President Donald Trump is overseeing a lavish military parade tomorrow in Washington, D.C., ostensibly to celebrate Flag Day and the Army's 250th birthday. But the event comes amid a Trump-ordered National Guard deployment in Los Angeles, and critics see something dark at play in the celebration.

Reactions to the parade are divided between those who see it as a "stirring moment of patriotism" and those calling it an "alarming echo of authoritarianism," said USA Today. The procession will include "28 Abrams tanks thundering up Constitution Avenue" and "50 military helicopters thumping overhead." All of this happens, incidentally, on Trump's 79th birthday. 

'Display of jingoism'
Trump's parade "perfectly distills his presidency," Zeeshan Aleem said at MSNBC. The procession of military equipment is a "wasteful infrastructure-destroying display of jingoism" that's "far closer to a Russian military parade than a Bastille Day celebration." The estimated $45 million cost of the parade comes as the president and his DOGE workers "take a chainsaw to agencies that deliver Social Security, tax revenue and foreign aid." 

The president is taking the Army's birthday celebration and "turning it into a party for himself," David Rothkopf said at The Daily Beast. In democracies, the military is an "instrument of national defense, serving the people." In authoritarian countries, the armed forces are a "weapon the government wields against its own citizens." The question this week, amid military deployments in Los Angeles, is whether America has "crossed a dangerous line in that regard."

Celebrating the Army's achievements?
Army veterans are "divided" over the parade, said The Associated Press. Some vets view the event as "chest-pounding commonly seen in North Korea," while others see it as a "once-in-a-lifetime accounting of the Army's achievements." It appears most GOP members of Congress will not attend, said Politico. Some are openly skeptical, while others say they are busy. 

There will be counterprotests across the country. The "No Kings Day" events organized by more than 100 "pro-democracy groups" are expected to be the "largest single-day anti-President Trump rally since the start of his second administration," said Axios. Any protests at the Army parade, said Trump, will face "very heavy force."

The arrival of summer always brings an influx of freshly minted college graduates to the job market. This year is different, though. Artificial intelligence is unsettling the career paths of young job seekers looking for their first professional work.

AI could "upend entry-level work" for new college grads by automating jobs "previously performed by low-level employees" like legal assistants or early career computer programmers, said ABC News. The "career ladder is being broken," said University of Pennsylvania Professor Lynn Wu. 

It's already a rough time for young professionals. The jobless rate for recent grads is 5.8%, the highest since 2021.

How bad is it?
Not good, and it's not just the unemployment rate but also the "underemployment" rate — 41.2% of new grads are working jobs that don't require their degrees, said NBC News. And internship postings are down 11% from last year. 

The job market for young professionals is "pretty frozen," said Allison Shrivastava, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab. Businesses and workers are "both kind of deer in headlights, not sure what to do."

And it may get worse. AI could "wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs" in the next few years, said Axios. 

What happened to 'learn to code'?
Until recently, that was the conventional advice to young people wanting to ensure their long-term viability in the marketplace. But now, tech companies are "hiring about half the software developers they used to" because AI is "handling basic software development tasks," said USA Today. Microsoft, which just underwent a round of layoffs, says 30% of its code is written by artificial intelligence.

Is there reason for optimism?
Optimists say the job market will be reshaped but not destroyed, according to CNBC. When an industrial revolution comes along, there are "more jobs created than lost," said Carol Stubbings, an executive with PwC professional services firm. The types of jobs and skills needed to do them will change, however, which means workers "need to be prepared to take them."

That may not help recent grads. The problem for companies is that replacing entry-level workers with AI could lead them to "underinvest in job training, mentorship and other programs" that help new professionals, said Kevin Roose at The New York Times. Businesses will be hurt when the workers they do hire are "unprepared for more senior roles later on."