June 14 is Flag Day in the United States every year. It’s also been the birthday of Donald Trump for the last 80.*
But this year, the date was one for the books.
Saturday also marked 250 years since the 1775 formation of the Continental Army, which became the U.S. Army in 1784. The anniversary was commemorated in Washington, D.C. with a parade.
President Donald Trump had been looking for a reason to throw a military parade for a while. After being awed by the Bastille Day parade in France in 2017, which he watched during his first term alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said that the U.S. would “have to try to top it.”
The following year was the first time Trump tried to plan a military parade. Planned for Veterans Day of 2018, the event organizing ultimately fell apart when cost estimates skyrocketed to over $90 million.
Military parades are not common in the U.S., and Saturday's was unusual in that it was not related to a war; the country has had them before in celebration of military victories – such as the conclusions of both World Wars. The last one was 100 days after the end of the Gulf War in 1991 and cost $12 million, which is about $28 million today.
It’s possible culture is part of why the military parade is not a common sight in the U.S. While a patriotic people, American citizens are often opposed to militance and turned off by such opulent displays of power, which can call to mind unpleasant associations – like memories of war or the dictatorship of North Korea.
Hence spawned the “No Kings” protests.
Many people in the U.S. and abroad fear that Trump is trying to become something like a dictator or monarch himself. They are alarmed with his power grabs, his moves to forgo due process and overrule the long-established justice system, and the fact that he’s handed the reins of incredibly important governmental divisions to individuals unqualified for the roles but loyal to him.
“What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government,” wrote Nick Turse for The Intercept.
Last week, as citizens protested Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles, National Guard troops and Marines were deployed without the authority of the California Governor. This was at the same time as tanks were heading to Washington for the parade.
Personally, I wondered if another nation would seize the opportunity to attack on June 14 while the armed forces of the U.S. were occupied – some attacking their own people on the West Coast, others performing for Trump’s birthday party on the East Coast.
Trump's fear was that protesters would crash his parade. To dissuade them from doing so, he said that protesters in D.C. would be met with "very big force."
As it turned out, the big parade -- estimated beforehand to cost between $25 million and $45 million -- was a damp squib. It was poorly attended, and the protests around the country the same day received a lot of attention.
Maybe it was the nature of the thing -- in other places, and here at other times, military parades are for "ceremonial purposes, encouragement and show of discipline and to instill confidence in the country's military forces" (Wikipedia). But although the June 14, 2025 parade was touted as being a celebration of the Army, it seemed more like an ego-stroking for one man. One man who's actively tearing apart the country.
The nation is very divided at present. People angry with Trump are incensed for a number of reasons.
But many of those people are still patriots, and that's why so many American flags were waving at the "No Kings" event in Escanaba. It was "a celebration of flag and country." Several speakers spoke from the stage at the bandshell on a number of political topics.
You can still love where you live and hate the way it's run. Blind loyalty to a ruler is not how this country was meant to be -- America was settled in part by immigrants who were escaping the reach of overlords.
All of the photographs in this post were shot by myself at the No Kings rally at Ludington Park in Escanaba, Michigan, in the span of about ten minutes.
These people are not violent. They're not anarchists. Most of them aren't even radical -- they just want their country to be the best it can be.
*He turned 79, which means this is the 80th year that it’s been his birthday. During the first one, he was zero years old.
