Critics are blasting President Donald Trump over a plan for the U.S. Army to hold a massive parade on June 14.
That date is both the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and Trump’s birthday, and the parade is ostensibly for the military and not the president.
However, Trump has long craved just such a military spectacle. He wanted one during his first term, but had to settle for a somewhat smaller-scale event instead.
And while the Army has long planned a celebration for its big birthday, the Associated Press reports that those plans didn’t include a parade until very recently. The news agency said the event “could include a Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles” as well as thousands of soldiers.
The U.S. military does not typically have large parades, even for big milestones, except on rare occasions. The last major military parades in the United States of this scale may have been for the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
In addition, Trump’s parade comes as he ushers in an era of strict austerity, with major cuts across departments and throughout the federal government, including cuts to scientific research, school lunches and hunger programs.
The parade he wanted in his first term had an estimated price tag of $92 million.
Critics called out Trump for making cuts to essential services while also finding the cash for a big parade: