President Donald Trump is planning a military parade for June 14, which will be his 79th birthday, in Washington, DC. And the event could, according to The Hill, cost as much as $45 million.
MSNBC's Alex Witt discussed the parade with Gen. Barry McCaffrey — a retired former four-star U.S. Army general — and The Bulwark's Tim Miller during a Friday afternoon, May 16 broadcast. And both of them laid out some reasons why they consider the parade a very bad idea.
McCaffrey told Witt and Miller — a Never Trump conservative and former GOP strategist — "To look at it in a political sense, it just makes no sense. It's not part of the American culture. This isn't Bastille Day. We normally don't run heavy equipment in parades."
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McCaffrey added, "By the way, the New York City parade after (Operation) Desert Storm was 24,000 troops. So this is not a significant event, except that it's a politically boneheaded move to hijack an event for the 250th birthday (of our) proud U.S. Army and have it enhance the president's birthday — which sounds creepy to most of us."
The retired military leader got no argument from Miller, who agreed that the event is "creepy" and is inconsistent with "American culture."
McCaffrey and Witt disagreed on how much damage the use of tanks on June 14 could inflict on Washington, DC's roads. Witt fears that the roads could need some repairs after the parade, while the retired general, now 82, doesn't think the potential for road damage is that significant. He stressed the main point to be argued should be that having a military parade on a sitting president's birthday is inconsistent with American values.
Watch the full video below or at this link.
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