STRONGMAN

Report: Trump Gave a ‘Marching Order’ for Pentagon to Plan Military Parade

The president wants an ostentatious show of U.S. military—costs be damned.

President Trump is insistent in his desire for the Pentagon to plan a grandiose military parade in Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reported Tuesday. During a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top U.S. military officials, the Post reported, the president gave what sounded like a “directive” for such a showcase. “The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” one official recounted to the Post. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.” Trump reportedly seems steadfast in his desire for a parade like those for Bastille Day, despite the enormous costs in shipping all the military equipment to Washington, and the negative associations Americans may have with such parades often thrown by totalitarian regimes.