Trump touts July 4 military 'salute' as critics see politics

It started when US President Donald Trump saw a military parade on Bastille Day in 2017 in Paris. Trump has since wanted one in Washington. He tried last year but that plan eventually was dropped, partly because of the estimated cost - more than $90 million - and objections from local officials because of the damage heavy armored tanks could do to city streets.

On Thursday, 243 years from when the US adopted the Declaration of Independence - July 4, 1776 - Trump will get a version of his Fourth of July parade in the nation's capital. He has dubbed it a "Salute to America".

"I'm going to be here and I'm going to say a few words and we're going to have planes going overhead, the best fighter jets in the world and other planes too and we're gonna have some tanks stationed outside," Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday.

As for the tanks, Trump acknowledged on social media: "You've got to be pretty careful with the tanks because the roads have a tendency not to like to carry heavy tanks, ... so we have to put them in certain areas."

District of Columbia officials had protested the 2018 plan and they are objecting this year. "Tanks but not tanks," the Washington City Council tweeted on Monday.

Some military hardware will be transported from bases around the country, ranging as close as Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to as far away as the Naval Air Station in California. It was not known how much the use of the military will cost.

A US defense official said that the current plan is to have a very small number of armored vehicles participate as part of a "static display" - parked - on the National Mall, the three kilometers of lawn stretching from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

In addition to the tanks, there will be a flyover of the Lincoln Memorial by the US Navy Blue Angels and an assortment of aircraft from different branches of the military and the Air Force One plane that is used by presidents.

Trump will review the parade that goes down Constitution Avenue - without the tanks - and have his military chiefs standing next to him. The fireworks will go off just after 9 pm.

Presidents typically have not been present for annual events staged at the foot of the US Capitol that attract thousands of tourists, feature entertainers and are broadcast live before a fireworks display over the Washington Monument.

Singer and songwriter Carole King will be one of those entertainers this year, but in a tweet, she stressed: "I am appearing in 'A Capitol Fourth', the traditional event held annually on the lawn at the Capitol. I am not participating in t's political rally."

A progressive group, Code Pink, received permission to float their round, diapered Donald Trump baby balloon above the Mall near where Trump will deliver evening remarks. The group said it protests the "politicizing" of the day by Trump.

aiheping@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 07/04/2019 page11)