In search of case to fact check, I typed news.google and searched for political news. I came across a CNN article Of course Donald Trump wants a big, shiny military parade, which was published February 7, 2018 and written by CNN Editor Chris Cillizza. Within the article there are direct links that CNN and Washington Post have written about President Trump seeking to have a military parade. This led me to further go upstream by clicking on my first link CNN’s article Trump tells Pentagon to plan a military parade , which led me to read laterally to determine what is the purpose of the parade. The article shares that Trump got the idea from the Bastille Day parade that he attended when visiting France. I highlighted and did a Google search on the White House press secretary Sarah Sander’s direct quote.
“President Trump is incredibly supportive of America’s great service members who risk their lives everyday to keep our country safe. He has asked the Department of Defense to explore a celebration at which all Americans can show their appreciation,” said Sarah Sanders.
Many articles come up and a few of them are NPR: Trump Wants Pentagon To Stage Military Parade Down Pennsylvania Avenue, NBC News: Pentagon considering Washington military parade at Trump’s request, Newsweek: Trump Wants A Big Military Parade, Just Like France, Fox News: Trump orders military ‘celebration’ in Washington, DC. In reading laterally, Fox News Trump orders military ‘celebration in Washington, DC has a direct statement from Trump wanting to include military equipment.
“I want a parade like the one in France,” with soldiers marching and tanks rolling, ordered by the president.
Further reading laterally, in the same article a few paragraphs down they share that Huffington Post reported that “Trump’s Inaugural Committee was “seriously considering adding military vehicles to the Inaugural Parade.”
As I continue to read laterally, I look at NBC Pentagon considering Washington military parade at Trump’s request and it discusses that Trump has an idea of having a military parade and how he attended the French and China parade; and that “Trump also praised a military parade held by China.”
It may be unusual for the time frame, but back in 1991 there was a military parade and this was not the only one.
“Readying 200 miles of ticker tape, 10,000 pounds of confetti and 1 million yellow ribbons in New York, they have promised to make Washington’s $12 million event look like a mere dress rehearsal. The real star of Washington’s show — even in competition with a parade that featured marching war veterans and Patriot missiles, even compared with a fireworks display that was three times as big as the Fourth of July’s — was the seven-block-long array of weaponry that helped defeat Iraq”(Washington Post.)
The United States has had military parades before: President Bush- in 1991 “celebrate the end of the conflict” following the Gulf War (CNN.) There was also a military parade in the years 1949 and 1961; In the Washington Post they inform us that “Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy had military equipment during their inaugural parades, in 1949 and 1961 respectively, during key junctures in the Cold War, said Michael Beschloss, another presidential historian.”
Video of 1991 Military parade in Washington DC
The Washington Post says, “But big military parades — even those launched with the best of intentions — carry risks and troublesome historical echoes.”
CNN said, “Trump tells Pentagon to plan a military parade.”
Trump got the idea from the parade Bastille Day parade that he attended when he had visited France. I did a search google on Bastille Day parade and came across an article by the Washington Post, which said “Although Trump’s parade, like the French one, would feature the nation’s military might, it might send a very different message, some European defense analysts and columnists said.”
It is that Trump wants to go over and beyond the French military parade. “It was one of the greatest parades I’ve ever seen, “It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France. “We’re going to have to try to top it” Trump informing the reporters. (Washington Post).
Is there really going to be a military parade?
In reading laterally and coming to go upstream I research “Trump orders military celebration in Washington parade just like France. Resulting in a Vox’s article Trump wants a military parade “just like France’s.” It’s likely to look more like China’s states that Trump statement of topping the French’s military parade was a joke, but “it was no joke. Now he has ordered the Pentagon to prepare his own parade, “like the one in France,” as one senior military official has recounted. However exorbitant the expense, it does indeed look like this might actually take place.” . Vox also shares, that “Bastille Day in France has always been about people, not military hardware. It’s celebration of the French national spirit- of French national determination to uphold the values of the revolution, liberty, equality, and fraternity.” In Soviet Russia, China, and North Korea the massive military parades consist of “featuring huge vehicles carrying enormous intercontinental ballistic missiles, the latest tanks and rocket launchers, and all kinds of massive military hardware. Alongside them march ranks and columns of crisply uniformed soldiers in formation, their goose-stepping creating an impression of an unstoppable, mechanized force” said Vox.
In CBS article How CBS News reported the last nation military parade in 1991 touches upon the parade that took place in Washington DC when President Bush was in office. It also brings in the current news of Trump wanting to have a military parade. Within this article. I clicked on a hyperlink- Mr. Trump told reporters- as I continue to go upstream it takes me to a to another article Trump says he wants to have a military parade on July 4. It is said that the parade is to take place on Pennsylvania Avenue on July 4; which will cost the military $700 billion.
Finally, going upstream to snopes to verify the validity of the date of Trump’s comment about the parade, which turned out to be unknown.
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