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Trump Paris-Bound in November to Watch a Military Parade Instead

President blames city for postponing military parade he wanted in Washington

President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron attend the traditional Bastille day military parade on the Champs-Elysees on July 14, 2017 in Paris (Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images file photo)
President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron attend the traditional Bastille day military parade on the Champs-Elysees on July 14, 2017 in Paris (Thierry Chesnot/Getty Images file photo)

President Donald Trump plans to go to Paris in November to celebrate the Armistice Day, rather than hosting his own military parade in Washington, D.C.

Trump tweeted that he would also, “attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date.”

Any plans for a military parade in the United States have been postponed until at least 2019. Trump blamed the high cost of the previously-envisioned military parade on local officials in Washington, D.C.

The estimated cost for the event in the nation’s capitol had surged to roughly $92 million, news outlets  reported Thursday,. That is $80 million more than first thought.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser channeled her inner Trump in responding to the president’s announcement Friday with a tweet of her own.

“Yup, I’m Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities ($21.6M) of parades/events/demonstrations in Trump America (sad),” Bowser wrote.

The American Legion had expressed opposition to the costly parade in a Thursday evening statement.

“The American Legion appreciates that our President wants to show in a dramatic fashion our nation’s support for our troops,” American Legion National Commander Denise Rohan said. “However, until such time as we can celebrate victory in the War on Terrorism and bring our military home, we think the parade money would be better spent fully funding the Department of Veteran Affairs and giving our troops and their families the best care possible.”

[Also read: America’s Largest Veterans Group Rains on Trump’s Parade]

Trump had accused the local government of inflating the cost estimates.

“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” he wrote. “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.”

Last year, Trump visited France at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron for the military parade on Bastille Day. 2018 is of course the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I.

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