Mother Jones illustration; Unsplash
On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the United States Army. In 1916 on that same date, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation declaring the day Flag Day, which Congress made an official holiday in 1949. On June 14, 1946, Fred and Mary Anne Trump welcomed the birth of their second son Donald at Jamaica Medical Center in New York. And, on June 14, 2025, President Donald Trump has planned an extravagant and hugely expensive military parade down Constitution Ave. in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Army, and coincidentally, his 79th.
But also, on June 14, 2025, approximately 2,000 demonstrations in all fifty states—and some other countries—organized under the theme of “No Kings,” have been organized to protest Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rule. The protests were planned for months, but have gained further urgency over the last week, as the administration deployed the military to Los Angeles to quash generally peaceful protests against aggressive ICE immigration raids.
We will spend the day covering these protests as well as the parade this evening. As our Editor in Chief Clara Jeffery noted:
June 14, 10:11 a.m. ET: Some advice for protesters.
June 13, 1:30 p.m. ET: Dozens of current and former national politicians have taken to X (whose boss still can’t get back in Trump’s graces) to promote Saturday’s nationwide protests.
Others include former Labor Secretary Robert Reich:
June 13, 7:30 a.m. ET: Asked whether Trump would allow protests around his planned military parade to go forward, White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt—calling the inquiry “stupid”—said:
“He supports the First Amendment. He supports the right of Americans to make their voices heard. He does not support violence of any kind. He does not support assaulting law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their job.”
Trump, a notable instigator and excuser of assaults on law enforcement officers who were just trying to do their job, pardoned masses of January 6 insurrectionists just after his return to office—a slap in the face of multiple Capitol Police officers “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor,” in the words of former Washington, DC, officer Michael Fanone.
