President Donald Trump could finally be getting something he's longed for since first getting elected to the White House.
Trump pushed for a grandiose military parade through the streets of D.C. during his first term but was forced to back down over the costs, but a D.C. source with knowledge of the plan said commandeered June 14, the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and his own 79th birthday for a four-mile parade, reported the Washington City Paper.
The plans are still being developed, and local officials are just now catching wind of it, but the source said the parade would depart from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and proceed four miles to the White House in Washington.
“It’s not clear to me what the scope of a parade would be,” said Arlington County board chair Takis Karantonis. “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 the White House provided a "heads up" to the county about the parade on Friday, but he said details are still being worked out.
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D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser's office did not respond to a request for comment, but she publicly opposed Trump's wishes for a parade seven years ago, when military leaders told him the show of force would cost nearly $100 million and local officials complained that heavy military equipment like tanks would damage pavement and cost them more than $20 million to provide security.
“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” Trump posted on Twitter at the time. “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 …attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date…”
Neither Bowser or military officials seem ready to challenge Trump on this plan, but local officials are daunted by the logistics of coordinating between the six branches of the U.S. military, along with local and regional officials and federal agencies, in just 10 weeks.
D.C. officials also say that rights of way and bridges into the district would need to be shut down, and possibly many of Metro’s rail and bus lines, to ensure public safety during the parade.
“We’d have to make sure everything is safe,” that official said.
