On Friday morning, Donald Trump announced the cancellation of a scheduled Military parade due to “ridiculously high” costs via Twitter.
“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I canceled it,” Trump tweeted. “Never let someone hold you up! I will instead attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!”
The Department of Defense and White House had been planning a parade to honor America’s military veterans and commemorate the centennial of World War I, according to Col. Rob Manning. The original targeted date for the parade was November 10, 2018. Organizing a celebration of this magnitude definitely comes with a price, but check these numbers out! Priorities!?
The initial budgeted cost for the parade was reported as $12 million, based on the cost of the Victory Parade in 1991 after the Gulf War, which The #WashingtonPost estimated being approximately $8 million. #NBCNews then reported the internal estimate for the parade rose to $25 million after adjusting for inflation. In July, ABC News reported between 5,000 and 7,000 service members were estimated to march in the parade, which begins at the U.S. Capitol and ends at the White House. It was expected to feature a mix of vehicles, aircraft, and horses.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser states she “got thru” to Trump about costs for the parade. She responded to Trump’s cancellation by tweeting, “Yup, I’m #MurielBowser, mayor of Washington DC, the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities ($21.6M) of parades/events/demonstrations in Trump America (sad).”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Following her tweet, Bowser’s office provided a breakdown of the city’s cost estimate for hosting a military parade, which includes $13.5 million for DC police and expenses like crowd control, security, traffic perimeters and protection for dignitaries.
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According to #CNN, the $92 million figure was an estimate of how much it would take to execute an event to meet Trump’s intent and half of that amount is for non-military expenses. Defense Secretary James Mattis stated that the reports of $92 million in costs were inaccurate and that he “received no such estimate.”
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Keep in mind, the costs could have changed because at the time no final decisions were made about what units, equipment and personnel would be required. Despite these figures, how does that equal up to $92 million? Where is the rest of the money going towards?
Welp, there’s always next year, huh?
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