Trump: I Want 'Really Great' Parade on July 4

Bigger than the one he saw in France on Bastille Day, he says
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 19, 2017 3:03 AM CDT
Trump Wants to Hold July 4 Military Parade
Tanks drive down the Champs-Elysees during the Bastille Day parade in Paris on July 14, 2017.   (AP/Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Who doesn't love a parade? To a city that already offers many, President Trump wants to add one that showcases US military might. It would take place on July 4 in Washington with, as Trump envisions it, tanks and planes rolling down and streaking above Pennsylvania Avenue. Trump talked up the idea of a "really great parade to show our military strength" Monday as he sat down with French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the president and first lady Melania Trump for France's military parade in the center of Paris on Bastille Day in July, the AP reports. Trump said the two-hour procession was a "tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France."

In typical Trump fashion, the president said he wants the DC parade to be bigger and better than the one he saw in France. "It was one of the greatest parades I have ever seen," Trump said. "It was two hours on the button, and was military might." And "because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that on July 4th in Washington, down Pennsylvania Avenue," Trump said. "We're going to have to try and top it." Trump said he has discussed the idea with his chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired Marine general. A State Department spokesman says what will happen is "unclear," but Trump was "very inspired" by the French parade. (More President Trump stories.)

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