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Yahoo
a day ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Eye-Watering Bill for Trump Birthday Parade Includes Paint Job for Tanks
Amry tanks got a paint job before being moved to Washington D.C. for a parade on Donald Trump's birthday, a retired general has revealed. Armor including M1A2 tanks, Stryker armored fighting vehicles and M109 self-propelled howitzers have been arriving the capital for the parade—ostensibly to celebrate 250 years of the Army. But the total cost was already disclosed to have hit $45 million, which will include repairing roads not designed to take heavy armor. Now, the bill has been revealed to include sprucing up the materiel before it rolls in front of the president on his 79th birthday. Retired Army Lt. General Mark Hertling, speaking Tuesday on MSNBC's Morning Joe, expressed reservations about the parade's scale and cost. To pull off the spectacle, the armor was brought by rail from bases across the country, while helicopters and planes will fly overhead during the parade. Hertling commanded the 1st Armored Division in combat in Iraq in 2007 and 2008, has a Purple Heart and multiple Bronze Stars and Distinguished Service Medals. 'I'm personally, truth be told, not a parade kind of guy,' Hertling said. 'Even when I was a cadet at West Point, I hated parades.' Initially conceived as a small event, the parade's scope expanded significantly, now involving nearly 8,000 soldiers marching alongside armored vehicles transported from various military bases across the country. The birthday celebration could cost as much as $45 million in taxpayer dollars, with an extra $16 million reportedly set aside for road repairs. Hertling described the parade as 'mission creep foisted upon the Army by politicians,' reflecting concerns that the military is being tasked with an expensive political spectacle. The logistical challenges are significant, too. According to Hertling, the vehicles have been freshly painted to present a polished image—because of a previous, rushed deployment of military hardware that Hertling says 'looked bad' and 'were not a good reflection of the Army.' 'How much is this going to cost? It's going to cost a lot,' he said. 'Not only [do] those vehicles use a lot [of fuel], they have been transported from different military bases, [and] as you can see, looking at those tanks and Bradleys that you're showing right now, they've all been freshly painted,' he said. 'The last time a bunch of tanks were brought to Washington, D.C. it was at a last-minute time frame and they looked bad. I mean, they were not a good reflection of the army. So obviously the commanders and the soldiers who take a great deal of pride in their vehicles, want them to be looking well.' He said all of this has contributed to the spiraling cost of the event. 'And, you know, that's created more cost other than the train load and the railhead and the helicopters [that] are going to be flying overhead and the and the fuel that's going to be used and the support for the almost 8,000 soldiers that are going to be marching inside of that column with the other vehicles to represent wars that the nation has fought in different period dress and uniforms. 'It was a good idea by the army to celebrate this and use it as a recruiting tool. It's just generated a lot more interest because of the connection with the president's birthday, that's for sure.' While the Army has defended the event as a recruiting tool and a celebration of the nation's military heritage, the timing—coinciding with the president's birthday—has raised questions about the parade's true purpose. Meanwhile, as much as $16 million has been earmarked for filling in the damage left by tanks rumbling down civilian streets, according to U.S. military officials. Steel plates at least an inch thick will be laid across sections of the route where M1A1 Abrams tanks, each weighing around 140,000 pounds, and other treaded vehicles will make turns. Similar protection will not be laid out along straight sections of the roadway. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has previously voiced her concerns about damage to city streets. 'Military tanks on our streets would not be good,' she said at an April 7 news conference. 'If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied by many millions of dollars to repair the roads.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Picked the Worst Possible Time to Hold a Military Parade
This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME's politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. It's sometimes easy to go numb living here in Washington. On most days, the Vice President's motorcade rumbles under many of our office windows, traveling from the Naval Observatory to the White House in the morning and back shortly after his workday ends. It's not uncommon to spot a trio of white-topped helicopters zipping over the Potomac while crowds are having dinner down at The Wharf; one is transporting a head of state while the other two are decoys. And was that the Irish Taoiseach hanging out at Little Gay Pub and Kiki on St. Patrick's Day weekend? Yes, that nation's then-leader was visiting from Dublin and making the rounds on the LGBTQ circuit after his official day ended. But the scene in my neighborhood the last two nights stood as a stark reminder that this weekend is shaping up to be surreal, even by D.C. standards. It's been hard to miss the military tanks rolling by on flatbed trucks around Eckington, Bloomingdale, and Shaw, heading past the city's convention center to get in position for a pricey parade on Saturday ordered by President Donald Trump. And if that spectacle were not shocking enough on its own, these giant weapons of war have been rumbling through residential streets in the U.S. capital at the same time as U.S. troops are deployed in the nation's second-largest city to help advance deeply unpopular immigration raids that have sparked protests across the nation. The jarring split-screen reality is one that is arriving at perhaps the most tone-deaf moment so far of Trump's second term. Ostensibly, the parade is marking the quarter-century birthday for the U.S. Army. (It also just happens to be Trump's 79th birthday, which is a very convenient coincidence that has even some of the President's apologists rolling their eyes at the cover story.) On the West Coast, as many as 2,000 National Guardsmen have been ordered up for active duty in Los Angeles, in direct violation of protocols that defer to each state's Governor, who is nominally the commander in chief of their reserve military. Trump also sent 700 Marines to Los Angeles to add to the uniformed legions that, to this point, have inflamed tensions, not quelled them. And there are whiffs that Los Angeles is merely a test case to see just how compliant Americans will be to see the world's greatest fighting force turn against the very people who pick up its tab. As Trump told reporters on Tuesday, those choosing to object publicly may come to regret it: 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force.' So as Trump stands in Washington this Saturday, watching M1A2 tanks, Stryker armored vehicles, and M109s tear up some of D.C. iconic boulevards, an actual live military operation stands to be unfolding on the streets of Los Angeles—and maybe other cities as well, given Trump's orders are not limited to that one locality. D.C.'s airspace will be shut down for hours to make way for flying fortresses to buzz overhead. And a trick parachute troop plans to airdrop to the viewing platform to deliver Trump an American flag that is destined to land in his future presidential library. It's one thing to watch a military display for show; it's another to watch live ammo be fired into the air to put down domestic demonstrations. The disconnect between Trump's stagings of brute force is striking and more than a little worrisome for those who have long thought civilian control of the military would have stopped such a craven choice. Trump has long fetishized the military hardware he controls. During his first term, he sought to flash this power after seeing a similar demonstration on a visit to France for Bastile Day; his military brass convinced him it was a bad idea and not worth the price. Given his long-standing obsession with autocratic regimes, it's little surprise that he is plunging ahead with a flex that feels more like something we'd see in Moscow or Pyongyang. The public is far from covering Trump's flank here. Trump's standing in polls sank underwater in March and hasn't recovered since, according to Nate Silver's modeling. A Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday puts Trump's approval rating at a measly 38%. He's even drawing a decided deficit on immigration and deportations—previously thought to be his best issues. Going back through post-World War II polling indices, Trump is faring worse than any President since 1953, save for how he was doing during his first term, according to analyst G. Elliott Morris. So as D.C. streets are clogged with war tools staging for Saturday's pricey pageant—6,600 soldiers, 50 aircraft, and 150 military vehicles at a price of as much as $45 million—it's worth reminding ourselves that this is a show that seems to have little purpose beyond boosting Trump's ego. But as his legions of supporters like to say, forget your feelings. The American public is not behind this show, let alone the policies that the White House is hoping it distracts from. The split screen between Washington and L.A. is disturbing, the implications dire. It's easy to forget that the nation and the world watch what happens in Washington far closer than the folks who live it day to day, and the war footing being adopted in a city fast approaching warzone timbre is not one that inspires confidence in America as the world's peacemakers. In fact, Trump's birthday blowout could be seen as a reboot of the entire post-Cold War ethos America has strived to convey for the last three decades—all over a parade coinciding with a domestic military crackdown. Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter. Write to Philip Elliott at
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Restores Military Bases to ‘Racist' Confederate Names
Donald Trump has promised to rename army bases with the names of Confederate soldiers who fought to keep Black people in slavery. Speaking at Fort Bragg to kick off festivities for the 250th anniversary of the US Army, Trump told the audience he would rename army bases that had been changed under the Biden administration. 'For a little breaking news, we are also going to be restoring the names to Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Rucker, Fort Polk, Fort AP Hill, and Fort Robert E Lee,' the president said. 'We won a lot of battles out of those forts… And I'm superstitious, you know, I like to keep it going, right?' The announcement is likely to prove contentious as Confederate symbols are viewed as signs of racism and white supremacy for many Black people, representing those who fought to perpetuate oppression. Robert E Lee, for example, was a decorated military officer from Virginia who was responsible for some of the Confederacy's most consequential victories in its fight to protect slavery. In 2023, the army base that bore his name was changed to Fort Gregg-Adams in honour of two African American officers. The president made his announcement to a largely pro-Trump crowd of military members, who booed as he took aim at the 'fake media', California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and his predecessor Joe Biden. 'You think this crowd would have turned up for Biden?' he joked. He also used the speech to highlight the protests in California, vowing to 'liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion' after days of unrest in America's second most populous state. The address at Fort Bragg kicked off the army's 250th anniversary, a celebration that will culminate with an unprecedented parade in Washington on June 14, the day of Trump's 79th birthday. The sound and visual extravaganza will take place along Constitution Avenue and feature thousands of uniformed troops marching in formation, as well as about 100 military vehicles, including M1A2/Abrams tanks; Black Hawk, Apache, and Chinook helicopters. Trump's announcement about renaming army bases was welcomed by MAGA allies and many military members at Fort Bragg, a base that was also renamed by the administration earlier this year. Others on social media were far more scathing. One user said the move 'romanticized' white supremacy; another account, belonging to Republicans Against Trump, quipped that 'nothing says patriotism like honoring enemies of the United States.'
Time Magazine
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Trump Picked the Worst Possible Time to Hold a Military Parade
This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME's politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox. It's sometimes easy to go numb living here in Washington. On most days, the Vice President's motorcade rumbles under many of our office windows, traveling from the Naval Observatory to the White House in the morning and back shortly after his workday ends. It's not uncommon to spot a trio of white-topped helicopters zipping over the Potomac while crowds are having dinner down at The Wharf; one is transporting a head of state while the other two are decoys. And was that the Irish Taoiseach hanging out at Little Gay Pub and Kiki on St. Patrick's Day weekend? Yes, that nation's then-leader was visiting from Dublin and making the rounds on the LGBTQ circuit after his official day ended. But the scene in my neighborhood the last two nights stood as a stark reminder that this weekend is shaping up to be surreal, even by D.C. standards. It's been hard to miss the military tanks rolling by on flatbed trucks around Eckington, Bloomingdale, and Shaw, heading past the city's convention center to get in position for a pricey parade on Saturday ordered by President Donald Trump. And if that spectacle were not shocking enough on its own, these giant weapons of war have been rumbling through residential streets in the U.S. capital at the same time as U.S. troops are deployed in the nation's second-largest city to help advance deeply unpopular immigration raids that have sparked protests across the nation. The jarring splitscreen reality is one that is arriving at perhaps the most tone-deaf moment so far of Trump's second term. Ostensibly, the parade is marking the quarter-century birthday for the U.S. Army. (It also just happens to be Trump's 79th birthday, which is a very convenient coincidence that has even some of the President's apologists rolling their eyes at the cover story.) On the West Coast, as many as 2,000 National Guardsmen have been ordered up for active duty in Los Angeles, in direct violation of protocols that defer to each state's Governor, who is nominally the commander in chief of their reserve military. Trump also sent 700 Marines to Los Angeles to add to the uniformed legions that, to this point, have inflamed tensions, not quelled them. And there are whiffs that Los Angeles is merely a test case to see just how compliant Americans will be to see the world's greatest fighting force turn against the very people who pick up its tab. As Trump told reporters on Tuesday, those choosing to object publicly may come to regret it: 'For those people that want to protest, they're going to be met with very big force.' So as Trump stands in Washington this Saturday as M1A2 tanks, Stryker armored vehicles, and M109s tear up some of D.C. iconic boulevards, an actual live military operation stands to be unfolding on the streets of Los Angeles—and maybe other cities as well, given Trump's orders are not limited to that one locality. D.C.'s airspace will be shut down for hours to make way for flying fortresses to buzz overhead. And a trick parachute troop plans to airdrop to the viewing platform to deliver Trump an American flag that is destined to land in his future presidential library. It's one thing to watch a military display for show; it's another to watch live ammo be fired into the air to put down domestic demonstrations. The disconnect between Trump's stagings of brute force is striking and more than a little worrisome for those who have long thought civilian control of the military would have stopped such a craven choice. Trump has long fetishized the military hardware he controls. During his first term, he sought to flash this power after seeing a similar demonstration on a visit to France for Bastile Day; his military brass convinced him it was a bad idea and not worth the price. Given his long-standing obsession with autocratic regimes, it's little surprise that he is plunging ahead with a flex that feels more like something we'd see in Moscow or Pyongyang. The public is far from covering Trump's flank here. Trump's standing in polls sank underwater in March and hasn't recovered since, according to Nate Silver's modeling. A Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday puts Trump's approval rating at a measly 38%. He's even drawing a decided deficit on immigration and deportations—previously thought to be his best issues. Going back through post-World War II polling indices, Trump is faring worse than any President since 1953, save for how he was doing during his first term, according to analyst G. Elliott Morris. So as D.C. streets are clogged with war tools staging for Saturday's pricey pageant—6,600 soldiers, 50 aircraft, and 150 military vehicles at a price of $45 million—it's worth reminding ourselves that this is a show that seems to have little purpose beyond boosting Trump's ego. But as his legions of supporters like to say, forget your feelings. The American public is not behind this show, let alone the policies that the White House is hoping it distracts from. The splitscreen between Washington and L.A. is disturbing, the implications dire. It's easy to forget that the nation and the world watch what happens in Washington far closer than the folks who live it day to day, and the war footing being adopted in a city fast approaching warzone timbre is not one that inspires confidence in America as the world's peacemakers. In fact, Trump's birthday blowout could be seen as a reboot of the entire post-Cold War ethos America has strived to convey for the last three decades—all over a parade coinciding with a domestic military crackdown.
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Standard
Massive military parade celebrating US Army organised on Trump's birthday
A grand military parade will be held on June 14 in Washington, DC, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Army. The parade event will coincide with the US President Donald Trump's 79th birthday. During his Memorial Day address, which is celebrated on May 26, Trump called the military parade a 'great celebration' and added, 'We're going to have a great time; we are going to have a great celebration.' Big crowds, traffic, and travel disruptions are likely to be expected as the streets of Washington, DC, will be filled with fireworks, displays of troops and tanks rolling down the streets of DC. The military parade will be organised by the US Army and the America250 commission and is likely to see as many as 200,000 attendees, with Trump likely to honour what he described as the Army's 'exceptional service, significant achievements, and enduring legacy.' The military parade is one of the many events that Trump intends to host, celebrating the victories of the US Army. The estimated cost of the military parade is likely to be $45 million, according to a NBC News report. Defending such a high cost, Trump claimed that 'it would be worth it'. He added, 'Peanuts compared to the value of doing it', while commenting on the cost. He further 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.' The event is expected to include 6,600 soldiers, NBC News reported, citing an US Army spokesperson. Buckle up for one of the most epic days in American military history as we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army! There will be a Grand Military Parade, Celebration, concert with @warrenzeiders, the @goldenknights doing a military freefall onto the White House lawn to… — Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) June 10, 2025 Military parade event The military parade will take place in the evening and will involve thousands of troops marching in formation, representing all the US conflicts, dating back to the Revolutionary War, NBC4 reported. The report also stated that over 100 military vehicles are likely to be involved, including M1A2/Abrams tanks, Black Hawk, Apache, and Chinook helicopters, Bradley fighting vehicles, and more. The entry for the parade will begin at 2 pm EST (11.30 pm IST), while the guest entry for the fitness competition will begin at 8 am EST (5.30 pm IST). The fitness competition at the National Mall is scheduled to take place between 9.30 am and 12.30 pm.
