a man desperate to project power reminiscent of authoritarian regimes.
When I think of these military parades, I hark back to my younger days watching TV and seeing troops marching in front of Leonid Brezhnev and Mao Zedong, for starters. I remember the media talking about these as ode to Dear Leader occasions and how they were a braggadocio moment for dictators to show their so-called strength and the power of their arsenal.
I’m sure that Trump, older than I was when these occurred with frequency, remembers them vividly too, and that’s why he is obsessed with creating the mirror images of those moments, He’s determined to re-create the same images of himself glowering down on troops who will be staring unblinkingly back at him.
Beyond the grotesqueness of this is the cost. It’s wildly expensive and wildly tone-deaf, if you ask me. Taxpayers stand to shell out $25 million to $45 million, with $16 million already earmarked for pavement repairs after 70‑ton M1 Abrams tanks rumble through D.C. streets, roads not built for this burden .
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration is simultaneously slashing budgets for veterans, domestic services, and federal oversight. The contrast is stark to Trump’s lavish display — and disturbing.
This has nothing to do with honoring the Army. Trump’s contempt for the military is as noteworthy as his lust for himself. Army officials admit the parade was added only this year, tacked on to a much more muted festival planned long before. The Army and the rest of the military don't do ostentatious.
But Trump specializes in ostentatiousness. Just look at the casino-like, gauche Oval Office. I’m sure when he saw his birthday taking place on the same day as the Army’s 250th birthday, he jumped up and down like a gleeful Mao or Brezhnev. And the fact that it also coincides with Flag Day was an overload of narcissism to an expert egomaniac.
This is pure political theater, designed to aggrandize Trump, not the soldiers.
Ask yourself: What kind of leader needs rolling tanks, on buckling streets, through the heart of our democracy to command respect? Authoritarian leaders, past as well as present, from Putin to Xi, use militarized pageantry as propaganda. HItler excelled with this. Trump is emulating them, channeling that same history, subordinating military honor to personal vanity. All heil Trump!
Worse still, this follows his illegal deployment of National Guard and Marines, 4,000 Guard, 700 Marines, to Los Angeles during recent protests sparked by federal immigration raids. Despite the clear mandate of the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits military involvement in civilian law enforcement, Trump invoked “very big force,” even threats of using the Insurrection Act.
California’s governor called it “democracy under assault.” The same disregard for democratic boundaries is brazenly repeated in D.C., trucks and tanks included. Trump uses the military to crush dissent and free speech, and to exult in his status as a dictator.
These parallel dubious deployments in L.A. and D.C., are more than poor optics. They reveal a preference for coercion over community, spectacle over substance, ego over ethics. They are copycat images of a president willing to weaponize the military against the very people he swore to protect.
Enter the idea of a Tiananmen Square moment, not a tragedy but a powerful metaphor to somehow, even temporarily, stop Trump in his dangerous tracks.
In 1989, Tiananmen Square in Beijing became the stage for student-led protests demanding democracy, accountability, and transparency. Aren’t we all longing for a return of those attributes for the United States, attributes that seemed to vanish in the last five months?
In a moment frozen in time from China in 1989, an unarmed citizen forever known as the “Tank Man” stood in front of advancing tanks. That indomitable spirit of bravery crystallized defiance in a single indelible image. No words were needed — just the silhouette of hope resisting oppression. That moment reverberated worldwide, speaking truth to authoritarian might.
What could a similar moment look like this Saturday in D.C.? Picture a lone figure, protest sign aloft, standing unflinching before the parade of mechanized aggression. Maybe the weight of military machinery buckles asphalt into the swamp that is D.C., announcing to the world Trump’s metaphorical swamp. A ruptured street becoming a grotesque symbol of Trump’s attempt to sink democracy under his grandiose display.
Or imagine citizens clogging the route, not violent disruption but civil defiance, forcing Trump to confront the reality that democracy isn’t his to parade. That the people choose governance, not pageantry.
These protests won’t make Trump flinch the way state-controlled media might in Beijing, but they could mark a cultural shift. The energy Ben Franklin invoked, “a republic, if you can keep it,” echoes now. The collective refusal to bow before tanks, to cede civic duty to spectacle, is the anchor of democracy. That could be America’s own Tiananmen Square moment, nonviolent, resolute, and righteous.
Trump’s parade isn’t democracy. But protesting Trump can be.
The irony is stark: Trump wants to project strength through military muscle. But true American strength resides in restraint, freedom, real and historic rule of law, and the dignity of an informed citizenry. This Saturday, If one metaphorical figure stands in the street of Trump’s ghoulish parade, it will become a monument to a democratic rebound America desperately needs at this moment.
Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride.
