Middleboro Review 2: Pass the HAPPY BIRTHDAY Act: No more taxpayer-funded Trump parades PLEASE SPEAK OUT AGAINST THIS INSANITY!

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Pass the HAPPY BIRTHDAY Act: No more taxpayer-funded Trump parades PLEASE SPEAK OUT AGAINST THIS INSANITY!

Tanks rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Soldiers marching in lockstep.
Lines of apocalyptic missiles on display.
A hyper-nationalist spectacle fit for a dictatorship.

This is Trump’s vision for a war parade that he’s trying to stage on June 14, the Army’s anniversary, which conveniently falls on the same day as his 79th birthday.

This isn’t about honoring service. It’s about idolizing power. And like everything Trump touches, he expects someone else to foot the bill.

Thankfully, Rep. Steve Cohen introduced H.R. 2761, the Halting All Parades for Presidents’ Yearly Birthdays; It Risks Taxpayer Harm, Damages, And Your (HAPPY BIRTHDAY) Budget Act, to block this absurd spectacle and protect your tax dollars from being squandered on personal glorification.

Congress holds the keys to the purse and can prevent even a single taxpayer dollar from being used to fund Trump’s vanity stunt. We need to flood Congress with messages from activists like you demanding they pass the HAPPY BIRTHDAY Budget Act and refuse to authorize so much as a penny toward a military parade.

Don’t think your voice can make a difference? Trump was forced to cancel the Veterans Day tank parade he proposed in 2018 because thousands of activists helped us make the very idea of funding such a spectacle politically toxic. And people across the country can make this would-be birthday parade such a headache that no future administration attempts — and no Congress funds — such an extreme and authoritarian self-congratulation ever again.

We’ve stopped this before and we plan to make sure it can never happen again, but we can only succeed if activists like you join us, Tony. Tell Congress: Support and pass the HAPPY BIRTHDAY Budget Act to block more tank parades.

ACT NOW

The cost of Trump’s parade is quickly skyrocketing to $45 MILLION according to the Army. As Congress weighs over $1 TRILLION in cuts to essential safety nets like Medicaid and SNAP — money that could feed families, fund schools, and provide healthcare — glorifying war machinery and feeding one man’s delusions of grandeur is simply unconscionable.

This tank parade is not just an outrageous waste of money, it’s also a symbol of something deeply dangerous.

Trump has never hidden his admiration for dictators. Now, he’s using every opportunity to project himself as a strongman. A military parade with tanks in the streets of DC isn’t about security or patriotism. It’s about control. Intimidation. Dominance. The twisted idea that our strength only comes through weapons of war.

We know where our power comes from: Justice. Accountability. Democracy. People’s voices. It’s time we flex that power now. With The HAPPY BIRTHDAY Budget Act we have a chance to codify that no future president can demand a taxpayer-funded birthday parade ever again.

It’s our job to make sure our representatives understand that in a democracy, the people don’t pay for the pageantry of despots. Send a message to Congress now: Pass the HAPPY BIRTHDAY Budget Act and shut down authoritarian tank parades once and for all.

Let’s stop Trump from turning our streets into a stage for authoritarian spectacle.

Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team

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