On Saturday, tanks will roll through the streets of Washington D.C. as the Army stages a parade. Ostensibly, the parade is to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Army’s creation in 1775. But the parade was not the Army’s idea; it planned a more modest celebration on the National Mall. There would have been a concert featuring Army musicians, cannons would have been fired to salute the anniversary. Organizers originally planned on having 120 chairs set up for people who wanted to enjoy the music.
But Saturday is also Donald Trump’s 79th birthday, and the president has long dreamed of presiding over a massive military parade in the nation’s capital. So more than two dozen 60-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks will rumble through the streets of D.C., along with Paladin self-propelled howitzers, while 50 military helicopters fly overhead.
“Thousands of troops, many in period costume from past wars, will participate, and several musical acts will perform,” theWashington Post reports.
“We have the greatest missiles in the world,” Trump said during an interview on Meet the Press last month. “We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest Army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we’re going to celebrate it.”
The parade on Saturday is less about celebrating the Army’s anniversary than it is about the White House celebrating Trump, who avoided military service when he was draft age, and his desire to indulge in strongman imagery.
Trump pushed for this kind of a parade during his first term in office, but Pentagon officials resisted. Trump’s first Secretary of Defense Jim Mathis told him it wasn’t the sort of thing American presidents do, because it would “harken back to Soviet Union-like displays of authoritarian power.” The second Trump administration prioritizes personal loyalty to Trump over competence, so there is no one left at the Pentagon to push the president to resist his militaristic urges.
The last time there was a large parade of troops and military equipment on the streets of Washington D.C. was in 1991, when President George H.W. Bush staged a parade to mark the end of the First Gulf War.
As Trump watches the troops march by on Saturday, people in more than 1,800 cities around the country will be holding their own marches and rallies to protest his administration, as part of a nationwide event called “No Kings Day.”
“From city blocks to small towns, from courthouse steps to community parks, we’re taking action to reject authoritarianism — and show the world what democracy really looks like,” national organizers said in a news release.
In Iowa, 32 cities (33, if you count the Quad Cities rally on the Illinois side in Rock Island) will hold events on Saturday. Stretching from the Mississippi (Clinton Davenport, Dubuque, Keokuk, Muscatine) to the Missouri (Council Bluffs), participating communities range in size from the state’s largest city, Des Moines, to smaller locales, like Osage and Vinton.
• Algona: N Hall St, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
• Atlantic: City Park (Between 6th and Poplar along Hwy 6), 11 a.m.-noon
• Cedar Rapids: 8th Avenue Southeast & 2nd Street SE, 10 a.m.-noon
• Charles City: Charles City Arts Center, 301 N Jackson St, 6-7 p.m.
• Clinton: 612 N 2nd St, 2-4 p.m.
• Council Bluffs – Omaha: Tom Hanafan River’s Edge Park (200 Avenue B), 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Cresco: Beadle Park (101 2nd Ave SW), 1-2 p.m.
• Creston: Rep. Zach Nunn’s office (208 W Taylor St), 10-11 a.m.
• Davenport: MLK Interpretive Center (501 N Brady St), noon-2 p.m.
• Decorah: Mary Christopher Park, 1-2:30 p.m.
• Des Moines: Location will be provided after you sign up, noon-2 p.m.
• Dubuque: Washington Park (700 Locust St), noon – 12:30 p.m.
• Indianola: Moats Park (E Iowa Ave & N Jefferson Way), 10-11 a.m.
• Iowa City: 21 N Clinton St, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Keokuk: Lee County Courthouse (25 N 7th St), 1:15 – 3 p.m.
• Madrid: S Union St, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Manchester: Location will be provided after you sign up, 10 a.m.-noon
• Maquoketa: N Niagara St & W Quarry St, 10-11 a.m.
• Mason City: Central Park (W State St), noon-2:30 p.m.
• Mount Vernon: 100 1st Street East, 11 a.m.-noon
• Muscatine: Intersection of Park Ave & Colorado St, 103 Colorado St, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
• Osage: N 8th St & Main St, 9:30-10:30 a.m.
• Oskaloosa: North Market St & West Trueblood Ave (on the bridge), 12:30-1:30 p.m.
• Perry: Big Bicycle (1st Ave & Willis Ave), noon-1 p.m.
• Rock Island, Illinois: Schwiebert Riverfront Park (101 17th St), 1-3 p.m.
• Slater: Main St & Linn St, noon-2 p.m.
• Spirit Lake: Dickinson County Courthouse (1802 Hill Ave), noon-1 p.m.
• Storm Lake: Lake Ave N & E Lakeshore Dr, 1-3:30 p.m.
• Vinton: Celebration Park (105 W 2nd St), 1-3:30 p.m.
• Waterloo: Lincoln Park (401 E 4th St), 1–4 p.m.
• Washington: Madison Park (S 2nd Ave), 1-2 p.m.
• Waverly: Kohlmann Park (South Corner on Bremer Ave and 1st St NW), 2-3 p.m.
• West Burlington: Westland Mall (550 S Gear Ave), noon-1 p.m.
In addition to the rallies and marches, mutual aid groups in three cities are marking No Kings Day by holding food drives to help food-insecure Iowans.
• Tipton: Freedom Rock (400 Cedar St), 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
• West Branch: Jack and Jill Grocery Store (115 E Main St), noon-3 p.m.
• West Liberty: Jeff’s Supermarket Parking Lot (200 E Third St), 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Local organizers in Iowa City point out that June 14 is also Flag Day, and are asking people to bring flags. They also suggest people wear a “costume to represent what [Trump] is trying to take away” and make “signs to express exactly how you feel.” And an artist from Iowa City has provided help for anyone stuck for sign-making inspiration.
Dan Perkins, creator of the award-winning This Modern World — featured in every issue of Little Village (as well as a lot of other places) — created a No Kings Day illustration.
“[M]y gift. print it, poster it, do what you want,” Perkins wrote on BlueSky when he first posted the image last week. He subsequently made a few slight revisions, but both versions of the image are still free to use and can be downloaded from his Bluesky feed.
