Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Autocratic leaders love to have parades that show off military might. And it’s even better if the display of power glorifies them personally in some manner. So, naturally, Donald Trump has long dreamed of holding a military parade in Washington, D.C. For years, he has been thwarted, but now he may finally get his way — and on his birthday no less.
Saturday, June 14, happens to be both the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and Trump’s 79th birthday. Festivities to celebrate the Army milestone, including activities and displays on the National Mall, have been in the works for about two years. And now the Trump administration is reportedly looking to add a parade that would stretch nearly four miles, from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River, into D.C.
Washington City Paper broke the news on Sunday, reporting that local officials were just learning of the request:
Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis, who describes Arlington as a “9/11 city” that is proud of being home to the Pentagon, tells City Paper that no formal request for assistance has been made to the county. Karantonis says the county was given a “heads up” about the parade on Friday by the White House, but with no firm details.
“It’s not clear to me what the scope of a parade would be,” Karantonis says. “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.”
On Monday, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser said Trump-administration officials had contacted the city’s special-events task force, per Politico.
However, if officials are looking into holding a parade this year, they aren’t ready to admit it. The White House issued a statement saying that “no military parade has been scheduled.” (Of course, that doesn’t mean a parade won’t be scheduled; it just hasn’t happened yet.)
An Army spokesman responded with a more equivocal statement, telling the AP, “It’s too early to say yet whether or not we’re having a parade, but we’re working with the White House as well as several government agencies to make the celebration a national-level event.”
Trump first said he wanted a military parade in 2017, several months after he attended one in Paris for Bastille Day. The following year, he announced he had canceled plans for the parade, accusing local officials of price gouging as the estimated cost of the event ballooned as high as $92 million.
“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” he wrote on Twitter. “When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up!”
Bowser still isn’t thrilled about having tanks roll through D.C. “Military tanks on our streets would not be good,” the mayor told reporters this week. “If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads.”
So will Trump actually get his parade this time? On the one hand, this is still a costly and logistically difficult undertaking. On the other hand, “Do whatever Trump wants” seems to be the theme of his second administration. And it’s clear the president who played with a Mack truck in front of the White House would really like to see some cool tanks drive right past his house on his birthday.
