Trump vows 'very big force' against parade protesters

Bradley Fighting Vehicle unloaded in Washington, D.C., for President Donald Trump's Army parade

'It's a shocking waste of money at a time they are closing Social Security offices "to save money"'

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

What happened

President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that "any protesters" during Saturday's "amazing" military parade in Washington, D.C., "will be met with very big force." The parade, officially to celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary but coinciding with Trump's 79th birthday, will cost an estimated $45 million, shut down much of the capital for four days and halt takeoffs and landings at Reagan National Airport "for several hours Saturday," disrupting "more than 100 flights and thousands of passengers," The Washington Post said. Scores of tanks and other military vehicles will accompany thousands of soldiers marching alongside the National Mall.

Who said what

"For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force" and "very heavy force," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. His "dark warning," The New York Times said, "made no distinction between peaceful demonstrations and violent confrontations."

"We're preparing for an enormous turnout," Matt McCool of the Secret Service's Washington field office said Tuesday, with 18.5 miles of "anti-scale fencing" erected, "multiple drones" in the air and 175 magnetometers to check "hundreds of thousands" of parade attendees. But at least "one group of otherwise devoted Trump allies largely won't be there to celebrate: congressional Republicans," Politico said.

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"I wouldn't have done" the parade, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday. Costs aside, "we were always different than, you know, the images you saw in the Soviet Union and North Korea. We were proud not to be that." Trump's threat to protesters only adds to "the trappings of authoritarianism" the parade already carried, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) told Politico. "Like his deployment of the military in LA, it's a shocking waste of money at a time they are closing Social Security offices 'to save money.'" Kori Schake, a Pentagon official in the George W. Bush administration, told the Times that "the unfortunate coincidence of the parade and federalizing the California National Guard will feel ominous."

What next?

The Secret Service said nine permits had been issued for protests Saturday, but the organizers of a nationwide "No Kings" protest have opted to hold demonstrations everywhere but D.C. to draw attention away from what they called Trump's "self-aggrandizing" birthday parade.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.