Trump’s Massive Military Parade in D.C. Is Canned

Some people thought that President Trump was just kidding when he spoke about having a massive military parade down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. But they hadn’t listened to Trump even before he was sworn into office. 

President-elect Trump inquired to his team about including armored military vehicles in his inaugural parade. Seven months later, French President Emmanuel Macron showed Trump a Bastille Day parade while he was visiting Frace. The American leader’s interest was peaked. So in September, Trump saw Macron at the United Nations and said he’d been inspired to organize a military parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. 

In February, ignoring concerns from military leaders, Trump instructed the Pentagon to move forward with plans for the event. The White House’s budget office said the parade would cost taxpayers as little as $10 million.

But this week, the price of the event rose to $92 million and the project seems to be canned. 

“The multimillion-dollar military parade through the nation’s capital requested by President Donald Trump has been delayed until 2019,” a Defense Department spokesman said Thursday.

“The Department of Defense and White House have been planning a parade to honor America’s military veterans and commemorate the centennial of World War I,” said Col. Rob Manning. “We originally targeted November 10, 2018 for this event but have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019.”

Some experts think the wording of the announcement means that it will never happen. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said earlier this year that such a display would be “a sign of weakness.” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) added, “Confidence is silent. Insecurities are loud. When you’re the most powerful nation in all of human history, you don’t have to show it off, like Russia does, and North Korea, and China. And we are the most powerful nation in all of human history. Everyone knows that, and there’s no need to broadcast it. I think we would show our confidence by remaining silent, and not doing something like that.”