In less than a week, Americans saw images that seemed unthinkable. In a country where there is great respect and gratitude for its armed forces, which is manifested, for example, in two commemorative days during the year and in every NFL, NBA or MLB game, seeing them on the streets of Los Angeles and other places in the country generated questions, fear, and criticism.
In just six days, Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard and the Marines in Los Angeles; he held a political event at the largest fort in the world, and on his 79th birthday, he decided to carry out an unprecedented and grandiose military parade, which coincided with the 250th anniversary of the United States Army.
According to The New York Times, the image of soldiers marching in front of Trump, in the same week that uniformed personnel were deployed to control protests in Los Angeles, caused discomfort among the military high command, and also led hundreds of thousands of Americans to march last Saturday under the slogan “No Kings”, in which they accused the president of authoritarianism.
National Guard and Marines in the streets of Los Angeles
On Friday, June 6, a series of anti-immigrant raids carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in some suburbs of Los Angeles generated strong protests in the city. Some vehicles were burned and several businesses were looted, but the demonstrations did not resemble the violence experienced in 1992 during the Rodney King case.
However, on Saturday, June 7, Donald Trump decided to deploy 2,000 members of the National Guard, a decision that usually falls under the jurisdiction of each state’s governors. The last time a U.S. president took control of a state’s National Guard was in 1965. Between Sunday and Monday, the Trump administration through the Pentagon added another 2,000 National Guard soldiers and also 700 marines, one of the branches of the military designated as an expeditionary force in wartime conflicts.
On Friday, June 13th, a marine stopped a civilian near a federal building: it was a former army member who was going to a Veterans Affairs office.
Political act in a military fort
During Joe Biden’s administration, Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty due to a law that required changing the names of properties within the Department of Defense that were named in honor of Confederate soldiers from the Civil War, in this case, Braxton Bragg. However, when the new administration took over, the Pentagon chief restored the name Fort Bragg, this time in honor of Roland L. Bragg, a decorated paratrooper from World War II, to comply with the law.
Fort Bragg, the largest military installation in the world, was the chosen location by Donald Trump to hold a political event on Tuesday, June 10. The main objective was to deliver a speech for the 250th anniversary of the United States Army, but the president used the opportunity to reaffirm the deployment of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles.
“What we are witnessing in California is a total attack on peace, public order, and national sovereignty, carried out by rioters carrying foreign flags with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country. We are not going to allow that to happen,” commented Trump at the time.
The president of the United States criticized the protesters, whom he referred to as “animals.”
Trump received numerous cheers from the military crowd, who laughed at the president’s jokes and enjoyed his dance to the beat of his campaign anthem, “YMCA.” However, according to The Associated Press report, some members of the audience felt uncomfortable with some of his comments.
An unprecedented military parade
Many Western democracies, such as France, Mexico, and Chile, have annual military parades to celebrate independence or honor their armed forces. However, they also serve as a show of power in countries with authoritarian regimes, such as the May 9 parade in Russia (which commemorates the end of World War II) or the frequent parades held in North Korea for various reasons.
In the United States, on the other hand, they are rare, and the last military parade that is remembered in Washington was in 1991 after the end of the Gulf War.
That’s why it caught a lot of attention when Donald Trump announced an impressive military parade for June 14, which coincided with the 250th anniversary of the Army, but also with his 79th birthday. The latter aspect was the one that sparked the most criticism, as in addition, the parade cost $45 million to the federal government.
There was also a “festival”, where, according to the Army’s statement, it was open to the public “with opportunities to interact with soldiers, see military demonstrations, explore static equipment displays, and listen to live music throughout the day.” There, children and young people were seen aiming high-caliber weapons or carrying rocket launchers.
At the parade where 6,000 soldiers were present, the Army displayed part of its modern equipment, but troops dressed in uniforms from different eras also marched, including the War of Independence, the Civil War, World War I, and World War II, with armored vehicles from those periods.
With a strongly patriotic rhetoric, Trump said in his speech that “it was about time for the United States to celebrate its own victories” and that “the Army keeps us free to make us strong. And tonight, they have made all of America very proud.”
The problem for Trump is that various media outlets estimated that fewer than the 200,000 people expected attended the parade (the President of the United States claimed there were 250,000), and that the “No Kings” marches against the president called for the same day across the country drew nearly 5 million people, according to the organizers. The purpose of these marches was to counterbalance Donald Trump and, furthermore, accuse him of authoritarianism for the use of the armed forces.