The Trump administration is reportedly planning a military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C. to celebrate the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary — which just so happens to fall on Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
The D.C. alternative weekly The Washington City Paper reported Sunday that local officials have been briefed to expect a four-mile procession this June 14, a Saturday.
The White House apparently denied the report, telling Politico: “No military parade has been scheduled.”
Nevertheless, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed at a press conference on Monday morning that she had been notified about a potential event, though claimed to have received few details.
“I would say it’s at its early stages,” she told reporters. “Yes, they have reached out. I don’t know that it’s been characterized as a military parade.”
When a reporter noted that the parade would reportedly begin at the Pentagon, she smiled and said: “Okay. Well, then it does sound like a military parade.”
The U.S. Army and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.
Such an event would reprise Trump’s 2018 plan for a lavish military parade for Veterans Day during his first term. Trump was reportedly so blown away after seeing the military parade up the Champs Elysees in Paris to mark Bastille Day in 2017 that he wanted to replicate it. But the idea was abandoned after officials estimated that it could cost at least $21.6 million, and perhaps up to $92 million, as well as potentially damaging D.C.’s roads with heavy-treaded vehicles.
This time, however, Trump has purged the Pentagon of high-ranking generals whose loyalty he considered questionable, as well as top lawyers responsible for ensuring that armed forces follow the law. A highly expensive show of military force on Trump’s birthday, however, might not set the right tone after tens of thousands of federal jobs have been axed by Trump’s hatchet man Elon Musk — to save money.
Takis Karantonis, chairman of the board in D.C.’s neighboring Arlington County, Virginia, told the City Paper that he had received a “heads up” about the parade from the White House on Friday, but little firm information.
“It’s not clear to me what the scope of a parade would be, but I would hope the federal government remains sensitive to the pain and concerns of numerous [military] veteran residents who have lost or might lose their jobs in recent federal decisions, as they reflect on how best to celebrate the Army’s anniversary,” Karantonis said.
Asked on Monday whether she would push back against any parade featuring “military tanks”, Bowser said: “Yeah, military tanks on our streets would not be good. If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the road.”
She added that driving such vehicles on the 14th Street bridges, which link the Pentagon to downtown D.C., would definitely be “a test.”
Back in 2018, Bowser and Trump clashed openly over the possibility of a parade. “The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” Trump tweeted at the time, referring to Bowser’s estimated cost for the parade.
