The president was previously forced to abandon plans for a procession in Washington, D.C., due to its colossal price tag.
  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
    0·
    28 days ago

    Next up, the goose step, with jackboots, will be used when marching past the main stage. Over $11 trillion lost and the stupid fuck wants to play army.

  • ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    28 days ago

    Trump crafted the idea for a military parade after witnessing a lavish Bastille Day celebration in Paris in 2017. Top US generals and officials were less thrilled about the idea. At one White House meeting, when Trump addressed his idea with Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, then the second-highest-ranking general as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Selva suggested the idea was reminiscent of something often seen in dictatorships. When Trump asked Selva what he thought of the parade, Selva said he grew up in Portugal, which “was a dictatorship — and parades were about showing the people who had the guns.” “And in this country, we don’t do that,” Selva said. “It’s not who we are.” Trump then asked Selva whether or not he liked the idea, to which he responded: “No.” He added, “It’s what dictators do.”

    • elucubra@sopuli.xyz
      0·
      28 days ago

      Spain, under Franco had a yearly massive parade. When Democracy was reinstated, the tradition continued, but instead of celebrating the victory of the nationalists in the civil war, it became a celebration of the armed forces. It’s still held, but it has steadily been downsized, to a mainly ceremonial and testimonial level.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca
    0·
    27 days ago

    “Let’s put on a parade for this great leader” as opposed to “I want a parade!” (for a greatly, less great leader).

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
    0·
    29 days ago

    I for one, am glad he’s planning this.

    At some point, the top generals are going to have to make a choice of who to support.

    It’s actions like this that cost Caligula his life.

  • wheeldawg@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    28 days ago

    My immediate reaction to seeing this title was split between happy AF “oh maybe he thinks he won’t make it to 80” and then “but what is he saving for that birthday?”

    I have never honestly, purely, maliciously, and actively wished death on somebody currently alive (I’ve done it before for certain people to happen right before they did “the thing” they did) than I do now about him. Well, them. Him and the co-president.

    And for once I feel no moral uncertainty in hoping it is the most terrifying, embarrassing, humiliating, depressing, public, well-captured (for historical purposes of course), and agonizing things ever experienced by a single human. By a huge amount.

    Hitler may have tortured 6 million, but Trump is making 300 some million lives worse. Significantly worse. And if we end up in a war, then 100% of those deaths will be directly attributable to him, as will all the LGBT people that harm themselves under his reign.

    • RidderSport@feddit.org
      0·
      27 days ago

      Hitler hasn’t tortured 6 million. 6 million is the most likely number of holocaust victims - the total headcount of the war and the civil repressions is far more than 30million.

    • Corhen@lemmy.world
      0·
      27 days ago

      President Donald Trump is making plans for a military parade in Washington, D.C., on his 79th birthday, according to a report.

      A source in the capital told the Washington City Paper that Trump has earmarked June 14—which is the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army—for the event.

      The display of military might will march around four miles from the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, to the White House, the D.C. source told the publication.

      The report said that local officials are only now hearing of plans for the parade and that no formal request has been made for their assistance.

      D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser estimated the parade plans are in their “early stages,” adding that either the Department of Homeland Security or White House reached out to the district’s special events task force, reported Fox News.

      Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis told the City Paper that the White House had given the county a “heads up” about the parade on Friday, with only 10 weeks until the event. The White House told Fox that “no military parade has been scheduled” for Trump’s birthday, but stopped short of saying outright there would not be one.

      He said “the parade’s scope ” was “unclear” and that no firm details were disclosed.

      Trump said in his first term that he would like to see tanks as part of a parade on Pennsylvania Avenue. Bowser said she did not want to see military tanks on the streets of Washington unless it received millions in extra funding.

      “Military tanks on our streets would not be good,” Bowser said. “If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads.”

      Other unnamed officials told the paper that a big military parade will require a huge amount of coordination between the six branches of the armed forces, along with several federal agencies and regional officials.

      D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s requests for comment.

      President Trump previously pushed for a grand military parade in 2018 during his first term in the White House but was stymied by estimates the event would cost $92 million, according to the Associated Press.

      The event had been slated to include tanks, fighter jets, and historic military planes.

      The plans emerged after Trump’s 2017 visit to France where he witnessed the Paris Bastille Day celebrations which included displays of heavy military machinery. Trump said the U.S. is “going to have to try and top” the French display, according to the AP.

      When that parade failed to materialize, Trump pushed for tanks to be displayed in D.C. during Independence Day celebrations in 2019. The inclusion of military vehicles in the “Salute to America” pageant contributed to the event costing taxpayers over $13 million—double the cost of previous celebrations, according to Politico.

      No tanks were included in the same event the following year.