Twin celebrations of the Army’s 250th anniversary and the president’s birthday will include as many as 25 tanks rolling through Washington.

Twin celebrations of Donald Trump’s birthday and the Army’s 250th anniversary will include as many as 25 tanks rolling through Washington in a celebration that will cost $25 million to $45 million, U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

U.S. military service branches take pride in their history and anniversary celebrations, called birthdays, across the United States and on bases around the world.

The U.S. Army had long been planning to move troops and equipment to the National Mall in Washington on June 14 as part of its anniversary celebration. Plans now include a parade since that coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.

Two U.S. officials told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, the eventual cost could be as high as $45 million. One of them said the cost included several million dollars more than it would have without a parade.

  • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    As much as I want to bash trump, understand that this parade would have happened regardless of who is president and when their birthday is.

    • Coolbeanschilly@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      No other US President has had a military parade ON THEIR BIRTHDAY. Don’t defend the cantaloupe. He’s a tinpot dictator.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      As much as I want to bash trump, understand that this parade would have happened regardless of who is president and when their birthday is.

      Others have already pointed out you’re wrong, but I was just curious how wrong. So I went looking. Any searches within the last year are polluted with results talking about this trump parade, so I set the search first to prior to 2024 which revealed something I had entirely forgotten. tRUMP TRIED THIS CRAP BEFORE in 2018 AND WAS SHOT DOWN ON COSTS:

      source

      So setting the search criteria PRIOR to even the first trump presidency in 2015 gives us this:

      source

      So it is by no means common to have military equipment rolling down Pennsylvania avenue and even that much smaller one cost $12m in 1991 dollars ($28,305,381.17 in 2025 dollars).

      • Machinist@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        Thanks for the analysis! Looks like the 250th anniversary will be the party line for MAGAts and such. I was sure the anniversary was just an excuse but this is even more black and white.

        Makes you feel like you’re taking crazy pills watching everyone accept insanity. Grab a Republican from twenty years ago and tell them the president is holding a military parade and they’d want to impeach him.

      • SendMePhotos@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I see. I was mistaken. Very mistaken. I thought that there was going to be a parade or event anyways because it was a 250 year thing.

    • TachyonTele@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Even the article says there would not be a parade if it wasn’t for trump. It’s right there in the post body.

      Come on man.

    • Atom@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Plans now include a parade since that coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.

      According to the article, the parade part is specifically for Trump

    • dephyre@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I think the scale here is more what’s up for debate.

      It’s very likely Army would have done something to commemorate the anniversary.

      But a parade with 45 tanks? Probably not, the last time the Army did a parade was in 91.

      There wasn’t even one was for the 200th anniversary.

    • Kichae@lemmy.ca
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      1 day ago

      You understand that this is an admission that the US is just flat out a fascist country, right? A fascist democracy is still a fascist country.