WASHINGTON, D.C., and ANNAPOLIS, Md. — There are events that become a Rorschach test that brings out America’s political and cultural divisions in bold relief. Saturday’s military parade — which celebrated the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary and also fell on President Trump’s birthday — was that kind of moment.

As the Trump administration geared up for the parade filled with tanks and armored personnel carriers rolling through the nation’s capital, people in dozens of cities across the country protested the event as a politicization of the armed forces by a would-be autocrat.

The protests were called No Kings.

The 33-mile trip from one protest in Annapolis to the parade grandstand in front of the White House was like a journey between two different countries.

The crowds in Annapolis gathered in front of the colonial, red-brick Maryland State House around mid-morning. The people who came were largely white, and they held signs reading: “RESISTING THE CROWN SINCE 1776,” and “I’M A VETERAN, NOT A SUCKER OR A LOSER,” a reference to comments attributed to Trump disparaging American war-dead, which Trump has called “a total lie.”

John Wells, a retired economist statistician with the federal government, called the miltary parade outrageous. “We’re not in Russia or North Korea … or China,” he said. “That’s the thing they do. We don’t do that.”

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John Wells, a 76-year-old retired economist statistician with the federal government, said he supported the U.S. army, but couldn’t stand the parade.

“It’s outrageous. We’re not in Russia or North Korea … or China. That’s the thing they do. It’s also costing a lot of money and people’s resources,” Wells said of the price tag for the D.C. parade and surrounding events, estimated at $25 million to $45 million.

Speakers in Annapolis included labor union representatives, the leader of an immigrant advocacy group and a George Washington reenactor who wore a white wig and a blue waistcoat. Randy Goldberg, a 75-year-old retired nurse, played America’s first president and delivered the speech Washington gave when he relinquished his military command there in 1783.

“I retire from the great theater of action and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body under whose orders I have so long acted, I hereby offer my commission and leave all the employments of public life,” Goldberg said, channeling Washington as the crowd broke into applause.

The centerpiece of the No Kings protest in Annapolis, Md., was a George Washington reenactor named Randy Goldberg, who delivered the speech Washington gave when he relinquished his command there in 1783. Protestors contrasted Washington’s voluntary decision to give up miltary power with what they saw as an autocratic-style military parade on the National Mall.

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The protesters’ point was that Washington voluntarily gave up military power, while they say Trump was trying to accrue more by holding the parade on the National Mall with countless tons of military hardware.

Trump dismissed such criticism Saturday.

“Every other country celebrates their victories,” Trump told the crowd in D.C. “It’s about time that America did, too.”

In fact, this was not a victory celebration, but a birthday party for the Army. The last time the U.S. held a similar parade was after the First Gulf War, in 1991.

Trump has attacked the patriotism of his critics and of journalists he doesn’t like, saying, “They hate our country.” Anticipating such an attack, speakers in Annapolis said protest is an act of patriotism, especially when the target is a president they say is trampling America’s system of checks and balances.

“We have to own the flag. No one can tell us that we’re not patriots,” said Donna Edwards, president of the Maryland & DC AFL-CIO, who addressed the Annapolis crowd wearing an American flag dress. “No one should say that because we’re here, we hate America. We’re fighting for America.“

About 45 minutes to the west, many who attended the Army celebration also wore flag T-shirts, hats and shorts. The crowd was diverse and included military families whose members had immigrated to the U.S. from around the world, including Ecuador, El Salvador and Vietnam.

Julianna Balogh (left) and Kim Nguyen are President Trump superfans who traveled from Arkansas and California, respectively, to attend the military parade. Nguyen says her father served with the U.S. Army in South Vietnam and that she came to the U.S. in 1991.

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The event in the nation’s capital seemed at times like a cross between a military festival and an Army recruiting video. People lounged on the grass in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Amid the strains of Van Halen over the loudspeakers, tank drivers pumped their fists and revved their engines as they drove past cheering crowds down Constitution Avenue. Along the way, the announcer thanked the various corporate sponsors, including Lockheed Martin and Palantir, the data-mining firm that has a $30 million contract to help Immigration and Customs and Enforcement track migrants in the U.S.

The staging seemed designed to enhance the muscular image Trump likes to project. A pair of tanks sat in front of the grandstand from which the president watched. After his speech, Trump was presented with a traditionally folded U.S. flag — a gift usually reserved for the family members of fallen soldiers.

Some who attended the event — including a few who said they did not vote for Trump — dismissed criticism that the parade had authoritarian overtones.

“I think they’ve got this whole cloud over their head that Trump’s this dictator when he’s acting completely [within] the law,” said Dennis Connelly, 19, who wore baggy American flag pants and had flown in from Knoxville, Tenn., for the event.

Dennis Connelly, 19, of Knoxville, Tenn., flew for the first time in his life to Washington, D.C., to see the parade. Connelly wants to join the Marines and said the combination of the parade and the president’s birthday was too good to miss.

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The president, too, took issue ahead of the parade with being described as a king. “I don’t feel like a king,” Trump said in advance of the parade. “I have to go through hell to get things approved.”

His administration’s actions have been mired in hundreds of lawsuits — and the courts have frequently blocked them from being implemented.

Connelly says he hopes to enlist in the Marines and serve in counterintelligence. While No Kings protesters criticized Trump for busting norms, Connelly sees that as a good thing.

“He’s powerful, and he’s kind of like those high school bullies. … And I just think that’s wonderful,” said Connelly. “We have to have a powerful president who’s willing to push some boundaries.”

Although Connelly is a fan of Trump’s, he has doubts about some of the president’s policies. He says allowing ICE agents to wear masks provides people the opportunity to impersonate them and commit crimes. He also says he doesn’t think Trump has a complete understanding of tariffs.

“I think he’s assuming that these companies are willing to pay them and not going to manipulate the public … and add that on to [the] consumer price,” said Connelly, who took his first airplane flight ever to come here.

The parade attracted many Trump voters, who gave the president a warm round of applause when he was introduced. A smattering sported MAGA gear. But most people with whom NPR spoke said they were there to celebrate the Army and see the tanks.

Well before the parade’s end, thousands began heading out. As they exited onto Constitution Avenue, they were met by No Kings protesters.

“Trump is a Tyrant,” read one sign. The parade-goers with whom an NPR reporter was walking made their way past the protesters and headed toward the Metro trains.

America’s split-screen day had finally merged into a collective image of a divided people half block from the White House, many unable or unwilling to talk to one another.

The U.S. Army celebrated its 250th anniversary on Saturday with a massive military parade in Washington, D.C., against a backdrop of political division and protests savaging President Trump rippling across the country.

Trump, whose 79th birthday corresponded with the Army anniversary, had long dreamed of holding such a display of America’s military might.

The parade stirred up controversy for what opponents view as a politicization of the nation’s armed forces and a break from U.S. democratic norms, and sparked an organized No Kings protest movement across the country on Saturday.

Here’s how the day unfolded.

1. Stormy clouds didn’t rain on the parade

Despite threats of lightning and storms rolling into D.C., the parade went ahead as advertised.

It featured dozens of armored tanks and artillery vehicles, such as HIMARS, army aircraft, including Black Hawk helicopters and Apaches, and more than 6,000 uniformed troops. The idea was to walk viewers through the history of American military conflict, with some historical uniforms and vehicles being used.

Armored vehicles drive during the Army 250th Anniversary Parade in Washington, DC on June 14, 2025.

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Members of the U.S Army parade down Constitution Avenue, representing the Revolutionary War era.

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Additionally, 34 horses, two mules and one dog — a Blue Heeler named Doc Holliday — joined the march.

Mike Davis, a 30-year Army serviceman who was at the parade as a spectator, said he welcomed the flashy affair — that the military had been overdue for a big bash.

“The last time we’ve had a military parade of any sorts, I recall, is the Gulf War,” Davis said. “So, it’s been a long time and what better way to celebrate it than the 250th?”

Davis said that protests against the event cast a pall on what he thought should be a celebratory occasion, but that he also backed people’s First Amendment rights to speak out.

“We go to war and defend the nation’s rights for the citizens to do things like that, so more power to it,” he said.

The weekend festivities came with an expected price tag of between $25 million and $45 million, according to Army spokesperson Heather J. Hagan. That includes planned road repairs due to possible damage from tanks rolling on city streets.

2. Trump got the thing he has wanted for years

Trump wanted to hold the parade during his first term, but it was scrapped because it was deemed too expensive. He was inspired after attending the annual Bastille Day parade in France in 2017. That parade celebrates French mobs taking over the Bastille state prison in 1789. 

In closing remarks following Saturday’s procession, he hailed the Army as the “greatest, fiercest and bravest fighting force” the world had ever seen. 

President rump stands and salutes, flanked by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and First Lady Melania Trump.

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“The Army keeps us free, you make us strong, and tonight you’ve made all Americans very proud,” he said. “Every other country celebrates their victories. It’s about time America did too. That’s what we’re doing tonight.”

After his speech, Trump was presented with a traditionally folded American flag — a gift usually reserved for the family members of fallen soldiers.

Since the parade was announced, there has been sharp criticism, particularly from Democratic lawmakers who called the showcase self-indulgent and a misuse of public funds.

“To use the military in this manner when Donald Trump is slashing veterans’ benefits to aggrandize himself, to communicate to the country his control over the military, is just another shameful act of this administration,” said Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California.

Other critics have said it’s a display of military force typically associated with autocratic governments in places like Russia or North Korea.

“It’s a vulgar display,” Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said during a news conference on Friday. “It’s the kind of thing you see Kim Jong Un, you see Putin, you see with dictators around the world that are weak.”

3. Protests spring up across the country

No Kings protests rippled peacefully across dozens of cities in the U.S.

Organizers estimated that more than 5 million people participated in more 2,000 planned protests, according to spokesperson Eunic Ortiz. While protests were peaceful, police in Culpeper, Va., arrested a man who “intentionally accelerated his vehicle into the dispersing crowd,” at the end of a protest. One person was hit, but no one was hurt, police said.

Tens of thousands marched peacefully in Philadelphia, where organizers were holding their main event, police said. Philadelphia was chosen as the hub, because “there’s an indelible link between Philadelphia and between the freedoms and the ideals that the country was founded upon,” said Joel Payne, spokesperson for MoveOn, one of the dozens of groups behind the No Kings protests.

Demonstrators hold signs as they march down Dolores street protesting the Trump administration during the No Kings rally in San Franscisco, Californina on June 14.

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A protestor holds a placard during a march down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art during a nationwide No Kings rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.

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Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of the nonprofit Indivisible, another No Kings coordinator, said the atmosphere at the event was joyful.

“Today what I saw was a boisterous, peaceful display of First Amendment rights,” he told NPR.

Thousands were at a Dallas protest, one of more than 60 planned in Texas, KERA reported. In Alaska, the theme was, “The only king I want is king salmon,” Alaska Public Media reported.

Shahera Hyatt of Sacramento made signs for her local event that read, “From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go,” and “ICE, you’re fired.”

“I decided to go because I feel like with unchecked authority, Trump has led America into clear fascism,” she told NPR.

There were some feelings of unease amid the protesters, some of whom turned off their phones and avoided posting to social media.

“It does feel like there’s a vendetta against people who are exercising their rights to speak up against this administration,” said protester Ali Schoenberger of Sacramento. “So I feel like it’s important to protect my fellow protestors today and not expose them or even have it on my phone.”

Protesters rally in front of City Hall in Los Angeles on Saturday.

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“I am completely terrified of what’s going on in our country,” said protester Margo Ross of Watsonville, Calif. “I believe from the beginning it’s been a coup and a fascist overthrow, and I keep thinking, ‘Well, it can’t get worse.’ And then it gets worse and worse.”

Separately, U.S. Capitol Police said they arrested 60 protesters Friday evening after some pushed down barriers and ran toward the steps of the Rotunda. They say all 60 will be charged with unlawful demonstration and crossing a police line. Additional charges include assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. The groups behind the protests didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The No Kings demonstrations were put together by a coalition of more than 200 organizations, including MoveOn, the American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Teachers and the Communications Workers of America. Protests were not planned in Washington, D.C., where the military parade was held.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WLNE) — A military parade set to commemorate the 250th birthday of the United States Army is set to occur in Washington D.C. and ABC will have live coverage at 6:30 p.m.

The parade coincides with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday, and is on the same day as nationwide protests against his administration.