Since Trump's $92 million military parade in Washington, D.C., was canceled, he's decided to up and leave the country in November so he can watch a parade somewhere else.
Trump is abandoning veterans this Veterans Day to go to Paris to watch their military parade, he announced Friday morning on Twitter.
Continuing his habit of early morning tantrums, Trump blamed others for the exploding cost of the now-canceled military parade that had been scheduled for Nov. 10 in Washington, D.C.
"The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it," he tweeted. "When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up!"
The military estimated Trump's military parade would cost taxpayers $92 million, an increase of $80 million above the previously estimated cost.
The new numbers come from figures worked up by the Department of Defense, as well as interagency partners that would be needed for the parade to go off.
"I will instead attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th," Trump added.
Nov. 11 is Veterans Day.
Trump has been obsessed with the idea of a military parade since he saw the Bastille Day parade in France last year.
He has ignored naysayers who complained about the cost of the parade, even before it ballooned to $92 million, insisting that he wants a "really great parade to show our military strength."
Former military leaders disagreed.
"This is not about showcasing our military," retired Rear Adm. John Kirby told CNN in February. "This is about the president showing off. This is all about his ego."
Even members of Trump's own party were embarrassed by the idea.
"Im not looking for a Soviet-style hardware display," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said. "That's not who we are. It's kind of cheesy. I think it shows weakness, quite frankly."
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said that "America is the most powerful country in all of human history, everybody knows it, and we dont need to show it off."
Others simply said they would prefer not to spend the money.
Now that the parade has been canceled, or at least postponed, Trump will return to France to get his fix of military might on display — proving that simply finding a way to honor our veterans was never his intention at all.
Oliver Willis contributed to this article.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
