Follow live updates as the military parade in Washington, D.C., kicks off on Trump's birthday. 'No Kings' protests by opponents are planned across the country today.

A minor-league football championship game will air on ABC. Fox News, CNN and C-SPAN will carry the four-hour festivities live.

Shortly after 6:15 p.m., an announcer declared, “Ladies and gentlemen, our parade is officially under way.” Members of the military began marching past the reviewing stand, as people in the crowd applauded and held up their phones.

By The Associated Press The massive military parade commemorating the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army, which coincides with President Donald Trump ’s 79th birthday is being staged Saturday

US President Donald Trump kicked off his long dreamt-of military parade in Washington on his 79th birthday, as tens of thousands of protesters rallied across the country to call him a dictator.

Dissent against the parade is also coming partly from within one of Trump’s most reliable support bases: veterans. Although former U.S. military personnel have historically voted with wide margins in favor of Trump and the Republican Party, there is a growing discontent among some within the community.

The hosts of “The View” gave their two cents on President Donald Trump’s military parade in Washington, D.C. As expected, they’re not exactly saluting it. On Friday’s episode, panelist Joy Behar informed the audience that “tanks will be rolling through the nation’s capital.

The last time the United States held a national military parade was in June 1991, timed to welcome returning veterans of the 100-day Persian Gulf War.

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.