Tanks, troops and warplanes Inside Trump's 'dictator chic' military parade

It will be a parade fit for a king - which is precisely why critics worry what message it will send the rest of the world about the future of democracy in the US.

- David Smith

Today there will be tanks on the streets of the nation's capital as Washington hosts a celebration of the US army's 250th anniversary, which happens to coincide with Donald Trump's 79th birthday.

While the army has said it has no plans to recognise Trump's birthday, the president will play a high-profile role in a made-for-TV extravaganza that is said to feature rocket launchers and missiles.

The show of military might comes just a week after Trump activated thousands of national guard troops and marines to quell protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles. Opponents draw a direct line from that crackdown to today's authoritarian display of dominance.

"He's adopted not only the signifiers of dictator chic but the actual articles of its faith," said Rick Wilson, a political strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group. "North Korea: military parades. China: military parades. Russia: military parades.

"These aren't parades to celebrate a victory and it's certainly not to celebrate the United States army's birthday. This is a parade to aggrandise Donald Trump's ego. No one who knows either Trump or his pattern of behaviour would think for a minute this is anything else."

The army's 250th anniversary was originally conceived as a modest affair: a year ago it filed a permit request for an event on the National Mall featuring 300 people, a concert by the army band and the firing of four cannon. Trump's election, however, led to a radical change of plan.

About 6,700 troops, 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft will be in Washington for a grand celebration. There will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery this morning before a fitness competition and an army birthday festival on the National Mall, including equipment displays and military demonstrations.