from Zero Hedge
Hours after The Pentagon confirmed the President’s military parade planned for Veterans Day has been postponed until at least next year, after the DoD released an estimated cost of $92 million, Trump has scape-tweeted local Washington politicians as responsible for the decision to cancel.
As a reminder, The Hill reports that the Defense Department released an updated cost estimate for the planned parade, which pegged the price tag for the event at $92 million, including $50 million from the Pentagon and $42 million from interagency partners.
That figure is significantly higher than an initial estimate that three U.S. defense officials provided CNN with last month. That estimate pegged the cost of the parade at closer to $12 million, raising new questions about the overall cost of the event.
And then yesterday evening, Pentagon spokesman Col. Rob Manning said in a statement that the Defense Department and White House have agreed to explore potential dates for the parade in 2019.
“The Department of Defense and White House have been planning a parade to honor America’s military veterans and commemorate the centennial of World War I. We originally targeted November 10, 2018 for this event but have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019,” Manning said.
Which led to this morning’s Presidential tweet: “The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. “
The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. 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. Never let someone hold you up! I will instead…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
Trump then offered hope for next year: ” Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. “
….attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
Notably, plans for the parade are widely unpopular with Americans in polls, with 61 percent of voters opposing the plans even before the costs were announced in a survey taken earlier this year. Just 26 percent said they supported the plans in the same poll.