Maura Morrison: Military parade ‘wasteful’ and ‘disruptive’

In case you missed it, the estimated cost of the military parade held on Saturday is $45 million. That number does not include the cleanup or repairs to the damage to the roads there from the tanks and heavy military equipment. Meanwhile, 7,000 soldiers will be corralled into two unused government buildings for their visit to Washington. The New York Times reported on May 15 that the thousands of visiting soldiers in Washington for the parade will stay in unused government buildings and sleep on cots, according to the Army. The soldiers are mere pawns in Donald Trump’s vision of himself in the grand viewing stand.

He should be embarrassed and ashamed of himself for demanding this not only wasteful, but disruptive parade. The Ronald Reagan National Airport in D.C. was closed for several hours and traffic in the city around a 2.5 mile area rerouted until Monday morning.

I thought that Trump said he was going to reduce wasteful spending. Oh, wait. He did. How did the DOGE team miss this whopper of unnecessary expense? How could that money have been used in ways that would be beneficial to us, the people who are paying for this bloated and ostentatious display of ego? The money is coming out of the U.S. Army budget, but those funds are supported by our tax dollars.

As I write, it is Saturday morning and the parade has not yet begun. The forecast is for rain and thunderstorms. I can’t resist finding the symbolism of rain on this parade to be apt. I hope that the protesters remember their raincoats and umbrellas.

Maura Morrison

Greenfield