Marching Toward Authoritarianism: Trump’s Obsession with Military Parades

In a disturbing revival of his old authoritarian daydreams, Donald Trump is once again pushing for a grand U.S. military parade—this time to celebrate his own birthday in June 2025. It’s a callback to a similar obsession he developed after witnessing the Bastille Day military display in France in 2017. That parade featured tanks, aircraft, and thousands of uniformed troops marching through Paris. But while French military parades commemorate the storming of the Bastille—an uprising of the people against monarchy—Trump took away something far different: the thrill of armed power under central command.

Now he wants that power on display in Washington, D.C., on his birthday.

And that should terrify us.

When Power Poses as Patriotism

Authoritarian regimes have long used military parades not only as demonstrations of strength but as spectacles of loyalty and obedience. Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party rallies at Nuremberg were carefully choreographed theatrical events that glorified nationalism and militarism. These events, documented in Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will (1935), helped cultivate a cult of personality around Hitler while showcasing Germany’s readiness for war and total submission to the Führer.

Joseph Stalin followed a similar path in the Soviet Union, famously using Red Square parades to present the USSR as an indomitable military state. The parades displayed weapons, nuclear missiles, and formations of troops, with Stalin watching from Lenin’s Mausoleum above the crowd like a demigod. These events weren't just patriotic—they were authoritarian rituals meant to merge the leader’s identity with the nation itself.

North Korea continues this legacy. Every year, the country hosts massive military spectacles on holidays and Kim family birthdays. These events are compulsory for citizens and choreographed down to the millisecond to evoke fear, obedience, and reverence for the regime. The leader is not a public servant—he is the state.

Now consider Trump’s proposal again.

The First Attempt: Tanks on the Mall

In 2018, Trump ordered the Pentagon to explore options for a military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. The cost estimate ballooned to over $90 million, and the idea was shelved following criticism from veterans, the press, and even some Republicans. Despite claims it would “honor the troops,” critics pointed out that real support for service members would look like better healthcare, stronger VA funding, and an end to endless wars—not a parade of tanks.

But Trump was undeterred. He staged a watered-down version of the parade on July 4, 2019, called “Salute to America.” Trump gave a speech from the Lincoln Memorial as armored vehicles stood ominously in the background. Critics across the country saw it as another step toward authoritarian spectacle.

Birthday Parades and Dictator Vibes

Now, in 2025, the proposal is back—but with an even more narcissistic twist. Trump reportedly wants the parade to occur on or around his own birthday. This is not just disturbing—it’s historically loaded.

Birthday parades have been a hallmark of dictatorships:

• Saddam Hussein used his birthday as a national holiday in Iraq, with air shows, parades, and broadcasts glorifying his leadership.
• Joseph Stalin’s 70th birthday in 1949 was commemorated with enormous military demonstrations and the unveiling of a cult of personality that reached a new peak.
• Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, had his birthday renamed the “Day of the Sun,” marked with mandatory national celebrations and parades.

This is the tradition Trump is attempting to enter: leader-as-deity, the state as a stage for personal glorification.

Why the Left Must Reject This

To leftists, this isn’t about abstract symbolism. It’s about real-world power, and who gets to wield it. A birthday military parade in honor of a man known for inciting an attempted coup on January 6th, 2021, is not just tasteless—it’s a propaganda threat. It signals a merging of personal ego with national identity, backed by the threat of state violence.

Meanwhile, the U.S. faces rising inequality, rent crises, climate disasters, racist policing, and a healthcare system in shambles. What would $90 million for a parade fix? Nothing—except Donald Trump’s ego.

Military parades serve as public affirmations of a nation’s values. What does it say about us if we allow one man’s authoritarian cosplay to be broadcast as patriotic celebration?

Resist the Spectacle. Reclaim the Streets.

We need parades for workers’ rights, rent strikes, climate justice, and Indigenous sovereignty. We need celebrations of liberation, not intimidation. Our power comes not from tanks and missile launchers, but from solidarity, resistance, and mutual aid.

Let Trump have his birthday—but not our streets, not our troops, and not our silence.

Suggested Readings & Sources:

• Fitzpatrick, S. (2000). Everyday Stalinism: Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. Oxford University Press.
• Service, R. (2004). Stalin: A Biography. Harvard University Press.
• Kang, D. C. (2015). North Korea: Beyond Charismatic Politics. Rowman & Littlefield.
• CNN (2018) – Trump’s Military Parade Could Cost $92 Million
• Washington Post (2019) – Salute to America Coverage

Don’t let the tanks roll in unnoticed. Fight back. Show up. Speak out.
The people are not props. The state is not a stage.