Trump nixes military parade over costs, says he’ll go to Paris parade instead

President Trump on Friday tweeted that he canceled the military parade planned for November in Washington, blaming high costs that he claimed local politicians set to deter him. Instead, the president said he will be in Paris to watch the Armistice Day parade celebrating the end of World War I on Nov. 11.

It’s unclear if French President Emmanuel Macron has even invited Mr. Trump to Paris for the event. Mr. Trump was enamored by Paris’ Bastille Day celebrations last summer, and wanted to fashion a military parade in the United States’ capital after it.

The Pentagon announced Thursday that the parade in the works for Nov. 10 will be delayed until at least 2019. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the parade would cost roughly $92 million — more than three times the original estimate. The White House’s budget office had estimated to Congress previously that the parade would cost between $10 million and $30 million.

On Friday, the president blamed local politicians for the high costs, even though the cost estimate is generally for expenses deemed necessary by the Pentagon and federal agencies.

“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” the president tweeted Friday morning. “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…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!”