MSNBC hosts highlight lack of ‘dark energy’ at Army’s 250th celebration

MSNBC hosts Ali Velshi and Chris Hayes appeared surprised on Saturday that the military parade event in Washington, D.C., wasn’t giving off “dark, malevolent energy,” which they said was often the case at President Donald Trump’s rallies. 

“One thing I will say, I want to go back to you, Ali, that, again, when we talk about the sort of tension in the country, and sometimes, you know, you and I have both been at Trump rallies, those can be very tense, a kind of, I would say, like kind of a dark, malevolent energy, sometimes in them, not always, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the energy on the Mall today, which I think is a good sign, right?” Hayes asked Velshi.

The military parade on Saturday honored the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary, which also coincided with Trump’s 79th birthday. However, the parade came as riots and protests continue in Los Angeles and across the country over the Trump administration’s policies. 

“Correct. You’re really correct about that, Chris, and it’s something we were watching for. I’m just sort of surprised by the number of people who were at the front of the parade watching, cheering, and then would come and ask to take a selfie. This is a very different, this is a very different mood here. People seem to be going out of their way to say that they’re here to celebrate the Army’s 250th birthday,” Velshi said. 

Ali Velshi speaks at the Global Citizen NOW Summit at The Glasshouse on April 28, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

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Velshi said that politicization was still present at the event, but that it wasn’t dark or tense.

“Now, there are people walking around with signs. Moments ago, while you were talking to Jen, a guy just came around and said, ‘Trump 2028!’ and I said, ‘How does that work exactly?’ and he was, like, laughing and had a big flag on him. So there’s some politicization here, but it’s not dark, it’s not tense, it’s not amped up. It’s different. It’s different from covering a Trump rally,” he continued. 

Hayes brought up “exuberant” protests across the nation in small towns and asked MSNBC host Jen Psaki about the country’s “civic culture.”

Thousands of people across are expected to rally in hundreds of cities across America on Saturday to protest the Trump administration and counter the president’s military parade in Washington DC to mark the Army’s 250th birthday. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.)

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“There’s sort of a feeling of hope, I think, and this speaks to what Ali is sort of experiencing, is that the country’s civic culture and democratic culture is actually quite strong and sort of is an enormous asset that we have when we compare ourselves to other places. There genuinely is a democratic and civic culture in this country that I think, I think, most Americans still hang on to,” he said.

MSNBC’s Jen Psaki said it was “encouraging” to hear that “there is a calm and that it isn’t overly exercised among the people attending.” 

However, Psaki said the calm may shift depending on what President Trump said during his speech at the parade. 

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Armoured vehicles drive across the Memorial Bridge during the Army 250th Anniversary Parade in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2025. (Photo by ANNABELLE GORDON / AFP)  (Getty)

“People who have never participated in protests or have never seen themselves as part of an activist movement are out there today, right? They’re out there with their kids and their 98-year-old mothers, and that tells you how people feel moved in this moment. So, that is a part of our environment, that is a part of who we are as a country, and today is an example of that. And let’s certainly all hope that that continues at this event this evening,” the MSNBC host said. 

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