President Donald Trump’s plans for a grand military parade on the Fourth of July make America “look smaller,” Pete Buttigieg said Wednesday.

“ “We’ve always been bigger than that. We’ve also been the kind of country that respects our military enough not to use them as props.” ”

“Think about the strongest, toughest person you know. It’s probably not a person who goes around talking about how strong or tough they are,” the Democratic presidential candidate told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview.

“I think the president’s trying to honor himself, and, again, my worry is it ultimately makes us look smaller,” he said.

Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and a military veteran, said Trump’s ego was overshadowing the nation’s birthday.

“Fourth of July is supposed to be about our country, not about any one person, not about politics, definitely not about the ego of the president,” he said.

Thursday’s “Salute to America” in Washington will include tanks and armored vehicles, and fly-overs by an assortment of military aircraft, including a B-2 stealth bomber, F-35 fighter jets and Air Force One. Trump will also speak in front of the Lincoln Memorial to a VIP crowd that’s off-limits to the public.

Critics have decried the amount of taxpayer money being spent on a politically charged event, but Trump dismissed their concerns in a tweet Wednesday, saying the cost “will be very little compared to what it is worth.”