Before a crowd of cheering soldiers at an event that seemed more like an election rally than an address to the troops, Donald Trump defended his decision to host the first large military parade in Washington since 1991.

The parade for the US Army's birthday — which coincides with the US president's birthday — is on the same weekend the country will see hundreds of protests on immigration raids.

President Donald Trump’s military parade isn’t the first held in the nation’s history, but it is unprecedented since it's happening outside a time of war.