What to expect as Washington hosts Trump’s military parade

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Since his first term in office, President Trump has envisioned a grand military parade, and, on Saturday, it will become a reality.

  The occasion, the U.S. Army's 250th birthday, which happens to coincide with President Trump's own birthday. The multimillion-dollar spectacle promises a striking display of American military might.

  But the event has also drawn scrutiny, with questions swirling about its cost and the political message it sends.

  Dan Lamothe covers the U.S. military in Pentagon for The Washington Post and joins us now.

  Thanks for being here.

• Dan Lamothe, The Washington Post:

  Sure. Thank you.

• Geoff Bennett:

  So President Trump is getting this military parade that he's long wanted.

  How did his vision for a Bastille Day-style parade evolve into this event marking the Army's 250th anniversary, which also happens to fall on President Trump's own birthday?

• Dan Lamothe:

  Yes, I think the most significant piece here in terms of how we got to actually following through and doing it is that the Army approached the White House early in this administration, looking to do some sort of big national event to celebrate the 250 years of the Army.

  That seems to have grown into what we are now looking at, which very much rhymes with some of the discussions we had during the first Trump administration, where that parade was sort of short-circuited and sort of reeled back into being more of an air show.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And against the backdrop of the Trump administration's highly publicized efforts to cut costs at the federal level, there are estimates that place the parade's cost between $25 million and $45 million. That includes money to protect and then repair the streets, given the weight of the armored vehicles. Who's footing the bill for all this?

• Dan Lamothe:

  The Army is for the most part. I mean, this is money that comes out of operations and maintenance, things that could have been put toward training. Whether or not there's a backfill on that money later, I think, is a question. But, at the moment, this is coming out hide for the Army.

• Geoff Bennett:

  How is the Pentagon responding to concerns that the military is being politicized? There are critics who have compared this parade to authoritarian spectacles, the types you see in China, Russia, North Korea.

• Dan Lamothe:

  Yes, I think the Army is trying to, like, kind of keep its head down and treat this as a celebration of history.

  The challenge with that is that there is a lot of other things going on right now, including the National Guard in Los Angeles, including President Trump's visit to Fort Bragg, where you had not only him making political commentary in front of soldiers, but some of those soldiers actually laughing and booing on camera.

  That's outside the bounds of what soldiers are supposed to be doing in uniform. And the Army is kind of having to take that on the chin and figure out how they're going to manage that and stay out of politics.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Well, based on your reporting, I mean, how do you see all of this coming together? What's the broader message and impact?

• Dan Lamothe:

  Yes, I mean, I think the message is that we're looking at a very rare event. I mean, we have had — the last military parade we had was after the Gulf War. I mean, it is rare to have something of this size and scope and Washington.

  And I think what we will all be watching for is not just what rolls down the streets, but what happens on the margins? What does the president say? What does the brass have to sort of stand by and watch? And at what point do they need to weigh in or not to try to keep this in a nonpartisan tradition?

• Geoff Bennett:

  So what should we expect to see tomorrow?

• Dan Lamothe:

  I mean, it's monstrous. It's huge, dozens of tanks, helicopters, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Stryker combat vehicles, thousands of soldiers in uniform.

  This is something that is going to be quite the spectacle.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Dan Lamothe of The Washington Post, thanks so much for being here.

• Dan Lamothe:

  Thank you.