Trump Lackey Torn Apart for Wild Claim of Giant Parade Crowd
The White House director of communications seems to be having trouble with basic arithmetic.
Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s director of communications has prompted ridicule with spurious claims over the size of the crowd at a Washington, D.C. military parade.
“Amazing. Despite the threat of rain, over 250,000 patriots showed up to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the @USArmy,” Steven Cheung posted to X on Saturday night. “God Bless the USA!”
MSNBC was quick to pour water on the claim.
“That’s just not accurate, that’s not even close to accurate,” reporter Vaughn Hillyard, who was present at the event, told hosts of MSNBC’s The Weekend on Sunday.
“Just the eye of any individual who is here on the ground or looking at images or video knows that there were not 250,000 people, but that can be the White House’s position here,” he added.
Users on X eviscerated Cheung in the comments section and in reposts of his original claim. Many of them compared him to former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spicer, who was called out in 2017 for grossly inflating the number of people who’d attended the president’s first inauguration.
“Steven Cheung in his ‘Sean Spicer’ moment declared FALSELY 250K people attended Trump’s vanity parade yesterday!!” one user put it. “The lying and delusion from this Trump administration never stops!!”
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
“Steven Cheung has no concept of the principles of empirical induction predicated from proven observation,” another chimed in. “Steven Cheung has no ability to use inference from established facticity. Steven Cheung is a deluded fantasist with no concept of actual reality.”
Photos from the event certainly did not appear to corroborate the comms chief's claim of a thumping turn out.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
A third person simply wrote: “Trump’s nutsackhead is lying again.”
A fourth person said: “Yeah right dude, and Steven Cheung is skinny too.”
“The sad spin starts,” as another described it. “The highest reasonable total is only 10-20K attending.”
Even Grok, X’s in-house AI factchecking tool, found it hard to wrangle any logic from Cheung’s post. “Claims of over 250,000 attendees at the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary parade in Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2025, appear exaggerated,” the program responded to a tag in the comments.
MSNBC reporter Vaughn Hillyard, who was present on the day, said it was clear even to the naked eye there were far fewer attendees than Cheung was making out.
ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
“Official permits allowed for up to 200,000 for the parade and 50,000 for the festival, but news reports suggest actual attendance was lower than expected,” it went on. “No official figures confirm the 250,000 claim, and sources like PBS and KTLA indicate turnout fell short of 200,000. Exact numbers remain unverified as of now.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.