How Much Does President Trump's Military Parade Cost? Enough to Make DOGE Blush

When President Donald Trump attended a Bastille Day military parade in France, it lit a fire in him that only his own military parade could quell. He was determined to have his own parade; a show of strength to celebrate not only the might of the United States military, but the might he wields as its Commander in Chief.

In 2025, Trump's July 14 79th birthday aligns with the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary.

It seemed as though the stars aligned for Trump to finally host his eye-popping parade of military prowess and power, marching down Pennsylvania Avenue as he has long dreamed.

But his decision to make a powerful military statement, on his birthday no less, has been met with harsh criticism. Including critics who have blasted the cost of the parade amid his second term in office, which has claimed to focus on slashing federal spending. So, how much will the parade cost? Enough to make DOGE blush.

Ever since Trump returned to the White House to serve out his second term in January 2025, the name of the game has been "reducing federal spending." Or, at least, that's what his administration claims to be doing.

With the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) running roughshod over government agencies and programs, promising to cut the deficit and federal spending by an enormous amount (per NBC Chicago), people have been hard on Trump's heels to ensure that he's living up to his promise.

Enter: the military parade, which the Pentagon has admitted may cost as much as $45 million, according to NBC News 4. Those costs include housing and transporting military servicemembers and vehicles, logistics of the parade, as well as repairs for the Washington D.C. roads, which will likely sustain significant damage due to the weight of the tanks that will be deployed as part of the spectacle.

The gluttonous spending on this visual display has been met with harsh criticism, even from members of Trump's own party. Senator Rand Paul, a Republican, likened the military display to one expected of North Korea.

And fiscal conservative Senator John Kennedy said that he wouldn't spend the money, pointing out that the U.S. should be powerful enough not to need ostentatious and expensive displays of power to prove it (via The Independent).

Rand and Kennedy are far from alone, and opposition has grown, especially among American voters who feel pinched by planned cuts to social safety net programs like Medicaid, Food Stamps, and FEMA.

In Los Angeles, ICE engaged in a number of highly public detentions of immigrants, leading to protests across the city, which later spread around the country, per CBS News.

As the protests spread and President Trump called up thousands of National Guard troops to respond, along with hundreds of Marines, concerns began to grow that Trump might make use of the Insurrection Act to turn the military on American citizens.

The Insurrection Act of 1807 permits the President to call military power to quell insurrection or civil disorder that meets a certain threshold, according to USA Today.

But in a June 6, 2025, press conference, Trump seemed to equate the protests in Los Angeles to a threat against his military parade. He told reporters that people who protest the parade will be met with "heavy force."

Of course, the legality of that statement is questionable. The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States protects citizen rights to free speech and assembly, of which protest is considered a protected form, via Cornell Law.

The statement raised alarms as critics of the President and Constitutional scholars worried about the clash of powers and the seeming blurring of the lines between protest and insurrection.

As protesters across the world prepared for "No Kings" protests on June 14 and Trump ramped up his rhetoric about quelling protests, concerns of a Constitutional clash heightened.

Yet in May, Army spokesman Steve Warren told reporters that they welcome peaceful protests, and ABC News reports that he reaffirmed his commitment to that statement on June 10, 2025. "We're not doing crowd control," he told the outlet.

It's a small comfort to those who plan to exercise their right to protest as the tanks roll down the streets of Washington, D.C.