Thread: $92 MILLION new estimate for Trump military parade

$92M new estimate for Trump military parade is big increase


LOLITA C. BALDOR
,Associated Press•August 16, 2018

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2017, file photo, military units participate in the inaugural parade from the Capitol to the White House in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. A U.S. official says the 2018 Veterans Day military parade ordered up by President Donald Trump would cost about $92 million _ more than three times the maximum initial estimate. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Veterans Day military parade ordered up by President Donald Trump would cost about $92 million, U.S. officials said Thursday, citing preliminary estimates more than three times the price first suggested by the White House.

According to the officials, roughly $50 million would cover Pentagon costs for aircraft, equipment, personnel and other support for the November parade in Washington. The remainder would be borne by other agencies and largely involve security costs. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss early planning estimates that have not yet been finalized or released publicly.

Officials said the plans have not yet been approved by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

The parade's cost has become a politically charged issue, particularly after the Pentagon canceled a major military exercise planned for August with South Korea, in the wake of Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump said the drills were provocative and that dumping them would save the U.S. "a tremendous amount of money." The Pentagon later said the Korea drills would have cost $14 million.

Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, would only say Thursday that Defense Department planning for the parade "continues and final details are still being developed. Any cost estimates are pre-decisional. We will announce more information when it is available."

While details are still being worked out, the parade is expected to include troops from all five armed services — the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard — as well as units in period uniforms representing earlier times in the nation's history. It also is expected to involve a number of military aircraft flyovers.

A Pentagon planning memo released in March said the parade would feature a "heavy air component," likely including older, vintage aircraft. It also said there would be "wheeled vehicles only, no tanks — consideration must be given to minimize damage to local infrastructure." Big, heavy tanks could tear up streets in the District of Columbia.

The memo from Mattis' office provided initial planning guidance to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His staff is planning the parade along a route from the White House to the Capitol, and would integrate it with the city's annual veterans' parade. U.S. Northern Command, which oversees U.S. troops in North America, is responsible for the actual execution of the parade.

Earlier this year, the White House budget director told Congress that the cost to taxpayers could be between $10 million and $30 million.

Those estimates were likely based on the cost of previous military parades, such as the one in the nation's capital in 1991 celebrating the end of the first Gulf War, and factored in some additional increase for inflation.

Trump decided he wanted a military parade Washington after he attended France's Bastille Day celebration in the center of Paris last year.

As the invited guest of French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump watched enthusiastically from a reviewing stand as the French military showcased its tanks and fighter jets, including many U.S.-made planes, along the famed Champs-Elysees.

Several months later Trump praised the French parade, saying, "We're going to have to try and top it."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/official-...-politics.html

As much as I love and respect our military, and have a son who is career military now, this makes me sick.

Instead of Trump showing off his military, they are needed to STOP this invasion on the Southern Border. After that we can have a parade!

BREAKING NEWS

Pentagon postpones Trump's military parade

This isn't North Korea, Russia, or China. We don't need a chest thumping military parade to show off our hardware.

HAVE A PARADE AFTER THE WALL IS BUILT!

Originally Posted by MW

This isn't North Korea, Russia, or China. We don't need a chest thumping military parade to show off our hardware.

It was France, not these other countries you mention, that inspired Trump to do this.

Originally Posted by Beezer

HAVE A PARADE AFTER THE WALL IS BUILT!

Or don't have one at all. I'd rather have a picnic for the military and veterans myself. I think they'd enjoy that a lot more, where we all do the work to thank and honor them, instead of asking them to do all this work to honor themselves.

Actually, put the $92 million into Tiny Home Housing for our VETS that are homeless!

We have plenty of abandoned land in cities on bus lines...build them Tiny Homes.

Get them jobs! Part of the condition of living in the Tiny Home community.

President tweeted this morning it was cancelled due to the cost from District of Columbia to hold parade in DC. He's going to go to the Parade already planned at Andrews Air Force Base on a different day and go to Paris to celebrate the ending of the War on November 11. Maybe next year he said if cost comes "WAY DOWN".

Another radical leftist politician. The picture says a thousand words....

D.C. mayor hits back at Trump over canceled military parade





D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during the Women’s March on Washington, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) **FILE** more >

By Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times - Friday, August 17, 2018

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser took a victory lap Friday on Twitter after President Trump blamed her for forcing him to cancel his proposed military parade because of the whopping price tag.

“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),” Ms. Bowser tweeted.

The tweet was a direct response to an early morning post from Mr. Trump, who said 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,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump said he now plans to attend a previously scheduled parade at Andrews Air Force Base and then travel to Paris to commemorate Veterans Day.

“Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN,” he said. “Now we can buy some more jet fighters!”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...litary-parade/