Military police walk near Abrams tanks on a flat car in a rail yard, Monday, July 1, 2019, in Washington, ahead of a Fourth of July celebration that President Donald Trump says will include military hardware.

Patrick Semansky / AP Photo

For two years, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of staging a grand old show of military force in the nation’s capital.

On Monday, the president confirmed that tanks would be on display as part of a special “Salute to America” event for this year’s Fourth of July festivities on the National Mall. And on Tuesday morning, an Associated Press photographer spotted several tanks that were being guarded by military police in a rail yard on D.C.’s southeast border.

The armored behemoths, two M1A1 Abrams tanks and two Bradley Fighting Vehicles, were brought in on railroad freight cars from Fort Stewart, Georgia, according to the AP.

The M1A1 Abrams—the main battle tank used by American forces—was developed in the 1980s. It was most famously deployed in 1991 during the Gulf War’s operation Desert Storm.

But that didn’t stop Trump from referring to the tanks as “brand new” at the White House on Monday.

For now, it’s still unclear what the tanks will be up to on July 4th—Trump hasn’t said whether they will be bulldozing through the streets or stationed somewhere for the public to gawk (or glare) at. Other questions about the event—including the ticketing process for A Salute To America—also remain unanswered.

But the Interior Department has said that the one-hour program (from 6:30-7:30 p.m., led by Trump himself) at the Lincoln Memorial will include military demonstrations flyovers, and performances by the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, the U.S. Army Band (“Pershing’s Own”), the Armed Forces Chorus, and the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Team. The New York Times reports that the Navy’s Blue Angels jets and Air Force One will also be performing in Thursday’s festivities.

The idea for a military extravaganza was apparently inspired by a Bastille day celebration that he witnessed alongside French president Emmanuel Macron in July 2017. Trump expressed his excitement on Tuesday ahead of the Fourth of July events.

However, many local officials and residents have made it clear that they aren’t enthused by the idea of a military parade in the District. Critics of the idea say that a tank parade would tear up the city’s roads at the expense of taxpayers.

There’s also the question of how the tanks—the M1A1 Abrams weighs a whopping 60 tons—would be transported downtown given that many of the city’s bridges are not designed to withstand that kind of weight.

The D.C. Council reiterated its stance on the issue on Monday, highlighting a 2018 memo from the Department of Defense that advised against the use of tanks on public roads.

Filed Under: Donald J. Trump, fourth of july, July Fourth, national mall, trump,