Donald Trump threw a military parade in honor of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary on Saturday, June 14 (a date that happens to be the president’s birthday) to the tune of $25 to $45 million. But unfortunately for Trump, photos and videos from the big day show sparse attendance and a lack of organization from top to bottom.
50 Thirteen founder Doug Landry shared a series of tweets that documented many issues with the parade Saturday. Landry described the event as “legitimately the worst executed mass attendance event I’ve ever seen” before sharing photos of a sparsely populated Washington Mall, the single checkpoint to which approximately 15,000 people were sent, maps that failed to offer clear direction, dozens of empty checkpoints, and empty VIP bleachers.
Those scenes were replicated by HuffPost deputy editor Phil Lewis, who shared his own photos on BlueSky.
YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen slammed the event on the same platform.
“Donald Trump does NOT want you to share this footage of his pathetically tiny birthday parade crowd,” he captioned a video of attendees.
Trump shared a portion of his speech from the event on Truth Social, as well as an uncharacteristically brief summation of the day: “What a GREAT Parade. THANK YOU, ARMY!”
The parade prompted thousands of “No Kings” rallies and protests held on the same day across the United States.
