‘The View’ Cohosts Slam Trump’s ‘Un-American’ Military Parade Plans

Amanda Bell April 9, 2025, 12:15 pm

Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, and Alyssa Farah Griffin on The View — ABC

The U.S. Army is planning a military parade in Washington D.C. to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the military on June 14, and some have speculated that Donald Trump will use the occasion to mark his 79th birthday. A massive armed forces extravaganza is something he’s reportedly wanted to happen for years — in his first term, he tried to order the Pentagon to plan a parade after he saw one in Paris didn’t pan out after receiving backlash. The price tag is estimated at $100 million and will include tanks, jets, and members of the various branches of the military.

On Wednesday’s (April 9) episode of The View, the cohosts reacted to the possibility of the parade with disdain.

“We’ve been talking about fear and uncertainty and these sweeping tariffs, but the guy who imposed them thinks it is the perfect time to throw a multi-million dollar birthday parade with the U.S. military in our nation’s capital. This is not going over well in the court of public opinion or from the mayor of D.C.,” Whoopi Goldberg explained.

“We are so past wasteful spending, it’s not even funny,” she said after rolling footage of Charlamagne Tha God calling it “wasteful spending.” Goldberg then wondered if Trump supporters would be on board with the expense, saying, “The question is, will his base be on board with him throwing an extravagant party right now? He did promise to lower the price of groceries. I have not seen an egg fall one cent since this man got in.”

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Sunny Hostin was the first one to answer, saying, “I don’t think people are going to be supportive of this… I think it’s a distasteful display for our armed services because [they] aren’t about pomp and circumstance. They’re about discipline, pride, service, things like that.” After some audience applause, she continued, “To see him trot our soldiers out like that reminds me of what you see in China. You see it in North Korea. You see it in Russia.” She also noted that the design of D.C. is meant to protect the Capitol, which means it’s not conducive to rolling tanks across the streets.

For Sara Haines, having a military parade while “laying off veterans” through Elon Musk’s DOGE slashes is hugely problematic. “Honestly, it’s not just wasteful spending. I think it’s optically such a bad look. People are really hurting right now, and if he even said — or Elon — ‘I’ll pay for it,’ it’s a bad look. You don’t do it right now.”

Joy Behar said it was “chutzpah” to order up a parade right now, explaining, “The guy calls veterans and people have been the armed service ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ and he expects everybody to march in a parade… I mean, that is chutzpah.”

Even Alyssa Farah Griffin, who is more sympathetic to Trump’s perspective than the other panelists, vehemently disagreed with it: “The U.S. armed forces are the greatest fighting force in the history of mankind. The entire world knows that, and we don’t need to parade them down Constitution Avenue to prove it. We’re not North Korea. You do that when you’re trying to prove something … It feels un-American. And listen, I love a good military flyover at a baseball game. People like that kind of thing, but to do it around a political leader?”

“Just go have a party at Mar-a-Lago, it’s easy!” Hostin suggested.

Goldberg, for one, said she didn’t want to pay for his parade: “Are you still taking my tax money? …. I’m not interested in throwing a parade for you. If you’re gonna take my tax money, send it to the kids in the schools where you cut their afternoons… or throw my money towards the veterans, rehiring them, I don’t want to pay for your birthday party.”

The View, weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC