By Katherine Tinsley
8:55am PDT, Jun 16, 2025
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Bill Maher had something to say about
Donald Trump's military parade, which celebrated the Army's 250th anniversary and coincided with his 79th birthday — all while "No Kings" protests took place across the country.
Keep reading for the details…
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On a Friday, June 13, episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, the comedian chatted about the event.
"The last issue, the parade is tomorrow, Trump's parade," Maher began ahead of the event.
"That's why he's here, by the way. I don't know if he told you. That's what I came for," Ian Bremmer interjected.
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According to Ian Bremmer, Donald Trump was inspired by Emmanuel Macron's parade in France.
"So, Bill, let's learn from the French," Ian Bremmer told Bill Maher.
"What do you mean?" Maher quickly asked.
"That's where Trump got the parade idea from, when he went over and Macron showed him. It's like, ah, let do something the French do. No! We don't need to learn from French," Bremmer continued. "Bad idea."
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Bill Maher noted that celebrating the country is valuable, but he took issue with Donald Trump's approach.
"Yeah, as always, but he, like, should we appreciate America more, and in more perspective? Yes. But not tanks in the streets," Maher said. "This really worries me, I mean, I just feel like you're getting, I don't even know if that's his grand scheme, thought out that much, but you're getting people used to a site that we have never seen in this country before."
"And there are Republicans who speak out against this too," the commentator shared. "Senator John Kennedy did, Rand Paul. Yeah, they're pretty forceful. So it's one reason why you should talk to Republicans. They're not all beyond hope." So, what do you think? Am I making too much of this, or is it just a parade?"
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Rutger Bregman found the humor in the ceremony, but he noted it could highlight the drastic ideological differences in U.S. politics.
"Well, it's like what we talked about," Bregman shared. "On the one hand, it was a bit funny. But yeah, it is a really bad precedent that you don't want to see in one of the oldest democracies in the world."
"It's insecure," Maher noted.
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Ian Bremmer later noted that the march would've been fitting after the September 11 terror attacks, but not in this current social climate.
"I wouldn't have minded it after 9-11 when we were trying to bring the country together," Bremmer stated.
"Right now, at best, it's going to be forgotten in a week," he added. "And at worst, it is going to yet another thing that divides us. We're not going to agree on it. So we need leaders, not winners. Trump is a winner. He creates losers. We need leaders."
