This Saturday, June 14 — on President Donald Trump's 79th birthday — his widely publicized military parade will be held in Washington, DC. And opposition to the event will be expressed with the "No Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance" protests taking place in cities all over the United States.
No Kings organizers are arguing that the event isn't really honoring the U.S. military, but rather, is pure self-aggrandizement on Trump's part.
As aggressively as Trump is promoting the June 14 event, however, most members of Congress — according to The Independent — won't be there.
The Independent's Mike Bedigan reports, "Sadly for the president, the majority of his Republican friends in Congress will not be at the party. Only seven out of 50 GOP lawmakers, when asked by Politico, said they would be in attendance, with others choosing to leave Washington, D.C., and return home for the weekend…. The Independent understands that senior military leaders and at least 15 Cabinet members, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, are due to attend."
Bedigan adds, "However, other top military officials in Congress, have reportedly chosen a different extravagant military gathering to attend: the 2025 International Paris Air Show."
GOP lawmakers who confirmed their attendance, according to Bedigan, include Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York State, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
However, Bedigan notes that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) told Politico, "If it costs money, I won't go."
Meanwhile, in an opinion column published on June 12, MSNBC's Steve Benen stresses that GOP lawmakers are awkwardly trying to defend the parade.
One of them is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who has flip-flopped on such an event.
"Seven years after Graham said such displays would likely be 'a sign of weakness,'" Benen observes, "the South Carolinian told NBC News this week that he’s now 'OK' with the parade. And while that trajectory was probably predictable given Graham’s broader political evolution, as HuffPost noted, many of his colleagues were more reluctant to talk about the event…. What’s more, GOP senators aren’t just loath to answer questions about the military parade, they’re also disinclined to show up for the festivities."
Benen continues, "Politico reported that most congressional Republicans won’t be in attendance when tanks start rolling down Constitution Avenue, and 'those begging off include members of the Republican leadership in both chambers.' As for intraparty criticism, Graham has apparently changed his mind, but other Senate Republicans have subtly made clear that they’re not fully on board with Trump's vision."
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), known for being a hardcore budget hawk, told NBC News, "I wouldn’t have done it. I'm not sure what the actual expense of it is, but I’m not really, you know, we were always different than, you know, the images you saw in the Soviet Union and North Korea. We were proud not to be that."
Read The Independent's full article at this link and Steve Benen's MSNBC column here.