President Trump’s vision of soldiers marching and tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington is moving closer to reality in the Pentagon and White House, where officials say they have begun to plan a grand military parade later this year showcasing the might of America’s armed forces.
Trump has long mused publicly and privately about wanting such a parade, but a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals in the Pentagon’s tank — a room reserved for top-secret discussions — marked a tipping point, according to two officials briefed on the planning.
Surrounded by the military’s highest-ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Trump’s seemingly abstract desire for a parade was suddenly heard as a presidential directive, the officials said.
“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” said a military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the planning discussions are supposed to remain confidential. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.”
Shows of military strength are not typical in the United States — and they don’t come cheap. The cost of shipping Abrams tanks and high-tech hardware to Washington could run in the millions, and military officials said it was unclear how they would pay for it.
Well yeah, how can you be a fascist dictator if you do not have a huge expensive military parade to celebrate your leadership?
We reported on this idea way back in September, but at that time we just laughed it off as absurd.
But now the Pentagon is actually considering it?Pres. Trump says the U.S. may have military parade down Pennsylvania Ave. on July 4 to "show our military strength" https://t.co/QL9OUZ2UFf pic.twitter.com/yIO8kAxsSW— ABC News (@ABC) September 18, 2017
Of course giant military parades are a favorite of megalomaniacs.
You know, all of Trump's idols.
However we typically do not indulge our psychotic leaders here in America.
But then again we also do not typically elect psychotics to be our leader here in America, so I guess we are just making this up as we go along.
Source http://ift.tt/2EMgR3d
