Expect Trump's Military Parade to Cost More Than the Army Says

The Intercept

3 days ago

President Donald Trump boasted on Monday that his hosting of a military parade in Washington, D.C., next month to honor the Army's 250th anniversary — coincidentally the same date as his 79th birthday — was an act of divine intervention.
'We're going to have a big, big celebration, as you know, 250 years,' he said during a Memorial Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery. 'Can you imagine? I missed that four years, and now look what I have, I have everything. Amazing the way things work out. God did that.'
The massive military parade and related festivities planned for June 14 will cost an estimated $25 to $45 million, according to the Army. This is likely a significant underestimate due to many expenses that are unaccounted for – or will be billed later, such as damages to local infrastructure caused by armored vehicles. Members of Congress are already expressing outrage at what they see as a gross misuse of funds.
'Trump squandering $45 million in taxpayer dollars on a military parade for his birthday is the epitome of government waste,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. 'If the Trump Administration truly cared about celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Army, they would honor past and present soldiers and reinstate the thousands of veterans who they fired from the federal workforce — not throw away millions on an extravagant parade.'
The purpose of the parade is also seemingly up for interpretation. The White House now says the parade is a celebration of the Army's semiquincentennial after, last month, denying reports that a parade would be held on the president's birthday. Trump, for his part, has offered shifting explanations, stating that the parade is a celebration of Flag Day, the military writ large, or tanks and other weaponry.
The current plan, nonetheless, involves a martial spectacle reminiscent of the Soviet Union or North Korea in the heart of America's capital, with armored vehicles rolling down Constitution Avenue. It is slated to involve more than 100 vehicles, including 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 28 Stryker armored personnel carriers, 28 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, four M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, as well as military relics like World War II-era Sherman tanks, a B-25 bomber, and a P-51 Mustang single-seat fighter plane, according to Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith. She added that the parade will also feature 34 horses, two mules, one wagon, and one dog.
'Join us on June 14th for the U.S. Army's 250th Anniversary Grand Military Parade on the National Mall! Hosted by President Donald Trump,' reads a White House post on X announcing the event, which will also feature 50 helicopters flying overhead, including Apaches, Black Hawks, and tandem-rotor Chinooks. The White House says that Trump will 'deliver remarks celebrating 250 Years of the U.S. Army's exceptional service, significant achievements, and enduring legacy.'
Trump previously called the price tag of the parade 'peanuts compared to the value of doing it.' The White House did not respond to questions about the additional costs beyond those cited by the Army.
'This administration does not have a credible history of telling the truth about anything. And so, when they estimate $45 million, you know that's a low-ball figure.'
Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., suspects the costs could be markedly higher than the current estimates. 'This administration does not have a credible history of telling the truth about anything. And so, when they estimate $45 million, you know that's a low-ball figure,' he told The Intercept. 'I don't know if it includes transporting the troops from their home stations to Washington or feeding them on that trip.'
Cohen brought up other costs from aircraft flyovers — 'How much fuel do they burn up? How much maintenance is required before and after the flight?' — to the construction of stands and viewing platforms on the parade route.
The total burden on taxpayers could also soar higher because the federal government is on the hook to fix city streets and other infrastructure torn up by the armored vehicles (each Abrams tank, for instance, weighs almost 70 tons). 'If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads,' said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in April, adding that tanks rolling through the city's streets 'would not be good.'
The Army says they have this covered — at taxpayer expense. 'As a prevention measure to ensure there are no damages to the roads, one-inch-thick steel plates, varying in size from 4 feet by 8 feet and 8 feet by 20 feet will be placed on the roads at any pivot point and all new rubber tracks will be placed on vehicles,' Heather J. Hagan, an Army spokesperson, told The Intercept. 'The federal government would be responsible for any damages.'
Additional expenses, like cleanup and an increased police presence, are also apparently not part of current estimates, although Daniel Gleick, Bowser's press secretary, was unable to provide projected local costs. The sheer number of agencies the Army is working with, however, speaks to the likelihood of wide-ranging additional expenses. 'The Army is coordinating with local law enforcement, National Park Services, District Department of Transportation, Federal Highways Administration, U.S. Park Police, and DC Water, who will assess the roads and bridges,' said Hagan.
One major expense of the parade to be borne by taxpayers is the cross-country transport of mammoth military vehicles. The Abrams tanks have, for example, already been loaded onto flatbed railcars at an industrial rail yard facility at Fort Cavazos, Texas, for their long journey toward Washington. The tanks will then be trucked to a staging area near the parade route.
The district will also be flooded with close to 7,000 troops. The Army did not want to disclose the locations for force protection reasons, but service members will be housed in the Agriculture Department and General Services Administration buildings, according to Pentagon sources. Contracting materials examined by The Intercept show the Army National Guard is seeking to rent '800 Sleeping Cots in Support of Army 250 Parade in Washington D.C.'
'They're going to sleep on cots. They're going to get cots and MREs,' said Smith, the Army spokesperson, referring to 'meals ready-to-eat,' the military's moniker for rations.
Cohen, the Tennessee representative, also referenced the inclusion of large numbers of National Guard members. 'They'll have to take time from their jobs. And are they being paid by the state extra for this time as being in the National Guard? That's another expense,' he said.
The Army is also looking into potential lodgings — like hotel rooms or furnished apartments — to house 280 personnel from June 12 to 16 and another 275 personnel from June 13 to 16 near the National Mall. These people will, however, eschew MREs for more sumptuous victuals: a hot breakfast, a bag lunch, and a hot dinner, according to a request for information issued by the Army earlier this month. Smith said she did not have details about this effort. Hagan, the other Army spokesperson, did not have a more granular breakdown of other parade costs. Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron at the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Élysées Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2017. Photo: Eliot Blondet/Sipa USA via AP Images
Trump has Fixated on military parades for decades — and has repeatedly found himself mired in controversy as a result. When he was merely a real estate developer and New York City gadfly, his involvement with the Nation's Parade, celebrating the Second World War's 50th anniversary in 1995, sullied 'an otherwise positive day,' according to the New York Times. As reporter Robert McFadden observed at the time: 'Many veterans were angry that organizers had agreed to name Mr. Trump, who is not a veteran, as grand marshal in exchange for his contribution of $200,000 and help in raising additional funds.'
In 2017, during his first term, Trump watched the Bastille Day parade in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and returned home obsessed with staging his own défilé militaire. Plans for a 2018 parade were postponed after local officials in Washington, D.C., raised concerns about damage to the capital city's streets, the Pentagon tossed up additional roadblocks, and public reports of the estimated $92 million price tag caused the White House to retreat. '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,' Trump groused in a tweet at the time. 'Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN.'
A top aide to then-Defense Secretary James Mattis wrote that the former general privately said he would 'rather swallow acid' than watch Trump's military spectacle.
Trump seems to have learned lessons from past parade problems and has been deflecting talk of June 14 being a festival in his honor. 'Your birthday's coming up,' NBC News's Kristen Welker said during a wide-ranging interview with Trump earlier this month. 'Yeah,' the president responded. 'And there are reports that you're looking into the possibility of a military —' said Welker, with Trump replying 'Yeah' as she said 'parade.' But the president immediately walked it back. 'Well, my birthday happens to be on Flag Day. So … I think they're talking about Flag Day. But I view it for Flag Day, not necessarily my birthday,' Trump went on. 'It's Flag Day, plus we're going to have different days. You know, if you look at Russia, they celebrate Victory Day.'
Lavish spending on the military parade comes as the Trump administration is requesting $1 trillion for the Pentagon and pursuing massive cuts to nonmilitary programs like housing assistance, education initiatives, environmental programs, and foreign aid.
Cohen reiterated the need to pass his Halting All Parades for Presidents' Yearly Birthdays; It Risks Taxpayer Harm, Damages, And Your (HAPPY BIRTHDAY) Budget Act, which he introduced last month. 'The egotist-in-chief wants taxpayers to foot the bill for a military parade on his birthday. This would be an unprecedented waste of money to please this self-absorbed con man,' said Cohen, whose legislation would bar public funds from being used for presidential birthday parades. 'It also sends the message that Trump is not a king, and we don't pay tribute to tyrants.'
Despite their opposition to Trump's military spectacular, both Cohen and Blumenthal emphasized their appreciation for the military. 'I strongly support celebrating the Army's 250 years of service and sacrifice, but in a more appropriate way,' said the senator.
'We all appreciate the Army. We all appreciate the soldiers. We appreciate the veterans. We don't have to have this parade to do that,' Cohen told The Intercept.
'Even if the parade costs $45 million, that's a lot of money. And that could feed a lot of kids who are losing SNAP payments,' said Cohen, referencing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps. 'So I think it's misprioritization of monies. And it just contributes to the whole idea of a fascist state with an authoritarian leader like Mussolini or Hitler.'