Wannabe strongman breaks U.S. custom with authoritarian-style military parade

U.S. flag over Toledo, Ohio. Photo: Gerald Farinas.

Let’s not sugarcoat it.

On June 14, 2025—Donald Trump’s birthday—the United States witnessed something it was never meant to see: tanks rolling down Constitution Avenue, fighter jets screaming overhead, soldiers standing in formation not to defend the Constitution, but to glorify one man.

They called it a celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary. But don’t be fooled.

This wasn’t a salute to our armed forces.

It was a flex. A flex by a man desperate to look tough. A pageant of power staged by a President who craves the approval of dictators and wants to play one on TV.

We don’t do this in America. Period.

Military parades like this are not American tradition—they’re the stuff of authoritarian regimes.

Russia does them.

North Korea lives on them.

China rolls out ballistic missiles like party decorations.

But here?

In a country built on civilian rule, where the military serves the people, not the president?

Never.

Until now.

Because Trump needed a spectacle.

Not to honor the Army—but to honor himself.

On his birthday.

As if the nation’s soldiers exist to throw him a party.

It’s laughable.

It’s pathetic.

And it’s dangerous as hell.

This isn’t patriotism. It’s propaganda.

Let’s be honest. This parade was about sending a message to the world—and to us.

That Trump controls the tanks.

That he commands the troops.

That America’s strength is now his strength.

He wants the image of power without any of the responsibility.

The feel of a military dictatorship without the label.

This isn’t pride in service.

It’s ego on parade.

And the people who serve—the brave women and men of the U.S. military—aren’t props in some political circus.

They’ve sworn an oath to the Constitution, not to a birthday boy with a God complex.

Theatrics of a tyrant

Trump has spent his political life cozying up to strongmen—Putin, Kim Jong-un, Orbán.

And now he’s copying their playbook: Hold a military parade, slap your name on it, and pretend it’s about national pride.

But this was never about America.

This was about Donald Trump needing to feel big.

This wasn’t national defense.

It was national theater.

And the whole world was watching as our democracy took another step toward cosplay fascism.

We can’t shrug this off

If you think this is just more Trump bluster, think again.

Every authoritarian begins with optics. With pageantry. With shows of force meant to hypnotize the masses and bully the critics.

That’s how democracy dies—not all at once, but to the sound of marching bands and fighter jets overhead.

We should be angry.

We should be alarmed.

Because when the military is dragged into a political spectacle, when civilian leadership starts bending toward the image of a strongman, we’ve crossed a line we were never supposed to cross.

This wasn’t a birthday celebration. It was a warning shot.

And if we don’t call it what it is—if we let this become the new normal—we’ll look back and realize the day Trump got his tanks was the day America stopped being a republic and started becoming a show.

And not even a good one.