WASHINGTON − Donald Trump loves a parade.

Also palace-in-the-sky planes, gold decor in the Oval Office, the adulation of huge rallies, the company of kings (British, Saudi), and the general aura that surrounds power, wealth and royalty.

The president’s determination to stage a procession of America’s troops and its military hardware, with 28 Abrams tanks thundering up Constitution Avenue in the nation’s capital and 50 military helicopters thumping overhead, reflects his vision of his role and the nation he leads.
Asserting sweeping and sometimes unprecedented powers for the presidency, he is commanding a go-it-alone United States, ready and willing to flex its muscle in the world.

The last big national event, Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, was a demonstration of tradition and shared powers: The incoming president stood on the Capitol steps, the chief justice gave the oath, members of Congress and former presidents witnessed the peaceful transition of authority.
Five months later, the celebration on June 14 marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army will put Trump alone front and center.

Also: The parade just happens to be taking place on his 79th birthday.
Trump is the happy beneficiary of the calendar. He is poised to be president not only during the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding but also the FIFA World Cup in 2026 (co-hosted with Canada and Mexico) and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

The confluence of events is no coincidence, he suggests. “I have everything,” he boasted at a Memorial Day event at Arlington Cemetery. “Amazing the way things work out. God did that.”
The good fortune of Trump’s 2020 defeat

Whether or not it was a case of divine intervention, Trump’s electoral defeat in 2020 has, with the benefit of hindsight, turned out to be serendipitous for him.
The four-year interregnum not only put him in a position to preside during historic and high-profile celebrations, but it also gave him a Democratic predecessor as a whipping boy when things go wrong. It also provided the opportunity for him to solidify control of the Republican Party and for supporters to create ambitious blueprints like Project 2025 to tap when he landed a second term.

It even opened the door for the parade he had set his heart on when he watched French tanks roll down the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Bastille Day in 2017. “One of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen,” he marveled, telling French President Emmanuel Macron he wanted to “top” it.