President Trump has long advocated for having a military parade in our nation’s capital to show and celebrate the might of America. And what better time to celebrate than Veteran’s Day on November 11, a federal holiday that recognizes the Armed Services for the work that they do and sacrifices that they make.
Supporters love the idea in all of its pomp and circumstance. Critics argue that the money needed to put on a big parade would be better spent elsewhere.
President Trump now agrees that a big military parade is too expensive, but he’s not happy about it. He officially cancelled the parade on Twitter, saying:
The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. 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! I will instead…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
Instead, the President plans to join Andrews Air Force Base personnel at an already scheduled parade, as well as the November 11th parade in Paris to celebrate the end of World War I. Last year’s Bastille Day parade in Paris was part of Trump’s motivation to create a similar celebration here in the United States.
….attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser responded with a tweet of her own:
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). https://t.co/vqC3d8FLqx
— Muriel Bowser (@MurielBowser) August 17, 2018
Other total-cost estimates have been reported at $92 million, according to an article published by USA TODAY.
Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney remarked on the President’s motivation for cancelling the parade. He told “Fox News Sunday” that he wasn’t part of the decision to cancel the parade. “If the parade had been cancelled purely for fiscal reasons, I imagine I would have been in the room when that decision was made,” he said. “And I wasn’t, so my guess is that there were other contributing factors.”
Military parades are not a common sight in the United States, especially not on the scale that President Trump hopes to see. The last big military parade reported on was in 1991, to mark the end of the Persian Gulf War, according to the Smithsonian. The Los Angeles Times reported that attendance was less than expected, topping out at around 800,000 in the evening.
Parades were held during and at the end of World War II, as well as at the inaugurations of Presidents Kennedy and Eisenhower. The Korean and Vietnam War-eras were notably without parades, as a show of military might was deemed unpopular at the time. The parade, now a possibility for 2019, would be the first of its kind in over 25 years. Some think that such a show is a waste of money. Others think that it honors those serving with recognition.
The Smithsonian remarked on the words of a “veteran observer” published in The New York Times in 1866. The author, after outlining the importance of military academies in the training of military leadership, concluded with “I have no admiration for the military profession, no desire that war should continue, and nothing but contempt for what are justly thought the mere pomp and glitter of military parade. But, alas! for our poor human nature, wars must come, and military pomp will attend them.”
Whether those words are a warning against military pomp and parades or just an observation on their necessary part in societies where “wars must come,” the planned military parade is still on the table. But, we’ll have to wait until 2019 to see if costs can come down and if the parade happens as President Trump hopes.
So what will President Trump do with all the money he had planned to spend on the parade? “Now we can buy some more jet fighters!” he exclaimed at the end of his parade-cancelling tweet.
