The Trump Connection: White House Takeover Of Army Birthday Celebration Proves Boon To Hollywood Prop Houses
EXCLUSIVE: Donald Trump's vainglorious birthday parade masquerading as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army may get drenched in a rainy DC this Flag Day, but the financial sun is shining a bit brighter for some suffering Hollywood vendors.
A plethora of prop houses in and around LA received a much-needed injection of cash the past month from the federal government for the massive march set to kick off soon in the nation's thunderstorm anticipating capitol, Deadline has learned. Specifically, the parade organizers made rentals orders of vintage guns, rifles, period piece helmets, and other hardware and outfits from industry prop houses on the West Coast.
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Though the Army celebration has been on the calendar for over a year, things really kicked into gear when the longtime parade desiring Trump returned to office in January. To pinpoint the timeline, everything became a 'mad rush,' as one Hollywood vendor put it, the past four weeks. To get a sense of the scale, the flood of orders came in to kit out an estimated 6,000 chosen troops and others in contemporary and historic garb and weaponry. Accompanied by marching bands, flyovers, armored personnel carriers, and a parachuting finale, the troops on display are set to pass Trump and the likes of UFC boss Dana White up in a reviewing stand on the Ellipse this evening.
By sheer coincidence (and if you believe that I have a bridge and several aging hipster cafes in Brooklyn to sell you), the parade for the brave men and women of the Army is taking place on the exact day Trump (who bragged online Saturday about his birthday call from Vladimir Putin) turns 79. At an estimated price tag of $40 million, the first such DC parade since the end of the first Gulf War in 1991, also comes a week after Trump federalized the California National Guard over the belated objection of Gov. Gavin Newsom to clamp down on LA protests of harsh ICE raids on the undocumented that hit the city and county.
Former Trump aide Megan Power, who also was behind organizing the Ellipse rally on January 6, 2021, was put in place as the general contractor for the Congressional created America250 earlier this year. Also now running the show, literally and figuratively over at America250, is Trump friendly logistics firmEvent Strategies Inc., who were a part of the infamous January 6 event five years ago. As well, ex-White House and Virginia Gov. Youngkin aide Hannah Salem Stone and ex-Nixon aide and Fox News talking head Monica Crowley, who now serves as the State Department's chief of protocol, are on board with America250 too.
It seems that the multi-location ISS Props, who specialize in weapons for film and TV production, were the point of contact for the DC parade rentals, according to several companies I spoke to. Individual prop houses were contacted by ISS, informed what that orders were for and asked if they wanted to participate. ISS is a division of sound stage and studio services giant the MBS group, who, in turn, are owned by LA-based real estate investment firm Hackman Capital. While the company itself seems not to hand out donations to politicians, founder Micheal Hackman has been a fairly reliable contributor to the Democrats over the years.
Representatives for ISS Props did not respond to Deadline request for comment on the parade rentals and orders. The White House and the Pentagon also did not reply to request for comment on the matter.
Though various Tinseltown prop houses understandably asked to remain anonymous to avoid potential backlash from customers in the Blue-ish industry, everyone to a man and woman at the companies and warehouses Deadline reached out to stressed how vital the orders were to keep them above water in a troubled time in Hollywood with few productions and an increasingly uncertain future.
'I'm no fan of Trump, hate him in fact, but this was a real life raft for us,' one DTLA prop house manager said, pointing out because the extensive orders came in so close to the much-criticized parade today, many of the businesses charged premium rates. 'If we weren't going to take the business, someone else would have, we all need it' the manager explained on a practical level. 'Every little bit helps right now,' he added, noting the dire straits many below-the-line workers and adjunct businesses like prop houses have been experiencing the past three years.
'Money, cost, did not seem to be an option,' an employee at a prop house in the Valley admitted with some self-declared 'embarrassment' of the flurry of the past four weeks to fulfill the federal parade orders. 'I'm okay with my tax dollars going to help out Hollywood businesses, even for this,' said one strident Never Trumper industry vet of the parade cash that the prop houses picked up the past few weeks. 'Everything Trump does is for how it looks on TV, so this tracks 100% for me,' a studio exec also stated of the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host.
With Newsom stymied on June 12 in an attempt through the courts to regain control of the Guard, Trump's essentially nationwide and legally questionable order remains in effect Saturday as huge No Kings demonstrations take place in Southern California and all over the nation. The presence of the thousands of Trump troops in LA, the violent removal and handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla at a LA presser by DHS Sec. Kristi Noem on Friday, and the shooting of Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota today, has left many on edge.
As my esteemed colleague Ted Johnson noted earlier today: Trump has threatened that those who protest the parade 'will be met with very big force,' though White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the president 'absolutely supports peaceful protests.'
Still, as the No Kings protests were taking place in DC and elsewhere, the biggest threat of disruption to Trump's parade appeared to be the weather. Local forecasters have been predicting showers, although they may be off and on. 'Our great military parade is on, rain or shine. Remember, rainy day parade brings good luck,' Trump himself wrote on Truth Social earlier Saturday as various fundraising requests went out this afternoon from the MAGA GOP on the back of the birthday.
Ted Johnson contributed to this report.
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