As President Donald Trump plans a military parade to showcase America’s military power and honor the Army’s 250th anniversary on Saturday, June 14, Americans are preparing for mass protests, according to NBC News.
An estimated 7,000 soldiers are expected to march on what is also Trump’s 79th birthday. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to line up along Constitution Avenue.
Reports indicate that organizers are staging protests across all 50 states and in Washington, D.C. A coalition of pro-democracy, labor, and liberal activists is leading the demonstrations to argue that Trump is using the military to promote himself.
“The goal here is to deprive Trump of what he wants in this moment, which is a story about him being the all-powerful political figure of our time, and instead create a contrast with normal people demonstrating that power in this country still resides with the people,” Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, told NBC News.
Levin is helping organize what participants nationwide are calling the “No Kings” demonstration. Early estimates suggest that there could be 1,800 rallies, which could draw millions of participants, said Levin.
Other Protests Happening in the Country Against the Military Parade
The Women’s March is another group arranging protests on the same day and time as Trump’s military parade. With a theme of “Kick Out the Clowns,” organizers expect up to 5,000 attendees to participate in Madison, Wisconsin.
“Nothing feels more absurd than the idea of this president having a massive military parade on his birthday,” Tamika Middleton, chief political and strategy officer of Women’s March, said. “It feels surreal for many of us.”
All of this come among increased protests nationwide over the Trump administration’s handling of undocumented immigrants. Trump mobilized National Guard troops and the Marines after a fallout last weekend with protestors in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement raids. In response, other protests popped up in cities such as Austin, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco this week.
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