Heavy lies the crown. On a sullen and forbiddingly hot Saturday in Washington, DC, Donald Trump celebrated his 79th birthday by watching centuries of US army tradition and prowess roll past him on Constitution Avenue.
The military parade he ordered was, in the end, a $45 million exercise in immaculate planning and choreographed imagery. But it took place against the backdrop of deep unrest across the United States.
In Minnesota, a manhunt was under way for the latest name in the list of notorious killings, with suspect Vance Boelter wanted for allegedly killing state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, at their home in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, some 2,000 “No Kings” protests drew millions of people in major and minor US cities, culminating in a tense stand-off between protesters and officials in Los Angeles, which remains under curfew.
Even before the fireworks lit the skies over the Lincoln Memorial, Israel launched retaliatory strikes on Tehran. Few public figures seem to shrug off internal turmoil as easily as Trump, but even he must have been struck by the singular strangeness of the national mood on June 14th.
The date will also be recorded for perhaps the shortest public speech Trump has given since parachuting on to the American political consciousness. Wisely, he trained his remarks on the stars of the event: the army. His 10-minute delivery was a paean to the fighting tradition of an army that he said “are the bedrock on which our entire nation stands since the founding of the Continental Army on June 14th, 1775″.
“Liberty got its shield and freedom got its sword,” Trump told the crowd, whose modest turnout must have wounded his vanity. The immediate parade route was lined with people but the overhead images, taken during the parade, showed vast sections of green, unoccupied viewing space. One particular clip that did brisk business online showed a tank rolling by a barren section in the viewing stand, the smattering of applause so low that you could hear the tracks squeaking.
“With the frostbitten feet and bloody fist they have marched into the flames and fury of combat, charged up mountains, stormed beaches, waded through torrents of gunfire and leapt into skies thick with smoke and shrapnel,” Trump said in the underwhelmed tone he adopts when sticking to the script.
“Time and again America’s enemies have learned that if you threaten the American people our soldiers are coming for you.”
The mood along Constitution Avenue and on the green field areas around the National Monument was easygoing but muted, governed by the oppressive heat. The crowd was largely composed of army veterans, family members and supporters, spectators drawn to the uniqueness of the event and all-weather Trump loyalists out to pay homage to the birthday boy.
Mike Frey, an army engineer of 20 years, stopped to chat as the tanks rolled by. He had driven 15 hours from Missouri to be here. His son is re-enlisting, so they made a weekend of it. He was eager to hear about what Ireland makes of Trump and listened carefully before offering his perspective in a low-key, serious voice.
“I just want a country. I think I am overtaxed. I think we have too much government.”
Asked about the No Kings protests taking place across the country, he had this to say.
“It’s because of illegals in this country. That’s what is happening. It is not about Trump. But if I do something illegal, what happens to me? The double standard of the Democrats is what it is. The Republicans don’t bitch. The white American males made America, you know? There were some blacks, too.
“And so we haven’t got pissed off yet and I think everybody knows we won’t get pissed off because when we get pissed off, some bad shit’s gonna happen. And it’s what Jefferson said: the blood of the patriot needs to be refreshed from time to time.
“We’re the bastards of America now. And it’s terrible. I need a country. I love this country.”
It is during occasions like this that one is reminded that Washington, DC, was not designed with its residents in mind. It was conceived as the symbol of the US empire and so the city provided a perfect canvas for this parade.
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Among the 6,000 troops were those in the uniforms of the revolution and civil war marching across the Arlington Memorial bridge with Robert E Lee’s old house looming behind them. Military aircraft, from 80-year-old bombers to Chinooks, flew low in the summer gloom across the city landmarks. There were drones. There were even robotic dogs.
For fans of military history – and for children – the event was a fantasia. And it was clear from the faces of the army participants that this novel moment in the spotlight was enjoyable.
And Washington, DC, was alone among the major American cities in that it was without a No Kings protest because the organisers felt it important not to deflect from the military parade. Respect for the military is one of the few remaining bipartisan pillars. But earlier in the afternoon, a crowd of several hundred gathered near Lafayette Square to participate in a protest organised by the ‘Refuse Fascism’ movement.
“I am here for a lot of reasons,” explained Andrew Hall, who grew up in Virginia and works in the city.
“I think we are in a very dangerous situation. And I think it’s important that people like me, a college-educated white guy, come out and support our brothers and sisters who are being abducted and detained under disgusting conditions. Both of my grandfathers fought fascism in Europe. I am just doing the best I can.”
His fear is that Maga Republicanism ultimately wants “to turn America into an apartheid South Africa”.
“Because in 15 years’ time white folks like me will be a statistical minority so that means to maintain white power you have to implement an apartheid-type regime.
“We are in the majority and we are going to take our country back.”
Inside the vast parade enclosure, which is bordered by 2.5m-high metal fencing, there were a few protesters holding placards in protest against the president. Christopher Moffatt paced along the parade route holding aloft a banner alluding to Trump’s civil case sexual assault finding, a gesture that seemed foolhardy, given the occasion.
“A little bit,” he replied, when asked if he was trepidatious.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. But when I was walking through there were a bunch of soldiers standing there and they were questioning, can you bring that sign in. And a secret service guy said: yeah, he can bring it in, he just has to get his bag searched. They let me through. And I have been walking up and down ever since. Not way down there near [where] the VIP area is. They do not like me down there.”
The army organisers, tasked with putting this extravaganza together with just a few months’ notice, must have been relieved by 10pm on Saturday. They had been asked to organise a parade, and they did so without a hitch.
The fireworks display, with the Lincoln Memorial backlit and splendid and the anticipated summer rainstorm staying away, meant that for those watching on television around the United States, the closing minutes of the event had the power of a prime-time recruitment drive. Trump swayed to the triumphant rendition of God Bless America at the end of the night and did his signature pointing at faces in the crowd.
But by then, many of the crowd had headed for home. By the end of it all, the president seemed preoccupied as he stood with the first lady behind bulletproof glass, the full glory of the army’s prowess fading with the last of the fireworks – and another birthday over.
