Waste, fraud & abuse
— Virginia Gewin (@virginiagewin.bsky.social) May 15, 2025 at 10:06 AM
So, why hasn’t this drawn more general attention yet? Does everyone with a large public platform doubt it’ll actually happen? Per Reuters, “Trump, US Army birthday bash plans include 25 Abrams tanks”:
Twin celebrations of U.S. President Donald Trump’s birthday and the Army’s 250th anniversary will include as many as 25 tanks rolling through Washington in a celebration that will cost $25 million to $45 million, U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
U.S. military service branches take pride in their history and anniversary celebrations, called birthdays, across the United States and on bases around the world.
The U.S. Army had long been planning to move troops and equipment to the National Mall in Washington on June 14 as part of its anniversary celebration. Plans now include a parade since that coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.
Two U.S. officials told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, the eventual cost could be as high as $45 million. One of them said the cost included several million dollars more than it would have without a parade.
The official added that the Army is planning on sending about two dozen M1 Abrams tanks for the celebration.
The officials’ latest estimates exclude costs the city of Washington would have to bear, like trash cleanup or road repairs for damage from the heavy tanks…
Critics have called a parade an authoritarian display of power that is wasteful, especially as Trump slashes costs throughout the federal government.
During his first administration, Trump ordered the Pentagon to look into a display of military might after a 2017 trip to France where he and French President Emmanuel Macron reviewed that country’s defense forces marching down the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris.
That effort would have cost $90 million…
Medium Cool – Best Album Covers!
strange visitor (from another planet)
it’s gonna be jan 6th 2.0. no way he (or more likely, kapo miller) wastes that moment.
….oooh, frist!!
Spanky
Frankly, I’m ok with leaving Pennsylvania Avenue a chewed up mess after his little parade. Maybe make Pastor Mike’s suv 4wd itself around town. Maybe Clarence won’t be able to drive his mega rv to work for a few days. Boo hoo.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
It’ll be a great look for the Trump administration when store shelves are empty to have a military parade costing tens of millions for his birthday
Elizabelle
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yeppers.
SiubhanDuinne
I wish no ill or discomfort on our soldiers, but I can’t help wishing for some kind of non-life-threatening, highly public, highly embarrassing event during that parade. Like, I dunno, the D.C. streets aren’t up to the weight of all those tanks and a giant pothole opens in front of the FFOTUS reviewing stand, or something.
karen gail
I don’t get why the price tag would be “cheaper” than before; unless the cost of cleanup and repairs were part of the price tag the first time. Also I thought that tanks would do more than just dig up the roads; something about weight and swampland.
Jackie
Sadly, it’s my birthday, too, and I’m scrambling trying to figure out how to enjoy “My Day” without being forced to even incidentally watch media clips of this farce. After having my birthday ruined for four years during FFOTUS’s first term, then happily being able to reclaim celebrating my birthday for four years while Biden was In Office, I’m already depressed. It won’t be a one day news day event, and there’s only so much MLB to watch… 😡😢😢
strange visitor (from another planet)
@SiubhanDuinne: DC is built on a swamp. M1A2’s weigh in around 70 tons WITHOUT the ERA and the TUSK.
they’re gonna fuck up the streets in ways that can’t be fathomed.
…but i still think that’s when he’ll pull a palpatine
(oh. ERA= Explosive Reactive Armor and TUSK= Tank Urban Survival Kit)
Jackie
Great. NOT.
I knew better than to count on the holdouts to continue voting “NO,” but them not voting is chickenshit. Just vote YES and be honest.
SpaceUnit
Hopefully the Pentagon will have the courage and sense to lead this parade with a slovenly tuba player burping out a very amateur version of The Ride of the Valkyries.
Wanted to embed video but YouTube has scrubbed it entirely. Cowards.
NotMax
“Did anyone stop to check the tank guns aren’t loaded for when they swivel as a mark of allegiance to point at you-know-who?”
//
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Big beautiful fountains from damaged water and sewer mains.
sab
First term our Dork in Chief wanted a military parade and sensible people told him DC was built on a swamp and their streets cant stand heavy traffic.
He has dementia and cannot remember anything, but his advisors do remember this DC road thing, don’t they?
Jackie
@sab:
His advisers do his bidding. Or else he finds new advisers. Laura Loomer desperately wants the job…
sab
Re Ohio meetup. It was great, best weekend I have had in years.
I have said it was loud. It was. I haven’t said that I have emotional/neurological issues with loudness. It freaks me out and I want to run from the room like a frightened kitten.
My husband was amazed that I lasted two hours. I didn’t feel like I was lasting at all. We left when we had to to meet another engagement.
I loved the meetup. Columbusqueen and Ohio mom did a great job.
Splitting Image
Happy Maple Leafs elimination day to all who celebrate.
It’s funny, but between the NHL and the NBA, all but one of the #1 seeds went down in a span of like five days. Only Oklahoma City prevented it from being a clean sweep. All four division champs in the NHL were defeated and the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Eastern Conference champion, went down as well.
Another Scott
@sab: Task & Purpose and other outfits say that the Pentagon is going to put down steel plates where the tanks have to turn (and do the most damage). Who knows if it will be enough.
The sensible decision would be not to have the tanks on DC streets, but of course about 98% of the things 47’s minions are doing aren’t sensible, so …
Grr…
It looks like the route is from the Pentagon over the Memorial Bridge. I can’t find the weight limit anywhere, but they just rebuilt the bridge a few years ago so I guess it will be able to handle it. Still…
Best wishes,
Scott.
prostratedragon
@Jackie: My sympathies, I know what having a spotty birthday is like. Unfortunately, game 5 of the NBA finals, if necessary, is scheduled for the next day. Maybe some WNBA?
prostratedragon
@SpaceUnit: What, no vuvuzela?!
Ten Bears
That should be enough to pincer, surround and arrest them all, send them to Gitmo
sab
Goku is real and rather attractive. Just saying…
Jackie
@prostratedragon: Oh yes, and a lot of HGTV and the FOOD Channel shows I’ve DVDed. It’s still gonna be rough. I’ve always enjoyed sharing my birthday with Flag Day – even after learning my dad lied to me that America celebrated MY Birthday by putting out the American Flag in my honor LOL!
prostratedragon
@Jackie: Exactly what I’d have told you!
cain
@Jackie: happy birthday! Mine was on mother’s Day and my wife was on Thursday!
sab
Meetup in Ohio: Other end from my table: Goku a white nursing trained grocery clerk from suburban Youngstown was at the head of the table, beside a retired Black engineer and his wife, and on the other side a Knox county dairy farmer.
All politicaly on our side. This is Ohio.
ETA There are all those other people, but we are also Ohio.
Jackie
@cain: Happy Birthdays to you both!
Jackie
@prostratedragon: Sadly, I was corrected about Flag Day being in honor of my birthday very publicly by my 2nd grade teacher when I proudly announced my birthday was celebrated nationwide… I was crestfallen and embarrassed.
My birthday was considered a summer birthday as school ended before. So all us “summer birthday” students were invited to explain when and why our birthdays were special. I went home in tears. I eventually got over it, but obviously I haven’t forgotten that memory LOL! And, now being forced to acknowledge I share the same day with FFOTUS… sigh…
Kayla Rudbek
@strange visitor (from another planet): I’m not sure if the bridges can handle the weight either
sab
Also too a dig at a sister in law who expected us to go to her birthday party at at a very pricey restaurant for a $50 to $100 dollar per person meal. None of the rest of us have that kind of money. Husband loves her but she is now on my do not contact list of grifters
ETA We went and I am furious. Another sister and her hsband went and split a meal. Chopped a chop in half. Humiliating.
NotMax
@sab
Quoth the ad: “I’m not hungry, I’ll just pick.”
:)
prostratedragon
Inquiring cats want to know:
@Jackie: What a meanie! Maybe she came down with gout.
NotMax
FYI.
Oh my. Quite the whoopsie between a sailing vessel and the Brooklyn Bridge.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: We’ve been following. A dense, embarrassing-accident-induced fog seems to be settling over the matter for now.
Redshift
@Another Scott: According to a PBS article:
Which is good, because the weight limit on Memorial Bridge is apparently ten tons.
prostratedragon
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Where the bloody hell is that in the department budget?
Reminiscent (but worse) of Ryan Zinke flying a personal flag at the Dept. of the Interior to signal when he was on premises during Dolt 45.
NotMax
@Another Scott
Maybe they’ll attempt to raise zombie Leni Riefenstahl to film it.
prostratedragon
@NotMax:
Image from front of Palazzo Braschi, Rome, 1934. The palazzo has the visibility of a location on an urban square. Note the repeated word, “Si.” Seems a referendum vote was approaching and it was felt important to remove any lingering ambiguities.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Veddy veddy proto Max Headroom.
;)
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Musica Italiana: Flik Flok.
Parfigliano
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): winner
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Dolt-in-chief can throw rolls of paper towels to the troops.
//
mrmoshpotato
@Jackie: All teams are playing on your birthday. Baseball all afternoon and into the night!
lowtechcyclist
@Redshift:
No, that’s bad! The damage to the bridge would be worth the embarrassment to Cheeto Benito to be stalled on the wrong side of the river on account of the tanks cratering the bridge.
Manyakitty
@sab: OMG where did they plan the dinner?
Another Scott
@Redshift: @lowtechcyclist:
Stories I’ve found said the weight limit was reduced to 10 tons in 2015 before the renovation (because steel girders were eaten away, etc.), but I haven’t been able to find anything about the post-reconstruction limit.
DC’s normal truck weight limit is 80,000 pounds (40 tons). Escorts are required for weights over 120,000 pounds (60 tons).
We’ll see what happens. :-/
Best wishes,
Scott.
Kirk
@lowtechcyclist: was ten tons during the repairs. Repairs are complete.
You’re not going to find weight limits as easily as you can for most bridges because this one’s part of the National Park Service, and they prohibit commercial traffic without permits. I found the reconstruction files but I’m not paying for them – not worth it for an off-hand line. That said it looks like the bridge will tolerate tanks provided they maintain spacing.
lou
I can’t help but worry about not just the water and sewer systems, but the tanks would roll right over top of the Metro and it’s closer to the surface there than in other places in the system.
And as far as DC being built on a swamp. Yes, the National Mall and the federal environs around there were wetlands for the Potomac River. A stream called the Tiber ran where Constitution Avenue now stands. But the city is pretty hilly for the most part.
sab
@Manyakitty: Ken Stewart Steakhouse. And the food wasn’t even that good. The house salad was appalling. How do you fuck up a house salad?
Manyakitty
@sab: that’s terrible. Ken’s used to be good. Pretty sure all the sides are a la carte, too, so that was an expensive bad salad. Yuck.