Trump wants his own military parade after being wowed by France's

President Donald Trump said Monday that he is considering commemorating the Fourth of July next year with a military parade on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Trump floated the French Bastille Day-inspired proposal as he spoke to reporters alongside President Emmanuel Macron ahead of a bilateral meeting at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel.


Trump celebrated the 100th anniversary of U.S. entry into World War I on Bastille Day in Paris in July, watching thousands of French and American troops march down the Champs-Élysées during the two-hour parade, which included armored personnel carriers, tanks, missile launchers and dozens of military planes and helicopters.

The military parade was “I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France,” Trump said Monday. “And people don’t know what great warriors they are in France, but when you see that and you see all the victories, it was a tremendous thing.”

“And, to a large extent, because of what I witnessed, we may do something like that on July Fourth in Washington down Pennsylvania Avenue, if I have your approval,” Trump said, gesturing toward Macron as the two men laughed and smiled. “I don’t know. We’re gonna have to try and top it, but we had a lot of planes going over and a lot of military might, and it was really a beautiful thing to see.”

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Trump marveled at the French parade, especially its “representatives from different wars and different uniforms.”

“It was really so well done. But I came back and one of my early calls were, ‘I think we’re gonna have to start looking at that ourselves,’” Trump said. “So we’re actually thinking about Fourth of July, Pennsylvania Avenue, having a really great parade to show our military strength.”

He said that the U.S. is spending $700 billion more than ever before on its military, likely alluding to a $700 billion defense policy bill in the Senate, and quipped that it’s a boon for France “because we’re friends.”

“We’re looking forward to doing that,” he said of holding the potential military parade. “I’m speaking with [chief of staff] General [John] Kelly and with all of the people involved, and we’ll see if it we can do it this year. But we certainly will be beginning to do that.”