Trump won't get the big tank parade that he wanted for July 4th after all

Trump is trying to make the nation’s Fourth of July celebration all about himself, but it looks like he can’t always get what he wants.

Trump’s been pushing the Department of Defense (DOD) to run tanks right down the National Mall even though that could seriously damage the historic location. But on Tuesday, the DOD said no.

After keeping the details under wraps, a defense official confirmed that there would be a “very small number of armored vehicles” that will be part of a “static display” at Trump’s salute to himself.

That’s a far cry from the grand military parade Trump seems to have envisioned.

CNN reports that the number of military vehicles will only include “two M1 Abrams tanks, two Bradley fighting vehicles and an armored M88 Recovery Vehicle.”

Even Trump was forced to admit his plans are a bust, saying, “We’re gonna have some tanks stationed outside.” However, Trump isn’t really clear on what tanks will be there. On Tuesday, he bragged that “we have the brand new Sherman tanks and we have the brand new Abrams tanks.”

The military hasn’t made Sherman tanks since World War II and hasn’t used them since the 1950s.

Whatever their vintage, Trump won’t get to see tanks roaring down the National Mall, echoing the types of military demonstrations found in totalitarian countries run by his dictator friends. But even his stripped-down Fourth of July plans are still a massive waste of resources.

First, no armored vehicles are stationed in Washington, D.C. That means the tanks will probably need to be brought to the capitol on trains and then driven to the parade location on the back of large trucks.

Next, the celebrated Blue Angels, the Navy’s flight demonstration team, had to cancel a planned break to fly over Trump’s self-serving celebration.

Finally, a military official told CNN that it’s likely F-35 stealth jets will be there too. Each of those jets costs about $30,000 per hour to operate. They’re also the jets Trump is convinced are literally invisible, so it’s unclear how he thinks he would know if they were there.

Trump is determined to wreck a previously non-partisan celebration of America by making it all about himself. He’s still going to do it, but he’ll have to do it with a few fewer tanks.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.