WASHINGTON – As they strolled along the National Mall Tuesday, visitors to the nation's capital were just learning about the grandiose July 4th celebration that will showcase Army tanks and military flyovers beyond the usual pageantry.

"Awesome," California school teacher and U.S. Air Force veteran Walter De Graaf, 57, said as he stood near the Washington Monument. "Let’s show America who we are. Let's show the world who we are."

“A little extreme," David Havens, 67, a salesperson from Sebastian, Florida, said about the military display. "Not so sure about that."

Trump has yet to deliver his address near the Lincoln Memorial Thursday, but his "Salute to America" already is eliciting strong opinions over whether a president revered by supporters and reviled by opponents was injecting politics in an event above the partisan fray that enjoys national appeal.

"The Pentagon & our great Military Leaders are thrilled to be doing this & showing to the American people, among other things, the strongest and most advanced Military anywhere in the World," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. "Incredible Flyovers & biggest ever Fireworks!"

The event is expected to draw ardent Trump backers but there will also be protests, including the burning of a flag and the flying of a "Trump Baby" balloon.

Singer and actress, Bette Midler, a fervent anti-Trumper, tweeted that the president "is only interested in putting tanks on the Mall for his salute to himself."

Trump has been blasted by critics in the past for inappropriately injecting politics in events and places traditionally void of such overtones: a memorial wall for CIA's fallen agents the day after he was inaugurated in 2017, a Boy Scout jamboree later that year, an official visit to Japan in May.

In a letter Tuesday to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, Democratic Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland expressed concern that Thursday's celebration was shaping up to be more of the same, particularly amid reports that the Republican National Committee was in charge of distributing some tickets to the event.

“We are deeply troubled that the president’s involvement at the event will turn the longstanding, non-partisan celebration into a de facto campaign rally conducted at taxpayer expense that will serve to further divide rather than unify the nation," they wrote.

The White House confirmed the RNC had received a “small number of tickets” for distribution but said it was similar in scope and practice to events under Democratic presidents.

Tourists on the Mall interviewed by USA TODAY Tuesday generally liked the idea of a military-style extravaganza to celebrate the nation's 243rd birthday.

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“I think just the grandeur of the celebration’s going to be a little more patriotic this year," said Michael Simpson, 53, the owner of a pest control company in Los Angeles. It's "going to be historic."

"Absolutely ... for it," said John McConnell of Ohio.

Many presidents over the past century have spent Independence Day away from Washington, according to the National Park Service.

In 1936, Franklin D. Roosevelt traveled to Monticello in Virginia to give a eulogy in honor of Thomas Jefferson. Gerald Ford, headed to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1976 to sign legislation transferring management of the park to the National Park Service. And in 2004, George W. Bush went to Charleston, West Virginia to praise U.S. troops in Iraq and the National Guard.

When they've stayed in town, presidents have mostly kept to the White House.

In 1977, Jimmy Carter returned from Camp David to view fireworks from the White House balcony. Barack Obama threw a barbecue for some 1,200 military personnel on the South Lawn of the presidential residence in 2010.

The last president to preside over an Independence Day themed event was Ronald Reagan in 1987 who spoke on July 3 at the Jefferson Memorial to announce an economic bill of rights.

Thursday's event is drawing comparisons to the Independence Day 1970 when President Richard Nixon held an 'Honor America Day' on July 4, 1970 on the National Mall. That event devolved into riots as police tear gassed anti-war protesters.

And Nixon wasn't even there. Still in California, he taped a message that was played on the National Mall that evening.

But Qimei Ran of Burlington, Massachusetts, said she sees no harm in what Trump is trying to do.

"To me it’s like a show," said Ran, standing on the Mall near the Washington Monument next to her husband, in-laws, and eight-year-old son. "I didn’t think about the politics of it. It’s going to be broadcasting to the whole nation, so I (think) of it as just a show.”