Trump’s Military Parade Marred by Allegations of Self-Interest

WASHINGTON — The estimated $40 million military parade that President Donald Trump wanted in downtown Washington, D.C., Saturday is over but not the controversy concerning what his critics say are conflicts of interest.

Even some of his fellow Republicans are questioning whether the president was promoting the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army or himself. The parade also coincided with Trump’s 79th birthday.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that he “never liked the idea of the parade.”

“We’re $2 trillion in the hole and just an additional cost like this, I’m not for it,” he said.

Seated near the president behind the White House were some of the corporate executives who have done business with him or contributed to his campaign.

One of the event’s sponsors was Coinbase, a cryptocurrency firm that donated to Trump’s inauguration.

A day before the parade, Trump disclosed $57.7 million in income from cryptocurrency token sales from a firm he and his sons co-founded, according to an Office of Government Ethics filing.

An announcer interrupted the scripted narration during the parade to thank corporate sponsors. In addition to Coinbase, he mentioned database company Oracle and mixed martial arts promotion company Ultimate Fighting Championship. About the same time, the names of the companies flashed in big letters on screens alongside the reviewing stand.

On Newsmax, a parachutist display was shown next to an ad for Trump watches.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Trump had used the Army for “a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., wrote on X, “If it was really about celebrating military families, we could put $30 million toward helping them offset the cost of their child care, food assistance and tuition. But it isn’t. Trump is throwing himself a $30 million birthday parade just to stroke his own ego.”

Corporate backing for the parade made some government watchdogs raise questions about a conflict with federal law 2635.702, which is titled “Use of public office for private gain.”

The law says that government employees “may not use their public office for their own private gain; for the endorsement of any product, service, or enterprise … or for the private gain of friends, relatives, or persons with whom the employee is affiliated in a nongovernmental capacity, including … persons with whom the employee has or seeks employment or business relations.”

Delaney Marsco, ethics director for the watchdog advocacy group Campaign Legal Center, said the president did not break any laws but he appears to have created an image of impropriety.

“There’s definitely a problem with using a military parade to line your own pockets but it’s not necessarily legally problematic,” Marsco told The Well News.

She added, “Past presidents wouldn’t really think about doing something like this.”

The same kinds of concerns were raised during “No Kings” protests nationwide. Most of them consisted of peaceful marches in major cities.

Only sporadic protests were reported in Washington, D.C. None of the protesters were able to get close to Trump’s reviewing stand because of 18 miles of temporary fencing installed around the site of the military parade.

There is no definitive official count of how many people attended the parade.  The permit granted by the National Park Services allowed for up to 200,000 to attend the parade and 50,000 for the related. festival.

“I support the U.S. Army,” Devin Costlow, a dispatcher from Chandler, Texas, told The Well News.

Alex Handy, who described himself as a member of the military, said he was there “just to witness it. I don’t support Donald Trump.”

John Beckmann, a Washington, D.C., retiree, was at the parade with his family because it is “a good thing to support the 250th Army birthday,” he said.

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