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Trump loves a parade, and he means to have one [1]
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Date: 2025-05-02
Trump saw a military parade in France on Bastille Day in 2017. He's wanted one ever since.
He's jealous of North Korea's Kim Jong Un. He's jealous of Putin for Russian military parades. He's just got to have one in his honor. His birthday is June 14th.
It just so happens that this June 14th is also the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army. You can see where this is headed.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says that the Trump administration has asked about holding a parade that would run from the Pentagon, over the Potomac and into D.C.
AP got their hands on the Army's detailed plans dated April 29 and 30th. 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, 7 bands and possibly thousands of civilians. This is going to be extremely hard for Trump not to be tempted to turn it into all about me, me, me, me.
An anniversary festival at the National Mall had already been planned. The parade is new.
Trump tried to have a parade while in office the first time, but a cost of $92 million was presented to him and he called it off.
Logistics aren't any different this time. Moving all the equipment and soldiers to D.C. Feeding and housing them. Mayor Bowser noted that if tanks were part of the parade, that there could be millions of dollars of street repairs needed afterwards.
The plans for the parade include a Stryker battalion with 2 battalions of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion with 2 companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Palladin artillery vehicles, howitzer and infantry vehicles. A batallion can be 300 to 1000 soldiers. A company is 80 to 250 soldiers.
Stryker:
Stryker vehicle.
Palladin:
Palladin self propelled howitzer.
Bradley:
Bradley vehicle.
These vehicles would be a lot to move around Washington. 2 out of these three have tank treads, and then you have the tanks themselves.
There would also be a parachute jump by the Golden Knights.
The parade would be classed as a national special security event which has to be approved by the National Park Service. Most likely there would follow a concert and fireworks.
The Army having their parade is one thing. Trump turning it into a birthday parade is another.
If it goes from the Pentagon to the center of Washington DC, you are looking at 4 miles of traveling. How do you provide security for 4 miles? I have this terrible feeling that this would be just the thing for a terrorist attack. Line the streets with National Guard and you've got another logistics nightmare.
I could be wrong about the danger. The Rose Bowl Parade is 5.5 miles long and nothing happened this year. But this is the 250th anniversary of our Army. It's special. Symbolic. Normally, I would think that the military would plan security so nothing like that can happen. But this year, Pete Hegseth is at the top. As far as we know, he could still be doing unsecured Signal chats. He had an commercial internet line put to his office computer. What could go wrong? It already has. That's what's scary. And I don't want to give anybody ideas.
So, in all likelihood, Trump is going to get a military parade on his birthday by the Army, but he will call it for himself. He just tried to rename Veterans' Day. What's to stop him on this?
The Bastille Day Parade pictured above also had tanks. Mayor Bowser can call Paris to see how they handled it.
What Trump should do is pay for it all from the $250 million left over from his inauguration fund.
But we know he's to cheap for that. His whole life is about spending other people's money. Why should he start now?
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