On June 14, President Donald Trump marked his 79th birthday by attending the U.S. Army’s 250th Anniversary Grand Military Parade and Celebration, held in Arlington and Washington, D.C. The event, which featured a spectacular display of military strength, included over 6,600 soldiers, 150 military vehicles, and more than 50 aircraft, according to CBS News.
During the celebration, Trump delivered a speech praising the armed forces, calling the U.S. Army the “greatest, fiercest, and bravest fighting force,” CNN reported.
In the aftermath of the parade, confusion and controversy erupted online when viral posts began circulating across X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. The claims suggested that President Joe Biden’s administration had originally approved the massive military parade before leaving office, implying the event was not Trump’s doing.
One viral post read: “I need all the haters to explain how ‘Trump’s Parade,’ designed to satisfy his ‘weak, fragile ego,’ was already in the works BEFORE election day.” According to a report by fact-checking outlet Snopes, this claim is only partially true.
The U.S. Army Military District of Washington did file a permit application during Biden’s term, in June 2024, but that request was for a modest festival celebrating the Army’s 250th anniversary, not a parade. The permit outlined an event capped at 300 participants, including military personnel and civilians.
The larger parade, complete with full military pageantry, was planned and permitted under Trump’s administration. That application was submitted on March 30, 2025, months after Trump’s return to office.
Mike Litterst, spokesperson for the National Mall and Memorial Parks (under the National Park Service), clarified in an email to Snopes: “There were two separate permitted events celebrating the Army’s 250th birthday on the National Mall that took place on Saturday, June 14, 2025. The first was a festival… the second was the military parade.”
The grand celebration, which ran along Constitution Avenue from the Lincoln Memorial to 15th Street NW near the White House, began half an hour earlier than scheduled at 6:00 p.m. It marked the first large-scale military parade in Washington, D.C. since 1991, when the city honored the end of the Gulf War.
Army officials estimated the combined cost of the festival and parade to fall between $25 million and $45 million, although the full figure was not disclosed prior to the parade being added to the agenda. While the parade drew patriotic crowds and celebratory headlines, the political crossfire over its origins revealed how even national milestones can quickly become battlegrounds for partisan debate.