Officially, the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary military parade through Washington was meant to be a straightforward celebration of the service’s history.
But as it played out on live TV Saturday, history was overwhelmed by the stormy present.
The first complication was the fact that the Army shared a birthday with President Trump, making the military procession seem gift-wrapped for a leader who for years has had one on his wish list. To some, the spectacle smacked of the gaudy self-celebrations thrown by strongmen; to others, it was a symbol of resurgent American strength.
Maybe at another time, the parade could have been the mundane, even dull bit of civic history that on the surface it was. But once conscripted into Mr. Trump’s war of imagery, a tank cannot be just a tank.
The event also came at the end of a tumultuous week of shocking TV images. It came after the National Guard and Marines were deployed to Los Angeles to quell protests, over the objections of local leaders. It came after Senator Alex Padilla of California was forced to the ground and handcuffed after he tried to ask a question of Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, at a news conference. It came after Mr. Trump gave a political-rally-like speech to cheering troops at Fort Bragg. On top of this were volleys of missiles between Israel and Iran and, on Saturday morning, the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and the attempted murder of another.
The result, as it rolled across our screens, was anything but an uncomplicated celebration. It was a split-screen presentation for a split country, in a world that seemed to be riven apart.
The major broadcast networks did not carry the parade. CNN and MSNBC covered it on and off, along with the Middle East and Minnesota news, as well as the “No Kings” protests across the country that accused Mr. Trump of antidemocratic overreach.
The contrasts were striking. Click — robot dogs and drones. Click — a sea of handmade signs. Click — aerial stunts by the Golden Knights parachute team. Click — aerial shots of mounted officers advancing on crowds. Click — historically costumed fife-and-drum corps. Click — present-day Marines with riot shields. In one tense segment, MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff was in mid-interview with a demonstrator when agents used flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowd he was in.
The conservative-leaning Fox News and Newsmax gave the parade their full airtime and allegiance. The play-by-play coverage on Fox, by the hosts Emily Compagno and Lawrence Jones, was friendly and effusive; Mr. Jones praised the “great speech by the commander in chief.”
If the Army’s parade program avoided political jabs, Fox’s commentators and guests were glad to supply them. The secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, went on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” the show he used to host, to say, “The haters can hate. Let ’em. We don’t care.” The contributor Marc Thiessen said that “whoever compared this to a North Korean military parade ought to be embarrassed.”
True or not of the parade, the Fox production certainly had the ring of state media.
If Mr. Trump’s parade did not have the ICBM displays of a North Korean or Soviet spectacle, neither was it like the French Bastille Day parade, with officials watching from a modest dais. The production — particularly the staging for the president and his coterie of viewers — was brassily, distinctively Trumpy, a display of dominance with a side of commerce and branding.
Mr. Trump’s reviewing stand was flanked by two tanks and two giant video screens — both pairs, in Mr. Trump’s politics, a form of weaponry. The stage gleamed with the gold tones that he has favored for his convention stages, for Mar-a-Lago and for his Oval Office. The color scheme may have been a coincidence — black and gold are the official Army colors — but if so, another one that happened to match Mr. Trump’s tastes.
At times, the announcer interrupted the narration to thank corporate sponsors, including Coinbase, Oracle and the UFC, their names flashing in huge letters on the screens. War may be hell, but military parades, in this media era, are promotional opportunities. (On Newsmax, the parachutist display aired side-by-side with an ad for Trump watches.)
It all made for surreal viewing. The parade organizers talked unity, and reports suggested the mood among the audience on the ground was low-key, even subdued. But the vibes coming from the TV — as parade coverage smashed up against images of protest, war, murder — were anything but.
Parades, after all, are symbolic texts; they have meanings and messages. Military parades are shows of pride, but they are also, by definition, shows of force. After last week’s deployments and clashes, the sight of tanks rolling through an American city might make you wonder: A show of force to whom?
This was part of the argument Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, made on Tuesday in a nationally televised speech accusing Mr. Trump of authoritarian behavior, including “forcing” the Army “to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday.” For his part, Mr. Trump warned that any protesters in Washington would be met with “very big force.”
The two leaders were speaking to separate halves of the national split-screen, each group agitated by a different set of disturbing images. Maybe the day’s biggest surprise, then, was that Mr. Trump ended the parade with a short, tame speech that stuck to a script of praising the Army and soldiers, using only the occasional Trumpism. (“They fight, fight, fight and they win, win, win.”) It was up to the closing act — Lee Greenwood, singing the frequent Trump rally anthem, “God Bless the U.S.A.” — to redirect the spotlight to him: “Happy birthday, Mr. President!”
If you were watching Fox, you saw the night conclude with fireworks. Then it was back to the news, where the pyrotechnics showed no sign of ending.
James Poniewozik is the chief TV critic for The Times. He writes reviews and essays with an emphasis on television as it reflects a changing culture and politics.
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