President Donald Trump’s decision to go forward with his military parade landed with thud.
While the Trump administration said 250,000 people watched the parade, the “No Kings” protests across the country reportedly had four million people attend, the largest mass demonstrations in the nation’s history.
The event Saturday was billed as a way to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Army, though inevitably, people brought up how it came the same day as the president’s 79th birthday. Television broadcasts and The Independent flagged how few people attended the event.
The parade came as Israel and Iran escalated military strikes against each other after Israel conducted its strikes beginning on Thursday.
The next day, Trump announced that he would dispatch ICE to Democratic-run cities in blue states after he had already attempted to send in the National Guard and Marines without consent of the governor.
But even outside the parade, much of the city remained relatively muted.
Protesters walked in between the lines of attendees yelling “Save America, F*** Trump” as they filed and some heckled and yelled shame to them as they entered the premises for the military parade.
Others read from the Constitution or played Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of.”
But even some of the people who attended the event did not necessarily approve of the president.
Cassie Hafner came to Washington because her sister lives in the city and she wanted to bring her children.
“My son is a big military buff, and I know he wanted to see a lot of the vehicles,” she told The Independent. “We were most excited to see the tanks and the airplanes, and he got to sit in the helicopters and stuff, and super fun.”
Hafner said she liked that the event was not an “explicitly MAGA event,” and she said she is not a fan of Trump a few months into his presidency.
“I think it’s, he’s very reactionary,” she said. “And he’s not thinking through the long term consequences of some of the decisions that he’s making.”
In the same token, Terry Modglin said he served in the Army. Specifically, he served a tour of duty in Vietnam.
“So this is a singular day I won’t be around for the next one,” he told The Independent. “I think we it’s important that we, too understand what our soldiers do for us, for this country.”
Modglin said that he did not come because of Trump, but rather to pay tribute to U.S. service members.
“My thoughts are independent of the President,” he said. “I’m here to honor our service to our soldiers.”
In fact, Modglin said that he was “not a fan of the president.”
“A number of the things that he’s done that I think are a little too, a little over the top,” he said.
Of course, plenty of people–arguably a majority of the people–attending the parade counted themselves as fans. As people walked into the area where the parade took place, one busker with a guitar sang Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” which has become something of an unofficial song of the Trump movement, and “YMCA,” by the Village People, which Trump plays regularly at his rallies.
As people waited in line, plenty of street vendors hawked “Make America Great Again” hats and or images of Trump saying “Daddy’s Home.” Others wore hats saying “Trump was right about everything” or they wore “Dark MAGA” hats similar to the ones Elon Musk donned when he was in Trump’s better graces.
“A lot more organized, a lot more together to fight the resistance, the anti-American people,” said a man named John who did not want to use his last name. “He spent four years getting together organized, and now is doing it.”
John said he appreciated “all the way from immigration from economics from everything” in terms of Trump’s policies.
Bryan Benaiges, who was pushing a stroller with his baby, wore a Trump hat, but said he did not like how the event became politicized.
“I think it’s primarily in support of the military and the country and its army, historic feat that our army survived 250 years,” he told The Independent. “A lot of people are just curious and want to see it or want to support our country or our service members.”
Still, Benaiges said he supports Trump.
But there is evidence that Trump is losing some popular support. An NBC News Decision Desk poll showed that 55 percent of all adults disapproved of Trump. A YouGov poll right before the parade showed that people were about evenly split on whether they approved or disapproved of the military parade.
All of this matters as Trump will begin a major push to ram through his “One Big, Beautiful Bill” legislation through the Senate. But if he continues to shed support, that will make his job much harder.
