‘This would be a great television’: how Donald Trump got the parade he wanted

In June 2024, the Army Cabinet Chief, General Randy George, and his assistants were in a military base in Virginia where the service was organizing one of its live action shows for children and families.

The event, a tradition of decades known as the “twilight tattoo”, was a show. The soldiers of the ceremonial units collect the history of the army, completed with the attire of the revolutionary war, the music, the theatrical bullets and the military boato, all destined to serve as a kind of greeting for the soldiers of the army and their families.

George and his main communications advisor, Colonel Dave Butler, attended several media executives, when one of them leaned.

“This would be a great television,” said the executive, according to Butler.

George and his staff had already been talking about how to celebrate the 250 Army Birthday. Perhaps, they thought, the National Parks Service would allow them to organize one of their live action shows at the National Shopping Center, the officials thought.

After President Donald Trump assumed the position and birthday of June 14, the army began to throw more ideas. An idea was to add tanks or other iconic army teams to an exhibition staked in the National Shopping Center where tourists could learn about the history of the army to combat the wars of the nation.

Butler said he does not remember who first addressed the idea of ​​converting the army show into a parade. But once the idea was floating, nobody seemed to go back.

In June, the army had a plan of what would include: 6,700 soldiers, 150 vehicles, including dozens of tanks, 50 aircraft that fly on the head, including airplanes of the era of World War II and high -tech weapons such as rocket launchers.

Trump, a former media executive, seemed to play the idea. An official involved in planning described him as “touching an unlocked door.”

“We wanted to reintroduce the army of this nation to the American people,” Butler said. “To do that, we thought we needed to be in their living rooms and on their phones. We needed something that called the national eye.”

Criticism about the cost

While the army prepares for its birthday parade in the Washington center on Saturday, not everyone is on board. Around 6 out of 10 Americans say that Saturday’s parade “is not a good use” of government money, according to a new survey of the Associated Press-Norc Public Affairs Research Center.

The White House has not published an estimate of the cost of the parade, with only the portion of the army of troops and motion equipment that is expected to cost up to $ 45 million. Security is expected to add significantly to the price.

The Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth from Illinois, a veteran of the army who deployed with the Illinois National Guard during the Iraq War, said that money would be better spent on helping troops to pay essential such as child care.

“Donald Trump’s birthday parade has nothing to do with celebrating the 250 Army Birthday, it is to caress their own ego and make taxpayers have the taxpayers account,” Duckworth said.

Duckworth and other Trump critics also point out that a military parade is often associated with countries such as Russia and North Korea, where dictators march to their soldiers and teams through their streets. The defenders are organizing protests in different cities in Washington, called “No Reyes” protests.

Trump, who turns 79 on Saturday, said he wants a military parade to show how large the country is. The president first pressed the idea in 2017 after attending the parade and celebration of Bastille Day in France, saying he wanted to “try to overcome it.” That effort was canceled after price estimates exceeded $ 90 million.

When asked on Thursday, what expects the public to remember about the US parade, Trump said: “How great our country is, very simple, and how strong our army is.”

“We have the strongest army in the world,” he added.

According to army officials involved in the planning effort, including Butler, the White House helped the Army plan the birthday celebration as an event focused on the army service to the nation.

There are currently no plans, for example, to sing the president’s happy birthday. The president is not expected to speak, leaving a large part of the festivities to the soldiers.

According to the calendar, Trump will see that tanks and soldiers march along the avenue of the Constitution from an observation post near the White House. Towards the end of the event, he will receive a flag of a soldier who will harden in the White House ellipse. After that, the president will give the oath of enlistment to about 250 soldiers.

The event concludes with fireworks on the tide basin.

Even so, there are some of Trump’s digital footprints in the event. In recent days before the event, the White House made an unusual request. Trump, they said, wanted the Air Force to bring its combat airplanes to the Army Party. If the weather allows it, the Thunderbirds will now take a high step.

The White House Secretary Anna Kelly defended the movement to let the Air Force participate in the Army Birthday parade.

“The president wants the Army birthday parade to present the force, talent and creativity of all our military members,” he said in a statement. “The high step of Thunderbirds will inspire patriotism and astonishment for all who attend!”