President Donald Trump says he’s planning a grand military parade to celebrate the nation’s independence that will snake down Washington’s main thoroughfare.
Trump was so impressed by the military parade he attended in Paris on Bastille Day in July, he told French President Emmanuel Macron he’s looking at the logistics of having a Pennsylvania Avenue procession just like it.
‘We may do something like that on July 4th in Washington, down Pennsylvania Avenue,’ Trump told Macron on Monday afternoon. ‘We’re going to have to try and top it.’
The president said he’d like to have a ‘really great parade to show our military strength’ and that he’s been sizing up the prospect since his experience in Paris.
President Donald Trump says he’s planning a grand military parade to celebrate the nation’s independence that will snake down Washington’s main thoroughfare
U.S troops march down the Champs-Elysees avenue during the traditional Bastille day military parade on July 14, 2017 in Paris. The French National day coincided this year the 100th anniversary of the entry of the United States of America into World War I
Macron’s guest at this year’s Bastille Day celebration, the U.S. president and the newly-elected leader of France sat side-by-side at at two-hour display that featured military flyover and a procession down the Champs-Elysees
Trump has bet hot on the tail of a military parade for some time now. He floated the idea in a January interview just before his inauguration.
Macron’s guest at this year’s Bastille Day celebration, the U.S. president and the newly-elected leader of France sat side-by-side at at two-hour display that featured military flyover and a procession down the Champs-Elysees in July.
The holiday coincided this year with the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into WWI. As such, U.S. planes and troops participated in the July 14 demonstration.
Macron arrived at the VIP viewing booth that he would sit and watch the spectacle from with Trump in a military jeep.
‘We had a lot of planes going over and we had a lot of military might, and it was really a beautiful thing to see,’ Trump said reminiscing this afternoon with Macron. ‘They had representatives from different wars and different uniforms. It was really so well done.’
Trump told his counterpart during their meeting that took place United Nations, ‘It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen. It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.’
A parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to show off the United States’ military might has been on Trump’s mind for some time now.
He told the Washington Post in January that he’d like to have a military parade as part of his campaign to ‘Make America Great Again.’
‘That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades. I mean, we’re going to be showing our military,’ he told the Washington Post then.
The then-president in waiting, Trump reportedly requested tanks and missile launchers at at his inaugural parade. The Pentagon turned him down, the Huffington Post reported.
‘They were legit thinking Red Square/North Korea-style parade,’ a source told the news publication.
Red Square is the focal point of Russia’s Victory Day Parade in Moscow. The May 9 event celebrates the fall of Nazi Germany on that date in 1945.
Trump’s request was denied, the Huffington Post said, because the show of force was considered bad optics. Having tanks roll down the streets of D.C. was also determined to be structurally challenging. Tanks like the ones Trump is envisioning weigh 100,000 pounds.
The incoming president wanted a flyover for his inauguration, but that was called off, the Huffington Post said, because of bad weather.
A spokesperson for the Pentagon said the Air Force planned to fly four fighter jets overhead, an F-35, an F-16, an F-22 and an F-15E. The Navy was supposed to man four F/A-18 combat jets in the pass over.
The Army was to contribute four UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The Marines were down for four V-22 Ospreys. The Coast Guard was looking to fly four MH-65 rescue helicopters overhead, Maj. Jamie Davis said.