The United States Army will hold its 250th Birthday Festival throughout the day on Saturday with a parade later in the afternoon. It's also President Donald Trump's 79th birthday, and Flag Day.

The parade, honoring the Army’s long-planned 250th anniversary celebration and coinciding with Trump’s 79th birthday, is set to step off from the Lincoln Memorial under the threat of stormy weather in Washington and protests around the country tied to a turbulent week of immigration enforcement that has involved military deployment in Los Angeles.

The massive military parade that President Donald Trump has long wanted is set to step off from the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday evening, with tanks, bands and thousands of troops. And the biggest question marks are whether it will be overshadowed or delayed by either the weather in Washington or planned protests elsewhere around the country.

By Tim Reid, Brad Brooks and Karen Freifeld WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Tens of thousands of Americans protested President Donald Trump at rallies and marches in major cities from New York to Los Angeles on Saturday,

The parade is expected to include about 6,600 soldiers, 50 helicopters and 60-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks, as well as possibly 200,000 attendees and heightened security to match.

The Army expects as many as 200,000 people to attend the parade that honors the U.S. Army’s formation and coincides with Donald Trump’s birthday.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes couldn’t contain his laughter on air Friday while reading a fundraising email from President Donald Trump. The email asked for donations for his Saturday military parade, which, as it turns out, most Americans aren’t that eager to fund.

The military parade to mark the Army’s 250th anniversary and its convergence with President Donald Trump’s 79th birthday are combining to create a peacetime outlier in U.S. history. Yet it still reflects global traditions that serve a range of political and cultural purposes.