President Trump reportedly derailed his first meeting with former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis by bringing up the possibility of hosting a “Victory Day” military parade.
Former Mattis speechwriter Guy Snodgrass shared an excerpt from his book Holding the Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon With Secretary Mattis, which details how Mattis and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had planned to use the July 2017 meeting to discuss America’s involvement in foreign affairs, but the president had other topics in mind. According to Snodgrass, who was present, Trump “appeared to see this entire briefing as pointless.”
At one point, the president suddenly brought up his recent trip to France:
A pause.
“I want a ‘Victory Day.’ Just like Veterans Day. The Fourth of July is too hot,” he said, apparently out of nowhere. “I want vehicles and tanks on Main Street. On Pennsylvania Avenue, from the Capitol to the White House. We need spirit! We should blow everybody away with this parade. The French had an amazing parade on Bastille Day with tanks and everything. Why can’t we do that?”
Those in the room “shifted uncomfortably” at the suggestion, and Mattis shared his objections to the idea before telling Trump he would look into the possibility.
Mattis eventually departed the Trump administration last year over disagreements with the president on the presence of U.S. troops in the Middle East. Since his departure, Mattis has criticized Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from northern Syria, and Trump has reportedly called him the “world’s most overrated general.”
Mattis responded to the insult on Thursday, saying he was “honored” to be the “Meryl Streep of generals.”
