Mattis Slams 'Idiot' Who Started Apparently False Report About Trump's Military Parade
Defense Secretary James Mattis went full “Mad Dog” on an “idiot” that apparently started a false rumor that President Donald Trump’s planned military parade in Washington D.C. would cost nearly $100 million, $80 million more than had originally been promised.
The first reports of the cost overrun for the controversial parade — a proposal that liberals seemed particularly eager to connect with authoritarianism even though the genesis of the idea seems to have come from the Bastille Day parade in France, a nation clearly known as one of the world’s worst despotisms — began appearing late this week in the media.
“President Donald Trump’s military parade — postponed after this article was originally published — is shaping up to cost $80 million more than initially estimated,” CNBC reported.
“The Department of Defense and its interagency partners have updated their prospective cost estimates for the parade, according to a U.S. defense official with firsthand knowledge of the assessment. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“The parade, originally slated for Nov. 10 but now potentially set for 2019, is estimated to cost $92 million, the official said. The figure consists of $50 million from the Pentagon and $42 million from interagency partners such as the Department of Homeland Security. An initial estimate last month pegged the prospective cost for the parade at $12 million,” the article added.
Defense Secretary Mattis said this was rubbish.
“The estimates are coming to me, I’ve given initial guidance, but I have received no such estimate,” Mattis said while traveling in South America, according to the Independent Journal Review.
“Whoever told you that is probably smoking something that’s legal in my state, but not in most states,” he told reporters, adding that any concept of costing was “premature.”
“I’m not dignifying that number with any reply,” he continued.
“Anybody who said that, almost guarantee one thing, they probably said ‘I need to stay anonymous.’ No kidding, because you look like an idiot. And number two whoever wrote it needs to get better sources.”
A Thursday statement from the Pentagon, meanwhile, said that they “have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019″ in regards to the parade.
Trump had originally floated the idea after the 2017 United Nations General Assembly.
“We’re thinking … of having a really great parade, to show our military strength,” the president said.
“Because of what I witnessed (in France on Bastille Day), we may do something like that on July 4th in Washington down Pennsylvania (Avenue).”
Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported the parade was put into motion in a serious manner.
“The marching orders were: I want a parade like the one in France,” one anonymous military official said. “This is being worked at the highest levels of the military.”
When it happens remains a mystery, but one thing seems for certain: It’s probably not going to cost $92 million.
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