I have always had a soft spot for military parades. Maybe it harks back to my childhood: my pilot father would take me to airshows to marvel at fighter jets. But give me some tanks, soldiers marching in lockstep and ear-splitting flyovers, and I’ll be suitably impressed.

Admittedly, it is somewhat of a guilty pleasure, given that the greatest demonstrations of military might are performed by authoritarian regimes. In early 2007 I watched as the Burmese junta unveiled its new capital, Naypyidaw. Ordinary folks were banned but a small group of foreign journalists sat with the ruling generals to see some 15,000 troops marching beneath statues of ancient kings in an otherwise empty parade ground. With insurgencies in the borderlands, pro-democracy forces to keep in check and rumours of infighting among the country’s top brass, the junta’s message of unity and supremacy was clear.

But what message is Donald Trump trying to send with a similar flex of his nation’s muscle in Washington this Saturday? While annual military parades are de rigueur in Pyongyang, Tehran, Moscow and Beijing, they are not a tradition here. The last large-scale parade held in Washington was in 1991 to mark the end of the first Gulf War. 

The ostensible reason for this weekend’s parade is the US Army’s 250th anniversary. It’s purely coincidental, says Trump, that the event falls on his 79th birthday. “It happens to be the same day so I take a little heat,” the president told reporters. But whatever the reason or inspiration, as many as 200,000 people are expected to pack the National Mall on 14 June for a spectacle costing at least $45m (€39m).

Much of the military hardware has travelled by train from Texas to the capital, with 28 M1 Abrams tanks bearing 120mm cannons expected to roll down Constitution Avenue, alongside Stryker and Bradley armoured vehicles and M109 self-propelled howitzers. Fifty aircraft, including Black Hawks, Chinooks and Apaches, will take to the skies, as some 7,000 soldiers march through the heart of the capital. 

Of course, it’s not only dictators who like to show off their military prowess. Trump was certainly inspired by France’s Bastille Day parade, which he attended during his first term. It is curious, however, that a president facing accusations of authoritarian tendencies – a claim that has garnered far more fervour since he sent the National Guard to Los Angeles – would choose a spectacle inextricably linked to autocratic leaders. But while many military parades are about projecting strength to foes, Trump has a domestic audience in mind and is keen to show Americans that he is firmly in control. Crowd size has always been a sensitive issue for the president, who often conflates pageantry with popularity, and he was left disappointed after his January inauguration was scaled back due to freezing weather. 

The show has many critics, whose complaints range from the suspect symbolism to the cost. Simultaneous “No Kings Day” protests are planned in most major cities, as well as in the Washington suburbs. Trump has warned that any protests will be met with “very heavy force” – not exactly soothing the strongman misgivings that many have. Observers on both sides of the debate will be watching closely to see whether there are any signs of overt homage being paid to the commander-in-chief by the military. As for me, so long as the assembled troops don’t burst into a rendition of “Happy Birthday, Mr President”, I’m ready to pop in the earplugs, look up to the sky and enjoy the show. 

McDonald-Gibson is a Monocle contributor based in Washington. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today. To read more about the US’s internal divisions, click here.