Red, White, & Blue Authoritarianism
By Hanah Stiverson
As tanks have begun arriving en masse in Washington D.C. President Trump’s plans for a military parade are finally coming to fruition. Ostensibly in celebration of the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday — but also falling on Trump’s 79th birthday — the event is estimated to cost $45 million with a likely $16 million in repair alone. When Trump proposed this outrageously expensive display of ego in his first term it was opposed by DOD leadership, including by then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis, according to his top aide. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, is the perfect sycophant, and has greenlit Trump’s plans for this weekend’s display down Constitutional Ave., a fittingly ironic location given the constitutional crises we are now facing.
Many have described this coming parade as an example of the Trump regime’s growing authoritarianism. Some however, like Kori Schake, writing for the Atlantic, have argued that not every action of Trump’s should be viewed so harshly, and that his inclination for showmanship could be taken as a celebration of patriotism. Showmanship in a head of state isn’t inherently problematic, nor are patriotic displays, but to frame Trump’s actions as expressions of patriotism misses critical details of both his administration’s goals and the history of authoritarian regimes. Criticism of this parade does not necessarily stem from a disgust for any displays of military power. The United States has had plenty of them in the past, after all. But context matters. We cannot divorce this event from Trump’s ongoing consolidation of executive power and his attacks on the rule of law and democratic institutions.
Trump certainly loves grandiose displays of wealth and power, and nothing says ostentatious like using the United States Army’s birthday to celebrate one’s own. So, the question is, why does this military parade evoke concern that goes beyond critiques of its expense and gaudy scale? There are two contextual elements that matter here. The first is the unrelenting and unlawful Federal overreach, including Trump’s recent misuse of military forces against protestors and immigrant populations. The second is how military spectacles have been used by past authoritarian regimes, and what these displays portend for future military actions. Nearly every week of President Trump’s second term brings a new account of how basic democratic norms are being trampled and fresh horror stories of enforced disappearances to Guantanamo and a prison reputed for torture and abuse.
Just last week, against the wishes of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Trump deployed four thousand National Guard troops and 700 Marines, in response to the largely peaceful protests in Los Angeles. In response to Gov. Newsom’s rejection of this overreach of executive power, Trump stated that he would support the arrest of the Governor, a move Newsom himself labeled authoritarian. Since then, Gov. Newsom has filed an emergency motion to block the militarization of his city. According to Bryn MacDonnell, a special assistant to the Secretary of Defense, the current estimated cost of deploying these forces is $134 million. And this is not even considering the human cost of forced disappearances, the families torn apart, or the ramifications for the continued dissolution of our First Amendment rights. The rise of an authoritarian state is expensive to say the least. But what does this have to do with the parade this coming Saturday? Everything.
Trump is a wannabe dictator of the basest order. He has made no qualms about this fact. He readily buddies up to global authoritarian and autocratic leaders, has largely rejected democratic processes when they do not benefit his goals as well as the separation of state powers, and has for years flirted with using military force against American citizens, a near perfect encapsulation of budding authoritarianism. A standard trait of authoritarian leaders is an obsession with strength. For Trump it is paramount that he be viewed as a powerful leader. According to former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper President Trump was enraged at the George Floyd protests, claiming they made the U.S. look weak, and asked if the military could just simply shoot protestors in the legs. The only difference between then and now are the lack of guardrails in place to stop those inclinations from becoming reality.
We only have to look at examples of authoritarian regimes that arose not with a military coup, but through legal processes to understand that the fall of democracy does not — at first — look obvious. Historic examples like the dissolution of the Weimar Republic or the rise of Mussolini’s Partito Nazionale Fascista, tend to follow predictable steps; 1. Creation of a movement, 2. Implementation in a political system, 3. Seizure of power, 4. Exercise and display of power, 5. Full implementation and duration stage. The June 14th parade will be a spectacle of military strength, one not designed to honor Army members, as it should, but to showcase the authoritarian designs of the current President. The deployment of forces in L.A. and the constant false propaganda about our border are working to manufacture a crisis and escalate an already dangerous misuse of a military sworn to uphold the constitution. The parade is meant to drum up support for this potential escalation—to bolster the strongman persona Trump has worked so hard to cultivate. We must be on the lookout for what will likely come next.
Call out illegal orders, protect the right to dissent, and do not give into apathy or fear. Democracy thrives in civic participation, just as authoritarianism fails when we refuse to look away. We need to be very clear about what this parade means for our nation and not mistake it for patriotism simply because it’s decked out in red, white, and blue.
