Latest news with #BastilleDay
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
DC mayor concerned about parade tanks' impact on streets
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is raising concerns that military tanks and armored vehicles set to roll down city streets next month for the Army's 250th anniversary parade will tear up the roadways. Bowser on Thursday warned that the city would be on the hook for expenses linked to repairing its streets after the June 14 event, with an unknown timetable for when the Pentagon might reimburse Washington. 'I remain concerned about it, I have to tell you,' she told reporters at a press conference. 'These are, for the most part, local streets, and if they're rendered unusable, we have to make them usable and then go seek our money from the feds.' 'That gives me some concern about fronting costs and waiting for them to get back,' she added. The U.S. capital is poised to host a massive military parade to mark the Army milestone anniversary — which also falls on President Trump's birthday — featuring thousands of service members and dozens of military vehicles on a route that will stretch for nearly four miles from the Pentagon to the White House, according to service officials. Trump, who is set to speak during the event, has brushed aside concerns over the costs of the parade — upwards of $45 million — as 'peanuts compared to the value of doing it.' But city officials have raised fears that more than two dozen Abrams tanks, as well as numerous heavy armored vehicles, will damage city streets. Bowser last month said tanks taking to Washington's streets 'would not be good' and 'should be accompanied by many millions of dollars' for repairs. The Army has sought to alleviate these concerns by insisting thick metal plates will be put down on parts of the route beforehand, and any damage will be covered by the service. Military parades have been a sore subject between Trump and Bowser, who clashed over the same issue in 2018 during the president's first term. Trump, who had wanted to host a military parade after being inspired by France's Bastille Day celebrations, ultimately canceled his first-term plans for a state-side event and blamed 'local politicians' for an exorbitant price tag to make it happen. 'The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,' he posted online at the time. Also included in the parade will be historic aircraft and at least 50 helicopters flying through Washington's skies, Army parachutists known as the Golden Knights and a fireworks display at dusk. Bowser said she was advised by the National Transportation Safety Board that 'there could be some disruption to the airspace at times,' due to the military aircraft, which could affect air travel for short periods of time. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hill
DC mayor concerned about parade tanks' impact on streets
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is raising concerns that military tanks and armored vehicles set to roll down city streets next month for the Army's 250th anniversary parade will tear up the roadways. Bowser on Thursday warned the city would be on the hook for expenses linked to repairing its streets after the June 14 event, with an unknown timetable for when the Pentagon might reimburse Washington. 'I remain concerned about it, I have to tell you,' she told reporters at a press conference. 'These are, for the most part, local streets, and if they're rendered unusable, we have to make them usable and then go seek our money from the feds.' She added: 'That gives me some concern about fronting costs and waiting for them to get back.' The U.S. capital is poised to host a massive military parade to mark the Army milestone anniversary — which also falls on President Trump's birthday — featuring thousands of service members and dozens of military vehicles on a route that will stretch for nearly four miles from the Pentagon to the White House, according to service officials. Trump, who is set to speak during the event, has brushed aside concerns over the costs of the parade — upwards of $45 million — as 'peanuts compared to the value of doing it.' But city officials have raised fears that more than two dozen Abrams tanks, as well as numerous heavy armored vehicles, will damage city streets. Bowser last month said tanks taking to Washington's streets 'would not be good' and 'should be accompanied by many millions of dollars' for repairs. The Army has sought to alleviate these concerns by insisting thick metal plates will be put down on parts of the route beforehand, and any damage will be covered by the service. Military parades have been a sore subject between Trump and Bowser, who clashed over the same issue in 2018 during the president's first term. Trump, who had wanted to host a military parade after being inspired by France's Bastille Day celebrations, ultimately canceled his first-term plans for a state-side event and blamed 'local politicians' for an exorbitant price tag to make it happen. 'The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,' he tweeted at the time. Also included in the parade will be historic aircraft and at least 50 helicopters flying through Washington's skis, Army parachutists known as the Golden Knights and a fireworks display at dusk. Bowser said she was advised by the National Transportation Safety Board that 'there could be some disruption to the airspace at times,' due to the military aircraft, which could affect air travel for short periods of time.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
We're minimizing the horror of Trump's military birthday parade
In 2017, watching a two-hour Bastille Day procession, Donald Trump told the French president that we'd have one too, only better. That time, the grown-ups said no. The reasons given were costs – estimates ran to $92m – hellish logistics, and the Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser's worried that tanks and other armored vehicles would tear up Washington's streets. Some retired generals objected publicly to the totalitarian-adjacent optics, especially given the US president's praise for such bad actors as Saddam Hussein and Vladimir Putin. Several Republican lawmakers also expressed their distaste. 'Confidence is silent, and insecurity is loud,' the Louisiana senator John Kennedy told MSNBC. 'America is the most powerful country in all of human history ... and we don't need to show it off. We're not North Korea. We're not Russia, we're not China,' he continued, 'and I don't wanna be.' This time, as Washington prepares for a huge military shindig on 14 June, Trump's 79th – and, oh yes, the US army's 250th – birthday, the generals are silent. The Republicans have sworn allegiance to the king. And the media are focused on the price tag, the potholes and the impending pomp; on tensions between the blue city of Washington and the red capital; and on the decimation of veterans' healthcare, housing, and pensions while the administration throws $25m to $45m at a circus of war. All are important parts of the story. Yet commentary is muted and the debate mischaracterized as normal political discourse. The horrific point is missed: the spectacle of a massive show of military might, before a president who behaves like a dictator and views the armed forces as his personal foot soldiers, evinces memories of the worst totalitarian regimes. History may mark 14 June 2025 as the ceremonial birth of a new American fascism. Military Parade in Capital on Trump's Birthday Could Cost $45 Million, Officials Say, reported the New York Times in mid-May. CBS also led with the cost. The Washingtonian described in detail the street-damage-preventive measures the army is installing: metal plates under the parade route, rubber padding on the tank treads – though transportation experts warn that running, at last count, 28 Abrams tanks, 28 Bradley fighting vehicles, 28 Strykers, and four Paladins, each behemoth weighing as much as 70 tonnes, could buckle the asphalt and smash power, water and telecom lines underneath. Even the New Republic, the president's daily disparager, put the cost up top, tallied the ordinance, and noted that the man who 'signed an executive order creating a program to 'beautify Washington DC'' was now 'plotting to transform his expensive birthday party into a demolition derby that will cause serious damage to the roads that line the nation's capital'. In late May, three weeks after the Associated Press first revealed the parade plan, the army promised it would pay to fix the streets. It did not commit to picking up the multimillion-dollar tab for policing and cleanup, however, which will come out of a city budget from which the House cut $1.1bn in March and didn't get around to restoring. Still, the partial resolution of the infrastructure problems liberated the press to get on with the fun stuff: 'what to expect' on the festive day: not just planes, tanks and 6,700 soldiers, but also fireworks, football players and fitness competitions. USA Today linked to the free tickets page and published the parade route, plus a map of the military goodies on display, including robots and night-vision goggles. It called the event an 'unofficial birthday party'. ABC News ran a feature on Doc Holliday, the dog who will join the parade in a mule-drawn cart. Tucked into some stories was a sentence or two indicating controversy, such as this from Reuters: 'Critics have called a parade an authoritarian display of power that is wasteful, especially as Trump slashes costs throughout the federal government.' 'The plans have drawn some criticism from Democrats,' said CBS. The Hill wrote: 'Democrats and critics have questioned both the cost of the parade and whether it politicizes the military, which has traditionally been nonpartisan. The fact that the parade falls on Trump's birthday has only fueled criticism from Democrats who view it as a way for the president to celebrate himself.' Over at Fox, they were telling the critics to get over themselves. 'The Democratic party, they've chosen to be an outrage machine at a time when there is outrage fatigue in this country,' scoffed Kayleigh McEnany, Trump's former press secretary and current Fox News host. 'People are fed up with the 'authoritarianism coup' language.' It's true. Only one party is complaining. But what is striking about their complaints is the relative dearth of authoritarian coup language. 'The egotist-in-chief wants taxpayers to foot the bill for a military parade on his birthday,' said Steve Cohen, a US representative from Tennessee, in a statement. As if the president were moved by mere narcissism. Reported Forbes on 15 May: 'There has been no formal pushback to the proposal.' Trump likes hulking lethal toys, but he hasn't always been partial to the people who run them. There was the fight he picked with a couple of Muslim Gold Star parents during his first campaign; the comments on a 2018 European trip that fallen soldiers are 'losers' and 'suckers'; the undisguised queasiness about seeing or being seen with wounded veterans; the Pentagon session where he called his top officers 'a bunch of dopes and babies'. But he is warming to the role of commander in chief. In his commencement speech at West Point, between bloviations on Nato, drag shows, golf and trophy wives, he boasted about the unprecedented $1.1tn military budget. 'You'll become officers in the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known,' he said. 'And I know because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military ... like nobody has ever rebuilt it before.' Also breaking from script on Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery, he suggested that the parade, on top of nabbing the World Cup and the Olympics, was divinely ordained. 'Look what I have, I have everything,' he cried. 'Amazing the way things work out. God did that.' If he is to ease from commander of the armed forces to commander of everything, he will need more than God on his side. He'll need to own the military. Forty-five million bucks is a good starting bid. Stalin's 50th birthday celebration, in 1929, is considered the kickoff of his cult of personality. Hitler's 50th birthday military parade, in April 1939, was organized by the propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels for maximum grandeur, including a motorcade of 50 white limousines. Five months later, Germany invaded Poland. Kim Jong-un changed Loyalty Oath Day from 1 January to his birthday, 8 January. This February, the Republican US representative Claudia Tenney of New York introduced a bill to designate Trump's birthday as a national holiday. It hasn't gone anywhere – yet. The pieces are lining up like a phalanx of soldiers. The website of America250, the non-profit fundraising and marketing arm of the Semiquincentennial Commission, is an advertisement for Trump. Its description of the 'grand military parade' refers to him in the second sentence and proclaims that under his 'leadership, the U.S. Army has been restored to strength and readiness'. At the parade, the crowd of 200,000 parade spectators will be dominated by Maga idol worshippers. Trump will watch the extravaganza from a reviewing stand, just like Xi Jinping and Putin did recently at Red Square. The army's Golden Knights parachute team will land on the Eclipse and hand the president a flag. Officials say there are 'no plans' to sing Happy Birthday, but there are rumors the army will also give Trump a birthday gift. Let's call 14 June what it promises to be: the ceremonial birth of the US's 21st-century fascist regime. Judith Levine is a Brooklyn journalist and essayist, a contributing writer to the Intercept and the author of five books. Her Substack, Today in Fascism, is at
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
How Trump's military parade draws comparisons to Russia, China
Up to 7,500 troops, 120 vehicles and 50 aircraft will take to the streets and skies of Washington, D.C. on June 14 to celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary. The event coincides with Trump's 79th birthday. It also marks a rare example of an official military parade taking place inside the United States. Trump's desire to hold a parade has been linked to his 2017 attendance of France's annual Bastille Day, which celebrates that nation's revolutionary history, values and culture. After marveling at the showcase of tanks and fighter jets along the Champs-Elysee in Paris, Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron he wanted to "top" it. "It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen," he added a few months later. "It was military might." But the French parade is not at its core a display of military power, historians and military experts say. Countries from Iran to North Korea that regularly indulge in large military parades in front of the world's cameras do so in part to send aggressive political and propagandistic messages to adversaries at home and abroad. Tanks, cannons: Inside Trump birthday military parade "There's definitely a correlation between putting on a military parade and authoritarian regimes," said Markus Schiller, CEO of Munich, Germany-based company ST Analytics, an aerospace and security consultancy. "These parades are about sending message to other countries and also to domestic political rivals," he said. "You won't seen any parades like this in Germany or Norway or Australia because they cost a lot of money and everybody would just shake their heads and say, 'Why does the government need to do this?'" Trump has said the parade's cost will be a bargain. "It's peanuts compared to the value of doing it," he said. "We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we're going to celebrate it." Trump's military parade is not new idea: It's actually a retro one Parade enthusiasts: Russia, China, North Korea The U.S. government has sponsored military parades previously. Troops, tanks and war planes have also shown up at American presidential inaugurations, including those of Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy. The last high-profile military parade was in 1991, to commemorate the end of the Gulf War. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are among nations who routinely stage grand parades featuring military personnel and hardware such as missile systems, goose-stepping troops, tanks and other armored vehicles. On May 9, Russia's President Vladimir Putin hosted China's President Xi Jinping and more than 20 other world leaders as thousands of troops and columns of trucks carrying drones and other weapons paraded through Red Square. The highly choreographed annual event commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. The drones, displayed for the first time, were an apparent reference to Russia's deadly use of them in Ukraine. Russia rehearses Victory Day parade: Putin flaunts military power amid Ukraine War According to a planning document seen by USA TODAY, the parade on June 14 and a series of related events in Washington, D.C., beginning the first week of June, will cost up to $45 million. On the day of the parade, there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and a festival on the National Mall featuring Army equipment displays and demonstrations. The day will culminate with a parade through the city and an enlistment ceremony presided over by Trump - and fireworks. The parade will salute the Army's heritage from the Revolutionary War to the present, with soldiers in period uniforms. Putting a finger on military power Lyle Goldstein is a former professor at the U.S. Naval War College. He said that while overseas military parades are often associated with authoritarian regimes "whose goals are manifested by the parade, and a lot of those goals relate to nationalism," parades can serve a wider positive purpose. They honor sacrifices, instill national pride and offer reassurances about defense spending. They can also, Goldstein said, simultaneously act as a deterrent and betray insecurities. "We know from human behavior that if you're insecure you can lash out or be showy. If, as Americans, we were truly confident in our armed forces we wouldn't need to display our military might," said Goldstein, who now runs the Asia program at Defense Priorities, a Washington, D.C. think tank. Goldstein's research has helped establish that in some areas of defense, such as hypersonic missiles, the U.S. is not keeping pace with China and Russia. Still, Schiller, of ST Analytics, said that military parades are also often about "tricks" and "playing games" to create the illusion of military power that may not exist, or only partly exist. The U.S. is not expected to show off any of its long-range missiles and rockets on June 14. France also refrains from featuring these in its Bastille Day celebrations, not least because if an accident were to take place it could have devastating consequences for those attending the event. But rapid, intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. are a regular feature of military parades in China and North Korea. "No nation I know of ever parades the real thing," said Schiller, referring to these missiles, as well as ones in military parades in India and Pakistan. He said mock-up missiles are often paraded with details such as cables and diameters tweaked so analysts studying images of them can't definitively conclude what they're seeing. France's Bastille Day - more than a parade Jean-Yves Camus is a defense expert at the Paris-based French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs. He said the Bastille Day event that apparently captivated Trump's imagination is not "mainly about the army." He said the ceremony is not to everyone's tastes and "left-wing people" generally don't like it and so don't attend. Camus said the military aspect was "simply a glimpse" at France's different units and that while other nation might use parades to show off "strong leadership, if not autocratic leadership," that wasn't the case in France. "Macron will attend this year, and then the next year or year after that, there will be a new president." "Most people go because it's really very fascinating, and you have this very beautiful, wide avenue - the Champs-Elysee - to watch it from," Camus added. "The night before there are joyful events scattered all over Paris. People go dancing. There is music. You have, I would say, this profound sense of connection with history." Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Tom Vanden Brook
USA Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump's getting his military parade. Here's what they look like from France to Russia
Hear this story Formations. Drills and maneuvers. Music and ceremony. President Donald Trump wanted a military parade that bests what he once witnessed in France. But raw displays of military power are more common to ones in Russia, China and North Korea, where such parades carry added meanings. Up to 7,500 troops, 120 vehicles and 50 aircraft will take to the streets and skies of Washington, D.C. on June 14 to celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary. The event coincides with Trump's 79th birthday. It also marks a rare example of an official military parade taking place inside the United States. Trump's desire to hold a parade has been linked to his 2017 attendance of France's annual Bastille Day, which celebrates that nation's revolutionary history, values and culture. After marveling at the showcase of tanks and fighter jets along the Champs-Élysée in Paris, Trump told French President Emmanuel Macron he wanted to "top" it. "It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen," he added a few months later. "It was military might." But the French parade is not at its core a display of military power, historians and military experts say. Countries from Iran to North Korea that regularly indulge in large military parades in front of the world's cameras do so in part to send aggressive political and propagandistic messages to adversaries at home and abroad. "There's definitely a correlation between putting on a military parade and authoritarian regimes," said Markus Schiller, CEO of Munich, Germany-based company ST Analytics, an aerospace and security consultancy. "These parades are about sending message to other countries and also to domestic political rivals," he said. "You won't seen any parades like this in Germany or Norway or Australia because they cost a lot of money and everybody would just shake their heads and say, 'Why does the government need to do this?'" Trump has said the parade's cost will be a bargain. 'It's peanuts compared to the value of doing it," he said. "We have the greatest missiles in the world. We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we're going to celebrate it." Trump's military parade is not new idea: It's actually a retro one Parade enthusiasts: Russia, China, North Korea The U.S. government has sponsored military parades previously. Troops, tanks and war planes have also shown up at American presidential inaugurations, including those of Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy. The last high-profile military parade was in 1991, to commemorate the end of the Gulf War. Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are among nations who routinely stage grand parades featuring military personnel and hardware such as missile systems, goose-stepping troops, tanks and other armored vehicles. On May 9, Russia's President Vladimir Putin hosted China's President Xi Jinping and more than 20 other world leaders as thousands of troops and columns of trucks carrying drones and other weapons paraded through Red Square. The highly choreographed annual event commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany. The drones, displayed for the first time, were an apparent reference to Russia's deadly use of them in Ukraine. Russia rehearses Victory Day parade: Putin flaunts military power amid Ukraine War According to a planning document seen by USA TODAY, the parade on June 14 and a series of related events in Washington, D.C., beginning the first week of June, will cost up to $45 million. On the day of the parade, there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery and a festival on the National Mall featuring Army equipment displays and demonstrations. The day will culminate with a parade through the city and an enlistment ceremony presided over by Trump − and fireworks. The parade will salute the Army's heritage from the Revolutionary War to the present, with soldiers in period uniforms. Putting a finger on military power Lyle Goldstein is a former professor at the U.S. Naval War College. He said that while overseas military parades are often associated with authoritarian regimes "whose goals are manifested by the parade, and a lot of those goals relate to nationalism," parades can serve a wider positive purpose. They honor sacrifices, instill national pride and offer reassurances about defense spending. They can also, Goldstein said, simultaneously act as a deterrent and betray insecurities. "We know from human behavior that if you're insecure you can lash out or be showy. If, as Americans, we were truly confident in our armed forces we wouldn't need to display our military might," said Goldstein, who now runs the Asia program at Defense Priorities, a Washington, D.C. think tank. Goldstein's research has helped establish that in some areas of defense, such as hypersonic missiles, the U.S. is not keeping pace with China and Russia. Still, Schiller, of ST Analytics, said that military parades are also often about "tricks" and "playing games" to create the illusion of military power that may not exist, or only partly exist. The U.S. is not expected to show off any of its long-range missiles and rockets on June 14. France also refrains from featuring these in its Bastille Day celebrations, not least because if an accident were to take place it could have devastating consequences for those attending the event. But rapid, intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. are a regular feature of military parades in China and North Korea. "No nation I know of ever parades the real thing," said Schiller, referring to these missiles, as well as ones in military parades in India and Pakistan. He said mock-up missiles are often paraded with details such as cables and diameters tweaked so analysts studying images of them can't definitively conclude what they're seeing. France's Bastille Day − more than a parade Jean-Yves Camus is a defense expert at the Paris-based French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs. He said the Bastille Day event that apparently captivated Trump's imagination is not "mainly about the army." He said the ceremony is not to everyone's tastes and "left-wing people" generally don't like it and so don't attend. Camus said the military aspect was "simply a glimpse" at France's different units and that while other nation might use parades to show off "strong leadership, if not autocratic leadership," that wasn't the case in France. "Macron will attend this year, and then the next year or year after that, there will be a new president." "Most people go because it's really very fascinating, and you have this very beautiful, wide avenue − the Champs-Élysée − to watch it from," Camus added. "The night before there are joyful events scattered all over Paris. People go dancing. There is music. You have, I would say, this profound sense of connection with history." Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman and Tom Vanden Brook
