On Friday’s (June 13) edition of The View, the cohosts of the day — Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin — started out the “Hot Topics” coverage of the day with a discussion of this weekend’s upcoming military parade in Washington, D.C., along with Donald Trump‘s warning of retaliation against mass protests.

The panelists first reviewed footage of Trump in the Oval Office, saying, “We’re going to be celebrating big on Saturday, we’re going to have a lot of … and if there’s any protests, who wants to come out, they will be met with very big force. I haven’t even heard about a protest, but this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force.”

They then showed a clip of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responding to questions about what kind of protests might be met with the force Trump described, and she said, “The president absolutely supports peaceful protests. He supports the First Amendment. He supports the right of Americans to make their voices heard. He does not support violence of any kind. He does not support assaulting law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do their job… Of course, the president supports peaceful protests. What a stupid question.”

“Isn’t she delightful? What a delight,” Behar said in response to the latter.

Haines then added, “He doesn’t approve of any violence or violence against law enforcement, unless it was on January 6th, and that’s what we pardon on day one.” She went on to criticize the optics of a military parade in D.C., saying, “These visuals of people saluting and doing things, and that’s just not what I think of when I think of the U.S.”

Haines also denounced the parade as a wasteful expense at a time when certain federal programs have just been slashed by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “How much is this going to cost? $40 million? … Who thinks, ‘Let’s cut all the aid and the school lunches and all the good stuff, but let’s throw a parade that hearkens World War II propaganda, and just throw the money that way’? I just, I can’t keep up!”

Hostin also honed in on the cost factor, saying, “I think what’s so distasteful about this is not only the cost but the cuts to Veterans Affairs. If you think about it, 6,000 veterans were fired due to budget cuts and layoffs. There are plans to remove up to 80,000 employees who provide support to veterans as well, and to spend $45 million and have these cuts doesn’t make sense. The best way to honor our troops is to make sure our veterans are taken care of.”

Navarro then made a big announcement of her own on the matter, saying, “I plan to peacefully protest on Saturday, I will go to the ‘No Kings’ parade protest in Miami, and I am going to go protest not because I hate my country, but because I love my country and because I think we need to stand up and speak up fearlessly against this authoritarian who wants to militarize our cities. This is not normal, and we as a country have got to lose our fear and have got to show that we will stand up for our democratic values.”

Behar then pointed to Trump’s own personal record, saying, “Here we have a guy who avoided Vietnam because of his bone spurs… according to what I’ve read, no one in his family has ever served — his father, his grandfather, none of them ever — and yet, he wants to have this big military [showcase]. Are Americans going to respond positively to that fact or what?”

Griffin then argued that while some Americans will want to see a demonstration of some sort in support of the 250th anniversary of the army, the scale is inappropriate. “There’s different traditions in America than there are in most of the world. There’s Bastille Day in France, they do a military-style parade. VE Day in the U.K., they do a military-style parade, but it very much is a pro-democracy demonstration, as opposed to something that you would see on the streets of Moscow or on the streets in North Korea, and that’s what’s going to matter,” she explained. “Is this a bunch of tanks and troops walking up to dear king at the end of the street? Or is it simply the Blue Angels flying over and celebrating the American night and those who prison their hand to serve?”

She also criticized the cost factor, saying, “I feel like veterans are political pawns every election year, but the fact that you’re going to potentially spend $45 million on this when the VA continues to be backlogged, when, right now, there are veterans that are dealing with homelessness, with PTSD, with wounds of war that are not being properly cared for, that’s really hard to compute. So I am all for any demonstration that’s a celebration of the military. My concern is it going to be a celebration of a politician.”

“Remember, that Trump wanted to do this back in the first term, but back then, he actually had adults around him and the cabinet, people like four-star generals like John Kelly and Jim Mattis head of DOD,” Navarro added. “Now he’s got the sycophants who say every yes to every harebrained idea that crosses his brain. And so on Saturday, I’m going to be honoring all of those who served as part of the reason I’m going to be protesting. And I’m also going to be remembering all of those veterans who are dealing with deportation orders, and all of those veterans whose wives and abuelas and tias are getting deported without due process.”

The View, Weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC