Nicolle Wallace reveals 'political stink bomb' Trump may set off with his military parade

06 June

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace on June 6, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via MSNBC / YouTube)

President Donald Trump's planned military parade is just a week away, and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace is pointing out that there's still not much information about whether one particular group of veterans will be featured.

On the Friday episode of her show "Deadline: White House," Wallace interviewed Iraq War veteran Paul Rieckhoff about the parade, who viewed the entire concept as "an attack on our values" and "un-American." He pointed out that military parades are typically seen in totalitarian countries like North Korea, and opined that Trump was inappropriately making U.S. troops take part in a "political stunt."

"He's continuing to thrust our veterans and our military into the most divisive issues of our time. Whether it's the parade, it's the border, it's gay rights," he said. "But there are actually troops involved. So 19 and 20 year-olds are going to have to march in this thing on his birthday, you know, next week in Washington. and I think they're going to have a problem with how it feels in their hearts. It's not what they signed up for. And that's what I think should be most outrageous to all Americans."

Wallace then brought up the fact that during Trump's first term, when he first floated the concept of a military parade after visiting France for Bastille Day festivities, he made sure to tell aides that he didn't want to include disabled veterans in a potential parade. And she wondered if the president's mind had changed since his first presidency, calling it "a big political stink bomb for Donald Trump."

"It came out that he didn't want any wounded veterans marching with him. He didn't want any amputees or anyone who had been wounded in service of their country. And that is the vein of reporting that the Atlantic pursued that ultimately culminates in, 'suckers and losers,'" Wallace said, underscoring to viewers that the president reportedly said "the only people that die for their country are suckers and losers."

"It continues to be a political prop that he wants to use," Rieckhoff said. "I mean, that's how he uses [Pete] Hegseth. That's how he uses Tulsi Gabbard. It's how he uses a lot of people in uniform. And when they push back like [Mark] Milley did, he goes in in a different direction."

Trump's military parade will take place on June 14 on Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C., and is estimated to cost as much as $40 million. Some Senate Republicans have reportedly balked at the cost, with Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) saying he "won't go" to the parade out of protest for the money spent on the event.

Watch the segment below, or by clicking this link.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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