Tanks are about to roll through the streets of D.C., but don’t worry, the U.S. government is going to generously reimburse the city for the destruction. I know that sounds insane, but it’s true: the U.S. government is allocating $16 million to the city of D.C. to cover any damages from Trump’s $25-45 million vanity parade. And since 60-ton M1 Abrams tanks aren’t exactly road-friendly, the Army is planning on reinforcing the streets with one-inch steel plates to protect D.C.’s streets from crumbling under their weight.
This show of force is part of the U.S. government’s increasingly authoritarian rule, flaunting to the public how much (literal) ammunition Trump has to crush dissent. Did you know that almost all the weapons that Trump and the Pentagon plan to parade through D.C. have been tested on human beings?
These weapons were used during our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan; throughout our bombing campaigns in Yemen, Libya, and Syria; and in our occupations of Hawai’i, Guam, and Puerto Rico. They’ve been tested when we’ve sold them to Israel, Taiwan, Ukraine, South Korea, and the U.A.E. And of course, they’ve been deployed over the course of the last 20 months in the genocide in Gaza, where every shiny new toy shows off new ways to rip apart children’s limbs, murder families, and blow up hospitals.
Militarism is fueled by the richest weapons contractors on earth. Let’s connect the dots: the M1 Abrams is produced by General Dynamics, the same company that manufactures the 2,000-pound bombs that are being dropped on Gaza. The Blackhawk helicopters that will also be featured in the parade might also look familiar; a widely circulated photo showed one of them landing in Compton to reinforce the Los Angeles Police Department in the midst of the brutal crackdown on anti-ICE demonstrations. War-making always comes home.
These helicopters are manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, the same company that produces the F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, used by the U.S. war machine for decades, and also used in Gaza. Now these companies get to make even more money, on top of the $414.5 billion of taxpayer money allocated to military contractors in this year’s budget. I’m sure they’re hoping that their stock will go up after this multimillion-dollar advertising campaign that Trump’s putting on in D.C.
If the Washignton Post won’t connect these dots on their own, we’ll do it for them. Sign on!
This military parade is the latest repulsive presentation of the havoc that our government’s militarism creates, not only within the U.S., but in the countries where U.S. tanks are crushing their streets on a daily basis. We certainly feel the impact of Trump investing in war and not our needs here at home. He's trying to gut social services to send more money to the Pentagon. When the next climate catastrophe hits, during fire or hurricane season, there's going to be no safety net to hold us. What will tanks do to save people from drowning? What will bullets do for people who can't afford healthcare?
I don’t think we can respond to this parade without the whole world in mind. Yes, tanks will damage D.C.’s streets— but the deeper issue is the trillions of dollars spent on weapons and war. That violence isn’t glory— it’s horror.
Those tanks destroying our roads are produced by the same companies that create the bombs that poison the soil, used by the same military with over 800 poisonous bases globally, and that produce more emissions than 140 countries combined. It is this U.S. government that tries to suppress projects for life that could build beautiful sovereign futures if free from U.S. sanctions. International solidarity is the only way to fight this domestic villain. And our planetary survival depends on recognizing our shared struggles.
Join us across the country on June 14th to bring our messaging to Cut the Pentagon!
👉 For more:
- Join us for our next community call to dive deeper into what it means when we say War Is Not Green.
- Contact your favorite climate change organization to sign our War Is Not Green Pledge!
- Follow us on our new Instagram page!!
- Tweet about the real cost of Trump's Military Parade!
- If you missed our weekly webinars for Earth Month, check them out here!
Until Liberation,
Aaron, Danaka, Jodie, and the entire CODEPINK team
