The president was previously forced to abandon plans for a procession in Washington, D.C., due to its colossal price tag.
    • Corhen@lemmy.world
      2·
      10 hours ago

      President Donald Trump is making plans for a military parade in Washington, D.C., on his 79th birthday, according to a report.

      A source in the capital told the Washington City Paper that Trump has earmarked June 14—which is the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army—for the event.

      The display of military might will march around four miles from the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, to the White House, the D.C. source told the publication.

      The report said that local officials are only now hearing of plans for the parade and that no formal request has been made for their assistance.

      D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser estimated the parade plans are in their “early stages,” adding that either the Department of Homeland Security or White House reached out to the district’s special events task force, reported Fox News.

      Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis told the City Paper that the White House had given the county a “heads up” about the parade on Friday, with only 10 weeks until the event. The White House told Fox that “no military parade has been scheduled” for Trump’s birthday, but stopped short of saying outright there would not be one.

      He said “the parade’s scope ” was “unclear” and that no firm details were disclosed.

      Trump said in his first term that he would like to see tanks as part of a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue. Bowser said she did not want to see military tanks on the streets of Washington unless it received millions in extra funding.

      “Military tanks on our streets would not be good,” Bowser said. “If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads.”

      Other unnamed officials told the paper that a big military parade will require a huge amount of coordination between the six branches of the armed forces, along with several federal agencies and regional officials.

      D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.

      President Trump previously pushed for a grand military parade in 2018 during his first term in the White House but was stymied by estimates the event would cost $92 million, according to the Associated Press.

      The event had been slated to include tanks, fighter jets, and historic military planes.

      The plans emerged after Trump’s 2017 visit to France where he witnessed the Paris Bastille Day celebrations which included displays of heavy military machinery. Trump said the U.S. is “going to have to try and top” the French display, according to the AP.

      When that parade failed to materialize, Trump pushed for tanks to be displayed in D.C. during Independence Day celebrations in 2019. The inclusion of military vehicles in the “Salute to America” pageant contributed to the event costing taxpayers over $13 million—double the cost of previous celebrations, according to Politico.

      No tanks were included in the same event the following year.

  • Panamalt@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    64·
    1 day ago

    Hmm, aren’t over-the-top displays of military forces a sign of something? What could it possibly be, certainly not fascism or something silly like that . . .

    • Wispy2891@lemmy.world
      13·
      23 hours ago

      hey kim got a 3 miles parade, vlad got a 2.5 miles parade, who’s donald to have a shorter parade than them for his birthday? They’ll laugh at him at the next villain con

  • ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works
    59·
    1 day ago

    Trump crafted the idea for a military parade after witnessing a lavish Bastille Day celebration in Paris in 2017. Top US generals and officials were less thrilled about the idea. At one White House meeting, when Trump addressed his idea with Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, then the second-highest-ranking general as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Selva suggested the idea was reminiscent of something often seen in dictatorships. When Trump asked Selva what he thought of the parade, Selva said he grew up in Portugal, which “was a dictatorship — and parades were about showing the people who had the guns.” “And in this country, we don’t do that,” Selva said. “It’s not who we are.” Trump then asked Selva whether or not he liked the idea, to which he responded: “No.” He added, “It’s what dictators do.”

  • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
    31·
    1 day ago

    Where is DOGE? This is like Charles Minor coming down on Michael Scott. Trump is just a huge fucking cry baby that needs constant validation. What a fucking loser.

  • vortic@lemmy.world
    87·
    2 days ago

    Trump doesn’t give a shit about anyone but him. They just cut $55M intended to fund training for rural teachers (because who wants educated educators?) and now he wants to spend more than that on a mile long military parade celebrating his birthday. And it’s not even a milestone birthday, just a birthday.

    From the article, Trump wanted to do something similar but, presumably smaller, in his first term but backed off after the price tag came to $92M. He instead opted for an event that ONLY cost $13M. How much do you think this one will cost? What will get cut to fund it?

    Fucking narcissistic traitor… He’ll probably figure out how to grift a few tens of millions from this by selling tickets, too.

  • MuskyMelon@lemmy.world
    805·
    2 days ago

    Don’t show up, even to protest. He’ll just say everyone showed up for him. Let him have his audience-less parade like a retarded North Korean despot.

    • expatriado@lemmy.world
      44·
      2 days ago

      how about a nearby protest with the goal of gathering more people than the parade itself? that would piss him off

        • expatriado@lemmy.world
          5·
          2 days ago

          why would i want to stop Trump of making a fool of himself towards the civilized world? when we can troll him on the issue he cares the more about, after grifting: crowd sizes

      • Null User Object@lemmy.world
        12·
        2 days ago

        This is the correct response.

        ETA: and I strongly suspect this will happen somehow. So, his birthday is June 14th, so those who can should start making plans to be in DC around then (actual day of parade may be different, so don’t lock in specific dates until there’s more info).

        Meanwhile, get ready for your local May 1st protests. (More locations will be certainly be added to that map as the day gets closer).

        And until then, there are lots more opportunities to get out and protest.

        • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
          3·
          2 days ago

          Better to protest in peace and ignore the parade. Just drawing a larger crowd and some good media attention will troll him enough. Concentrate on signs showing ways the money could have been used for good.