France, June 15 -- Thegrand military paradethat President Donald Trump had been wanting for years barreled down Constitution Avenue on Saturday with tanks, troops and a 21-gun salute, playing out against a counterpoint of protests around the country by those who decried the U.S. leader as a dictator and would-be king.

The Republican president, on his 79th birthday, sat on a special viewing stand south of the White House to watch the display of American military might, which began early and moved swiftly as light rain fell and clouds shrouded the Washington Monument.

The procession, with more than 6,000 soldiers and 128 army tanks, was one Trump had tried to organise in his first term after seeing such an event in Paris in 2017, but the ...