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President Donald Trump’s reported four-mile-long military parade plan feels inspired “by some of the strongmen” he has praised in the past, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN’s Erin Burnett said on the latest edition of “OutFront.”
“Trump is busy, said to be planning his own military parade, a pricey one, something he had pushed for during his first term in the White House, had to abandon though because the price tag was nearly $100 million at that time,” Burnett said Monday.
“The parade this year would fall on his birthday, June 14, as well as the Army’s 250th anniversary and on U.S. Flag Day,” she continued about the 78-year-old. “Apparently, we understand, it would include soldiers, armored vehicles, tactical vehicles and more.”
The Washington City Paper reported Sunday that the display would flow from Arlington, Virginia, into Washington, D.C., and that Takis Karantonis, the Arlington County Board chair, received a “heads up” Friday from the White House about the tentative event.
“A celebration that is much more familiar in settings outside the United States, whether that be China, Russia or North Korea — put on by some of the strongmen that Trump has said that he admires,” said Burnett in describing the parade.
“When Putin, his own state media, will put out statements about seemingly unimportant things that he cares about, like how many goals he scored in a hockey game,” Burnett said Monday, adding: “If that sounds familiar in the context of this weekend, maybe it should.”
Clive Rose/Formula 1/Getty Images
Burnett noted that Trump planned to hold a military parade during his first term. The display wasn’t inspired by enemies of the U.S., however, but by Bastille Day events in Paris that Trump was invited to observe in 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron.
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The event was postponed after its estimated cost rose to $92 million.
The White House reportedly claimed Monday that “no military parade has been scheduled” for this year, but Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser told Fox News she isn’t sure if the event is being “characterized as a military parade” — and didn’t deny that one was coming.
“I would say it’s at its early stages,” she told the outlet.
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