WASHINGTON ― It didn’t rain on President Donald Trump’s parade on Saturday, which his critics were hoping for.
But it was still rather miserable.
Trump threw this military parade for himself. He turned 79 on Saturday, and his gift to himself was to spend tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to roll tanks through the streets of D.C. It’s been his unfulfilled dream since his first term, and since the Army was already planning a celebration of its 250th anniversary, Trump big-footed their plans and ordered the Pentagon to tie the Army’s event to an authoritarian-style showcase of America’s soldiers and weapons of war.
It was a very long and uncomfortable day. The Army festival started at 11 a.m., and the parade didn’t begin until 6:30 p.m. Thousands of people and families of all ages stood in long, slow-moving lines on the National Mall to get through security for the festival in oppressively humid heat. And then did it again for the parade, except this time the line went on for blocks.
The result? While Trump and other VIPs sat in relative comfort, the parade attendees ― whether MAGA faithful or just military aficionados ― were thrown into an environment seemingly designed to drain their energy before the headlining events. And as the day wore on, they were increasingly surrounded by boisterous anti-Trump protesters.
People could get water once inside the festival, but food was scant, save a couple of ice cream vendors and some free lollipops tossed on a table. There was barely any shade. Children still had fun, climbing inside helicopters cockpits and atop tanks where parents posed for photos with their toddlers aiming massive guns. It was crowded, but certainly not at max capacity. For all the lines to get in, it was easy to walk around. Up front, rows of chairs set up by the main stage sat empty.
Lots of empty seats in front of the main stage at the festival ahead of Trump’s military parade.
When it got closer to the time to head over to the parade, it wasn’t clear where to go. There weren’t many signs. Hours in the sun, kids were starting to melt down, and streets barricaded off to traffic were filled with thousands of out-of-towners wandering around, asking police officers for directions to a security checkpoint that was blocks away.
Then the protesters showed up. They were a sharp contrast to this sluggish scene: energized, singing, dancing, blasting anti-war songs from speakers while holding up signs calling Trump a fascist. Dozens of them gathered next to a long line of people waiting to get into the parade, so attendees had to stand there as protesters shouted at them how dangerous and awful Trump was.
“TRAITOR!!!!” one demonstrator repeatedly screamed in a demonic voice through a megaphone, just feet away from parade-goers nowhere near the security checkpoint yet.
If people still had stamina by this point in the evening, the sight of the blocks-long lines to get through security for the parade was enough to make some of them throw in the towel. HuffPost watched as various people and families wandered up to assess the line, talked among themselves and then walked away.
“I’m old and tired,” one middle-aged woman remarked to HuffPost, from outside the security perimeter. She said she had a ticket for the parade but was ditching it to go home.
Some attendees weren’t exactly there to celebrate Trump, either. They had their own reasons for coming.
George Washington himself was among them. He was lying under a tree near the Army festival, in head-to-toe 18th century attire. He said he was there to celebrate Flag Day.
“Americans have regained their pride and hope in America,” said Washington, who also goes by the name James Manship. “I love to be among patriots. It’s like a family gathering.”
George Washington, in the flesh.
Asked for his take on the massive “No Kings” protests taking place nationwide that day, in defiance against Trump’s authoritarian efforts, Manship said “part of our system” is that people have a right to express themselves. But things took a turn when he compared anti-Trump protesters to British loyalists in the Revolutionary War, and then falsely claimed pro-Trump rioters were simply expressing themselves when they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
He shared a photo of himself waving a pro-Trump flag and a U.S. flag outside of the Capitol that day. “I saw that it was a set-up,” Manship claimed of the clash between rioters and police. “So I said the best thing for me to do is get out of here. I said a prayer, turned and marched away.”
Matthew Puit was sitting nearby on a barrier with his wife, Eliana, who was taking photos of the Capitol in the distance. They came to D.C. from Mays Landing, New Jersey, but not for the parade ― for a Washington Nationals baseball game, so they figured they’d visit the Army festival, too.
“It’s part of history,” said Eliana, who requested using only her first name.
“I like guns and tanks and so, I was able to get pictures,” said Puit.
Neither said they had strong opinions about the protests against Trump because they consider themselves “politics-naive.” But Eliana said she recently read about what the “No Kings” protests were about, and said she could relate to their anti-authoritation message.
“I just don’t want authoritarian. I don’t want another Fidel Castro type of thing,” said Eliana, who is originally from Miami.
Asked how they feel about Trump’s harsh immigration enforcement, both said they work with people who are immigrants and who are scared. Eliana said she provides health care to indigent populations, and many of her patients have stopped coming in for appointments.
“I have people with testicular cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer who are not coming in for their follow-ups,” she said. “They’re afraid we’re going to report them to ICE.”
Dressed in red, white and blue overalls, and a cowboy hat, Christopher Quaglin of New Jersey stood next to a massive flag that read, “January 6 was an inside job.” He was a Jan. 6 defendant who spent two years in prison, though, prior to Trump releasing him, he was sentenced to 12 years for repeatedly attacking police officers, spraying them with chemical irritants and stealing police officers’ riot shields.
Quaglin said he “lost everything” after going to prison, and the reason he was attending the day’s events was “out of desperation for money.” He wants to go on a tour of colleges to talk to students about how hard it was for him in prison and to advocate for prison reform.
He said he felt mixed about Trump going after undocumented immigrants who aren’t violent criminals. But moments later, he said he was fine with it and blamed former President Joe Biden for having “left the border open for four years.”
“It sucks, but you have to fight fire with fire,” Quaglin said of arresting and deporting immigrants who aren’t violent criminals. “They forced [Trump’s] hand.”
Wow– loud protesters now chanting “Fuck Trump” and booing at people as they filter out of Trump’s military parade.
— Jen Bendery (@jbendery.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T23:56:58.121Z
By the end of the day, the only people visibly energized and happy, at least among the throngs of people milling about after the parade ended, were the protesters. Even some Secret Service agents seemed over it.
One agent passed by HuffPost muttering about how to get the crowd dispersed after the parade and seemed reluctant to get aggressive about it, “just for some fucking propaganda.”
Protesters had grown by the dozens as people trickled out of the parade. They gathered on a street corner by one of the parade exits to greet people with jeers and signs like “All Hail Commander Bone Spurs” and “Stop Fascism Now.”
