Trump’s Military Parade To Cost At Least $12,000,000
Donald Trump's military parade will cost roughly the same as military exercises in South Korea he has previously called "tremendously expensive."
CNN is reporting that Donald Trump’s military parade, which will apparently take place on Veterans Day in November, will end up costing as much as the military exercises with South Korea which he recently called “tremendously expensive”:
President Donald Trump’s military parade in DC is likely to cost nearly as much as the now canceled military exercise with South Korea that Trump called “tremendously expensive” and said cost “a fortune,” three US defense officials tell CNN.
The parade, which is now scheduled to take place on November 10, is currently estimated to cost approximately $12 million, the officials said. One official called the number “a planning figure,” saying cost estimates could still change as planning develops.
“We save a fortune by not doing war games, as long as we are negotiating in good faith – which both sides are!” Trump tweeted in June following his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
North Korea had long sought an end to the exercises, which it says are provocative. US military leaders have said the exercises are necessary to maintain the readiness of US troops in South Korea.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning told reporters earlier this month that the now-cancelled US-South Korea Freedom Guardian Exercise was estimated to cost approximately $14 million.
This military parade, which apparently became a focus for the President last year when he spent Bastille Day in France with French President Emmanuel Macron and witnessed the parade that French military forces engage in through the streets of Paris. According to several reports, Trump said at the time that he wanted a similar parade in the United States and apparently kept hounding his aides and military advisers to put together a proposal for such an event. The current cost estimate is lower than the $30,000,000 estimate that was issued back in February, but that is apparently due to the fact that the current plan no longer includes plans to have heavy military equipment such as tanks, troop transports, and missile batteries, join the parade route much like they had during the parade that occurred in the nation’s capital in 1991 in the wake of the Persian Gulf War. In any case, in March it was confirmed that a parade of some kind was indeed going forward and that it would be focused at least in part on marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, which comes this year on November 11th which, of course, is celebrated as Veteran’s Day here in the United States. One can’t help but think, though, that Trump is going to make it all about him.
In any case, one can’t help but wonder how it is that $14,000,000 for military exercises designed to ensure that American and South Korean forces are prepared for any potential conflict in one of the world’s hotspots is “tremendously expensive” while $12,000,000 for what essentially amounts to a parade designed largely for the purpose of stroking the ego of the President of the United States is not.
“The current plan no longer includes plans to have heavy military equipment such as tanks, troop transports, and missile batteries, join the parade route”
Great President Trump will not be pleased with this..
@Mark Ivey:
After the Persian Gulf parade in 1991, the Federal Government ended up having to reimburse the District of Columbia millions of dollars to repair the damage that some of the heavy vehicles that took part in the parade created on Constitution Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, and other roads.
I have not heard any positive vibes from anyone in DoD on this parade. Of course, no details have been forthcoming but I think most people will loath the Trump Reality Show aspect that it is doomed to have.
Celebrating the end of WWI is worthy but only if there is some remembrance of the costs of that war and how its aftermath is still reverberating 100 years later. The mistakes made after the war led to WWII which led to the collective security of NATO, United Nations and other international institutions that Trump has been ignorantly denigrating. I doubt Trump is aware of any of that history.
My nightmare scenario is that Trump will invite Putin to join him on the reviewing stand. The thought of those two looking down on our troops will make me gag.
@Scott:
Personally, I have always believed that the United States should never have gotten involved in World War One to begin with, and that Wilson’s decision to try to remake Europe in his image was an even graver mistake.
Though now referred to as a “World War,” WW1 was in many respects no different from the continental wars that Europe had experienced in the past, the most recent before then being the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th Century. Had the U.S. stayed out of it, the war likely would have ended with some kind of stalemate and the establishment of a new European status quo that would have been far less disruptive than what we saw unfold in our own timeline.
@Scott:
Someone suggested this to me last night on Twitter and, yea, that would make me sick to my stomach.
Putin’s visit this fall will probably take place in November near election day, so he and Donny can personally review and discuss the results of Russian hacking. And certainly Putin will be seated next to Donny on the stands at the parade.
The GOP could do a “go fund me” page to self-fund the event.
That way the fans of autocracy can enjoy their pompus circumstance.
(no, I didn’t misstate that. 🙂 )
“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
-George Orwell, 1984, Chapter 7.
Congratulations, Trumper tards.
@Doug Mataconis:
Because of the colonial possessions there was also extensive fighting in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. South and Central America were less involved, but Brazil did send a significant force of troops to fight.
What’s the over/under on demonstrators trolling the parade with one of those orange baby Trump balloons that bugged him so much in London?
@MarkedMan: Yup, every inhabited continent on earth was involved even before the US weighed in.
@Doug Mataconis:
This is technically true, but deserves more background. The Napoleonic Wars were also worldwide in nature, again, because of the colonial possessions. Coastal towns were constantly bombarded and captured and armies mobilized to capture strategic cities. The Naval and Army papers of the era are full of battles that took place outside the European continent. And even in Europe, the armies were full of colonial transcripts and the Navies grabbed whoever they could in any town they possessed around the world. It could be argued that the Napoleonic Wars were WW Zero.
@rachel: I know I will be there carrying a sign thanking the troops for their service and reminding the rest of us to do our duty: IMPEACH TRUMP!
Carmelo Anthony got traded to the Hawks, then bought out and waived. He keeps the $28 million left on his contract.
I suppose I could oppose the parade based on who’s hosting it and who he might bring, but there are other factors are play and I’m not sure the price-tag is all that worrying. Doesn’t a single Tomahawk missile cost a little over a million bucks?
@MarkedMan:
Also the War of 1812 took place within the context of the Napoleonic Wars.
As to WWI, there were several reasons for America to get involved. One was that neutrality rules at the time required a neutral to treat all combatants equally. So the US could stop trade with both the Alliance and the Entente, or trade freely with both, but could not trade with one and refuse to trade with the other. Combine this with unrestricted submarine warfare by Germany, and tons of sympathy for the British in America, and the result is inevitable.
There’s an anecdote where one of the European participants at the negotiations at the close of the War quipped “God gave us ten commandments. We broke them. Mr. Wilson has given us fourteen points. We shall see.” I think this tells more about Wilson than anything else.
It’s likely that if America had no gotten involve things would have been better later on. It’s questionable whether holding aloof from the conflict was possible.
Other things might have led to a better outcome, such as not inflicting massively punitive reparations on Germany. That lesson, at least, was learned and applied after the next war. Contrast how the defeated Axis countries were treated then.
Now if we could have a parade like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnIBk-0KLi0
I would totally attend.
You claim to be a Libertarian; are you denying that one of the fundamental principles is that things that you don’t want to pay for are “unnecessary expenses that, cumulatively, will bankrupt the system” and that things that you want to have are “essential to the basic freedoms that we all enjoy and necessary stimulators of economic growth?” I mean come on. One doesn’t even need to be a Libertarian, this comes under Politics 101.
@CSK: That seems like a no-brainer to me, too.
@Scott:..I would totally attend.
Don’t but me Captain…
The weather in mid November is too unpredictable with cold and rain commonly taking a lot of fun out of a parade. A spring date would be better. May first would be good. Nothing would get my heart pounding more than our leader reviewing a parade on May 1.
@James Pearce:
So basically, we shouldn’t even talk about this thing that Trump is doing because it’s a waste of time/playing into his hands?
BTW, what about Hillary?
@MarkedMan:
Talk about it all you want.
Just prepare to be called anti-military because you freaked out over a Veteran’s Day Parade that costs .5 Carmelo Anthonys.
I eagerly await the new “dark” Bungles to show up on this thread and warn us that if we don’t all respect this very important patriotic act, many people will die and it will all be our fault — just as will happen if we say mean things about the president.
I hope he invites Monica Lewinsky, Juanita Broaddrick, and Vladimir Putin to the Review Stand. I also hope that he has “Trump” stenciled on to missiles and tanks as they roll by.
There’s nothing worse than a chickenhawk bully boy who never served but has a burning desire to act like he’s the big, tough military guy…Commander-In-Chief Bone Spurs…
@James Pearce: So pointing out it’s a frivolous and needless expense and reminiscent of authoritarian regimes is “freaking out?”
Of course, the Trumpists will call anyone opposed to this exercise in Trump ego-stroking “anti-military,” even those of us who had full military careers. Should we just remain silent?
It seems as though there is no way of expressing disagreement with Trump’s actions that is acceptable to you.