You have probably seen the news that Donald Trump wants a military parade to honor him on his 79th birthday. The event is to be held June 14 which coincides with the Army’s 250th Anniversary. It is expected to cost between 25 and 45 million taxpayer dollars to stage.
Plans for Trump's birthday military parade include rolling as many as 25 M1 Abrams Tanks and 150 other vehicles over city streets. They will deploy metal plates over the roadways hoping this will keep the heavy vehicles from tearing them apart. Experts say this will be ineffective and repair afterwards will cost millions more than planned.
Critics on both sides of the aisle are objecting, as military parades are something dictators do. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, "This is Trump. This is all about his ego and making everything 'him', which is, I think, a discredit to the military, the Army," Representative Steve Cohen of Tennesse, also a Democrat introduced a bill that would ban using public money for "displays of military force for personal glorification."
How to stage all the vehicles the parade would involve is just one of the logistical problems this plan faces. The roughly 6600 soldiers, officers, bands and more who would be involved would not be able to just fly in and fly out on the same day. They will need places to stay. There are not enough hotels to accommodate even a fraction of them. It has been reported elsewhere that Lt. Colonels and even Colonels will be expected to sleep on cots. Only Generals will be entitled to comfortable accommodations. As for the lower ranking officers and enlisted men, Trump plans to quarter soldiers in local homes. This would be a violation of the Third Amendment. The text of it is as follows: "No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law"
I reached out to The White House for comment. A spokesperson stated “Consent will not be an issue, as no true American would say no to the President or to our fine men and women in uniform. Besides, we have ways of dealing with people on American soil who are not true Americans.”
While many view the Third Amendment as an anachronism from colonial times, others see it along with the Fourth and Fourteenth as the foundation of the right to privacy in our homes. Whether this goes unchallenged remains to be seen. The Uncoveror will continue to follow this story as it develops.