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 US Army turned 250 and President Donald Trump 79. The double birthday bash energised crowds of well-wishers and military families in the capital while others decried the militarisation of city streets — in Los Angeles, where a federalised National Guard and US Marines remained deployed against unrest, and in Washington for the parade.
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 US 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.”