- A large-scale military parade is reportedly being planned in Washington, D.C. The parade is said to be planned on June 14: the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, and Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. Trump has long wanted a showy parade of military units since seeing France’s Bastille Day in 2018.
Donald Trump has long wanted to oversee a military parade. This year, he might finally get one.
Washington CityPaper reports Trump has set June 14, which is his birthday as well as the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, for a massive military parade. Details are still in the process of being worked out.
An Arlington County board member says the county was given the “heads up” about the parade late last week, but does not yet know the scope of the festivities.
Trump, in his first term, pushed for a military parade, with soldiers marching through Washington and tanks rolling down the city streets in 2018, following his attendance of Bastille Day in Paris. On his trip home on Air Force One, he told aides he wanted to create a similar show of military force in the U.S.
The idea was scuttled after military leaders calculated the parade would cost $92 million—and D.C. officials expressed concern about the impact of the parade on local roads and the $21 million it would cost for public safety.
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, at the time, wasn’t afraid to challenge Trump, responding to Trump’s announcement that he had canceled the parade with a fierce tweet of her own, writing “Yup, I’m Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities ($21.6M) of parades/events/demonstrations in Trump America (sad).”
There has been no pushback to this proposal, however.
Organizing such a massive parade in just a few months could be a challenge to coordinators, especially as widespread job cuts are happening across a swath of federal divisions. The White House has not commented on the possibility of a parade.