Trump’s Military Parade: Narcissism, War Profiteering, and Repression
By Angel Rodríguez
The military parade organized by Donald Trump’s government this past Saturday, June 14, in Washington represents an authoritarian and militaristic display aimed at legitimizing his power, while the federal government uses the National Guard, commandeered from the government of California, and the Marines to repress protests against ICE’s abusive raids on immigrants in cities like Los Angeles.
This parade through the streets of Washington, D.C., where thousands of U.S. Army soldiers, armored vehicles, warplanes, and helicopters were deployed, featured top officials of Donald Trump’s administration, such as Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of Defense, the white supremacist Pete Hegseth. The initial justification for the parade was the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, but this military parade—unseen in this way since World War I and World War II—also coincided with the 79th birthday of the monarch Donald J. Trump. The 47th president organized, using federal funds from the working class, a birthday with a militaristic and authoritarian theme, not only to showcase military might on the streets of the U.S. but also to feed his ego and narcissism.
This parade came at a steep price: it is estimated that mobilizing those troops and military vehicles cost around $47 million, with some estimating even more. This squandering of workers’ money—at a time when they supposedly want to cut federal spending through cuts to services for the poor and marginalized—is shameless in the face of the needs of communities in the United States, especially in light of imminent cuts to health and food services. But the cost of the parade is not the most alarming thing. Clearly, Trump wants to show all his opponents that he is the commander-in-chief of the most powerful military force in the world and that he is willing to use it not only against foreign enemies but also against internal enemies of the Republican Party under the Trumpist regime. This normalization of military forces on the streets is an authoritarian trend of the State, demonstrating its capacity to repress protests and the organization of the working class in the U.S.
Corporate allies and the business behind the parade
As if that weren’t enough, the militarization of the streets was combined with corporate sponsorships. As the parade passed the stage where monarch Trump sat, ads for companies like Coinbase and Palantir appeared on the screen. The owners of these companies were millionaire donors to Trump’s campaign and are now cronies of the current Trumpist regime. Coinbase, the cryptocurrency platform, is already cashing in on its campaign investment by lobbying for deregulation of this financial sector, while Palantir already has military contracts with the U.S. Army totaling $1 billion. Among Palantir’s contracts is Project MAVEN, which uses artificial intelligence to identify military targets, as well as its latest platform, Foundry, which will centralize the collection of data from the entire state apparatus, placing information about the entire working class in the U.S. in the hands of this company for purposes of surveillance and repression.
This militaristic, authoritarian birthday celebration for Trump was sponsored and organized by the America 250 Foundation, led by former Trump collaborators and funded by companies like Oracle, Lockheed Martin, and Amazon. Clearly, it was a party among friends to strengthen their economic influence within the military-industrial complex, where these large corporations with war interests came to celebrate and buy even more influence from monarch Trump at a historic moment when imperialist wars continue to escalate on many fronts. Beyond the display of military might in a volatile war scenario, it was also a business deal between big tech capitalists, the arms industry, and Trump.
Imperialist wars and internal repression
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has continued to escalate. Despite Trump’s claim that he would resolve it on day one, the attacks continue. Ukraine’s most recent offensive, Operation Spiderweb, has demonstrated the use of artificial intelligence technology on the battlefield. The sponsors of the military parade are undoubtedly shaping the future of imperialist wars. Likewise, Trump’s authoritarian military celebration is yet another show of force in the face of the recent U.S.-declared war on Iran and its alliance with Israel in this dangerous Middle East conflict that has the potential to turn nuclear.
While the military parade was broadcast on screen, at the same time, protests were shown from that same day under the slogan *No Kings* in the major cities of the U.S. and in many small towns and suburbs. This demonstration brought millions of people into the streets. The slogan was a clear response to the authoritarian military parade and the Trump government’s repressive measures, especially ICE’s raids on immigrants. Although convened by nonprofit organizations aligned with the Democratic Party and promoted by Christy Walton, heir to the Walmart empire, this mobilization managed to bring out crowds not seen in the U.S. in several years. Ironically, while military might was displayed in Washington for the domestic and foreign enemies of the U.S., military forces were being used to intimidate protests in Los Angeles and in Texas’s largest cities. In Washington: the military celebration. In these cities: its true face—the State’s repressive apparatus in action.
The independent path of the working class
Trump’s authoritarian military celebration is yet another act of authoritarianism and militarism aimed at legitimizing his power in the face of social discontent and protests at home and his imperialist policy abroad. Although Democratic Party allies convened the massive protests under the anti-Trump *No Kings* slogan, the masses that filled the streets were mostly working-class people. Their banners reflected collective outrage against immigrant deportations, Trump’s repressive policies, and the genocide in Palestine.
These protests, in the face of Trump’s authoritarian advance, demonstrate the collective strength of the working class in the U.S. The Democrats will seek political opportunism to steer this discontent into the legality of the outdated bourgeois democracy—the same one Trump is using for his authoritarian regime. Workers must follow our own path of organization and not fall into the trap of bourgeois democracy, voting for the lesser evil every four years. Resistance against ICE’s repressive apparatus in our communities and against the militarization of our streets can be the first step toward building and defending a real democracy, built from the ground up, in our communities and workplaces, by and for the working class without distinction of race, nationality, gender, religion, or any other division imposed upon us.
In the face of Trump’s authoritarian and military advance in his birthday parade, only a well-organized working class in the U.S., independent of both the Democratic and Republican parties, can show the strength to tell Trump and his cronies that we want neither their imperialist wars nor their military repression of our communities. Only independent organization of the working class in every sector can put an end to repression and imperialist wars, building an alternative to the capitalist government that is leading us to destruction.
