Trump tells France 'you would be speaking German right now' if not for America as he touts Army parade
President Donald Trump needled France Tuesday saying 'you would be speaking German right now' had it not been for the U.S.'s involvement in World War II, as he again touted Saturday's Army parade.
'We're going to celebrate our country for a change,' Trump said, expressing frustration that the U.S. hasn't held military-centric celebrations to mark significant military milestones.
Trump then told reporters how he had recently called up France as they were celebrating the World War II victory.
'But we helped them a lot,' Trump said. 'As you know, I don't have to get into that, but I called up other countries, they're all celebrating the victory. We're the only country that didn't celebrate the victory and we're the one that won the war, OK?'
'If it wasn't for us you would be speaking German right now, OK?' the president continued.
'We won the war - you might be speaking Japanese too - you might be speaking a combination of both. We won the war and we're the only country that didn't celebrate it and we're going to be celebrating big on Saturday,' the president added.
Saturday's Flag Day parade, which also happens to be Trump's 79th birthday, is to mark the Army's 250th anniversary, as the U.S. military formed before the Declaration of Independence was signed.
It was a 2017 visit to France that got Trump mulling military parades.
He was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to attend Bastille Day celebrations, which in 2017 also coincided with the 100th anniversary of the United States entering World War I.
During Trump's first term, he tried to host a military parade, but the idea was scrapped due to the high cost of fixing Washington, D.C.'s roads, among other hiccups.
Instead, in 2019 the president held a 'Salute to America' on the Fourth of July in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where tanks were on display, and several flyovers occurred.
Now on Saturday, Trump is finally getting his military parade.
'We're going to have a fantastic June 14 parade, Flag Day, it's going to be an amazing day. We have tanks, we have planes, we have all sorts of things. And I think it's going to be great,' he boasted.
During his back-and-forth with reporters in the Oval Monday - before he headed to Fort Bragg to kick off the Army's 250th anniversary celebrations - he also warned protesters not to try anything.
'By the way, for those people who want to protest, they are going to be met with very big force,' Trump said.
'And I haven't even heard about a protest, but you know this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force,' the president added.
An organization called 'No Kings' is organizing demonstrations across the country on June 14th, the day of the military parade.
The threat to demonstrators comes amid Trump sending Marines to Los Angeles and federalizing National Guard members to quell protests that broke out over Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the area.
'If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We'll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible,' Trump also said Tuesday.
'If we didn't send in the national guard quickly, right now, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground,' Trump told reporters in an impromptu Oval Office meeting with members of his team.
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