WASHINGTON — There were funnel cakes, stands of festival bling and American flags aplenty. There were mighty machines of war, brought out to dazzle and impress. And there was the spray of tear gas against demonstrators in Los Angeles and Atlanta, and rolling waves of anti-Trump resistance coast to coast.
In scenes of celebration, protest and trepidation Saturday, masses of Americans cheered for a rousing Army parade like none seen in Washington in generations. Masses more rallied across the country against a president derided by his critics as an authoritarian, would-be king.
On Saturday, the U.S. Army turned 250 and President Donald Trump 79. The double birthday bash energized crowds of well-wishers and military families in the capital while others decried the militarization of city streets — in Los Angeles, where a federalized National Guard and U.S. Marines remained deployed against unrest, and in Washington for the parade.
In these times, the fault lines of American life were evident.
“One nation under distress,” read a sign carried in a crowd of 1,000 protesters on the grounds of Florida’s old Capitol in Tallahassee. Forewarned of a heavy state response if the crowd caused any trouble, organizers implored the peaceful protesters to not so much as jaywalk.
Yet, in his Trump 2024 shirt, retired American Airlines pilot Larry Stallard happily lived out “one thing on my bucket list” from his perch on the parade route. Stallard, 82, came from Kansas City for the event. He declared Trump “one of the best presidents in my lifetime” and concluded, “It’s been a long day, but it’s worth it.”
Trump’s remarks, about eight minutes, were brief for him as he capped the showy parade he had longed for in his first term and, early in his second, finally got.
“There is no earthly force more powerful than the brave heart of the U.S. military or an Army Ranger paratrooper or Green Beret,” he told the crowd. From Bunker Hill to the mountains of Afghanistan, the president said, “the Army has forged a legacy of unmatched courage, untold sacrifice.”
Spirited “No Kings” protests unfolded in cities and towns across the American republic. But in Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz asked people to stay away from anti-Trump demonstrations after the assassination of state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, by a gunman still on the loose.
In Los Angeles, epicenter of days-long protests sparked by Trump’s crackdown on immigrants, police on horseback charged a previously calm crowd, firing tear gas and crowd control projectiles. “We weren’t doing anything but standing around chanting peaceful protest,” said Samantha Edgerton, a 37-year-old bartender.
Law enforcement officers in Atlanta deployed tear gas to divert several hundred nonviolent protesters heading toward Interstate 285 in the northern part of the city. In Culpeper, Virginia, one person was struck by an SUV that police say was intentionally accelerated into the crowd as protesters were leaving an event.
In Washington, more than 6,000 soldiers marched in period-by-period uniforms, dating back to the garb of the ragtag Continental Army and the rise of a nation that would become the world’s most potent military power. In the mix: tanks, parachute jumps and flyovers by more than 60 aircraft.
With evening thunderstorms in the forecast, the parade started well ahead of schedule. In the first 40 minutes, it sped through more than 200 years of Army history, from 1775 to 1991.
Vietnam-era helicopters, including the Huey, roared overhead, as did World War II-vintage aircraft. Sherman tanks, used extensively in that war’s European theater, rumbled in the procession along with modern machinery. The Army’s Golden Knights parachute team jumped early, releasing streaks of red smoke across the sky and making the crowd scream with excitement as they floated to the ground.
At the festival earlier, attendees sported apparel celebrating both the Army and Trump. Vendors moved through the crowd, selling Trump-themed merchandise, while others offered gear commemorating the Army’s milestone.
It was all too much for Wind Euler, 62, who flew from Arizona to join the protesters. “My father was a Marine in Iwo Jima, and he was a Republican,” Euler said. “I think he would be appalled by the fascist display this parade shows.”
In a camouflage jacket and Army baseball hat, Army veteran Aaron Bogner of Culpeper, Virginia, decried how he believes Trump is using the U.S. military to advance a personal agenda. “I think it’s shameful,” Bogner said. “It’s just an engineered birthday party. It’s an excuse to have tanks in your streets like North Korea.”
Above all, Bogner said, he came to protest the deployment of U.S. troops in Los Angeles after lawlessness broke out in pockets of the city along with peaceful demonstrations. “I’m struggling to understand when it became unpatriotic to protest,” he said.
In Atlanta, police yelled “unlawful assembly” and “you must disperse” into megaphones as they used tear gas to divert protesters off the road. The tear gas caused the crowd to disperse away from the interstate. Two police helicopters flew above as the crowd moved.
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, used bicycles to corral marchers. After the main “No Kings” march ended in Charlotte, a second, unpermitted march began, producing a police confrontation.
Officers formed a barricade with bicycles and yelled “move back” as protesters attempted to march through uptown Charlotte. In response, demonstrators chanted “let us walk” as police continued to shift them back. Protesters also shouted “peaceful protest” and “no more Nazis.”
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Associated Press writers Mike Stewart in Atlanta; Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; Jake Offenhartz in Los Angeles and Jacques Billeaud in Culpeper, Virginia, contributed.
