President Trump may finally be getting a blowout parade — and on his birthday, no less.
Washington, DC, officials have been in talks with the Trump administration about holding a grand parade on June 14 — which is the Army’s 250th anniversary, as well as the president’s 79th birthday, Mayor Muriel Bowser said Monday.
Planning for the parade is still “early stages,” but the procession is expected to start in Arlington, Va. at the Pentagon and span the four-mile stretch to the White House, according to details from Bowser and the Washington City Paper.
“I understand that I think it was Homeland Security; maybe the White House reached out to our special events task force, which is what most people wanting to do a parade do in the district,” Bowser told reporters Monday.
“So I would say it’s at its early stages. Yes, they have reached out.”
DC has a team called the Mayor’s Special Events Task Group (MSETG), which coordinates the planning of major activities in the city.
Bowser didn’t specify the exact reason for the parade, saying she hasn’t been “directly involved in it yet” and was unsure whether it was even technically a “military parade.”
A White House official told The Post that as yet, “no military parade has been scheduled.”
Trump has long set his sights on a blockbuster military parade in DC. During planning for Inauguration Day during his first term in 2017, he wanted tanks and other military vehicles to parade the streets of the nation’s capital.
Ultimately, that was shot down by city officials due to fears about the damage to infrastructure. Tanks and other military hardware were put on display around the nation’s capital as a compromise during his first inauguration.
But Trump’s desire for an extravagant parade never satiated.
Later, Trump’s lofty aspirations for a mega-extravaganza to showcase US military might resurfaced after the president was awestruck during a French military parade in 2017 on Bastille Day.
Trump sought to have fighter jets ripping through the skies and armored vehicles rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue to potentially mark Veterans Day in 2018, the Associated Press reported at the time. His vision was never fully realized amid rumors of a $92 million price tag.
“Military tanks on our streets would not be good,” Bowser said Monday. “If military tanks were used, they should be accompanied with many millions of dollars to repair the roads.”
Reports about the parade first came from the Washington City Paper, which first reported Sunday about the planning for a parade.
The US Army was founded on June 14, 1775, a year before the Declaration of Independence. The Army has been developing plans to celebrate its 250th anniversary for over a year, according to the report.
During the 2024 campaign cycle, Trump talked about hosting “the most spectacular” festivities for America’s 250th anniversary, which takes place next year on July 4.
Trump proposed a “Salute to America 250” celebration that would last about a year.
“As a nation, we should be preparing for the most spectacular birthday party. We want to make it the best of all time,” Trump said in a policy video released in 2023.
“I will work with all 50 governors, Republican and Democrat alike, to create the Great American State Fair, a unique one-year exhibition featuring pavilions from all 50 states. It’ll be something.”
The Post contacted the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
