Planning for Trump's Military Parade Finally Making Progress

By Edward Leano, Christian Post Contributor Friday, June 29, 2018

The monumental work of planning for Trump's military parade is finally underway, four months after the President instructed the Department of Defense to organize one. Even as preparations have started, the undertaking does not even have an assigned budget yet.

Putting on a good show was not the problem here, as Pentagon officials made clear to NBC News. One reason that progress has been notably slow, however, is a seeming lack of excitement for the event.

There is one place that is enthusiastic about the idea of holding a military show, as one senior U.S. official said. "There is only one person who wants this parade," the officer remarked, likely referring to Trump.

Everyone else, even inside the White House, is likely prioritizing other things instead or are otherwise just dragging their feet about the whole thing, according to an unnamed senior administration official.

Trump and the First Lady were front row guests during last year's extravagant France's Bastille Day Parade, which also featured a contingent of the U.S. armed forces alongside their allies in France.

"On behalf of the 60,000 service members standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the French to ensure Europe is whole, free and at peace, we are honored to lead the Bastille Day Parade and help celebrate the French independence," Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. European Command, said back then.

Trump was impressed.

"We're going to have to try to top it," he later told French President Emmanuel Macron. By January of this year, Trump was trying to make good on that promise by proposing the idea of a military parade in an official memo to Defense Secretary James Mattis.

The parade will include, among others, a showcase of wheeled vehicles followed by a highlight display of aircraft and vintage planes.

"The Department of Defense will provide options to the White House for a decision," a spokesperson for the National Security Council said about the ongoing planning.