Trump's military extravaganza will reportedly rival the size of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

President Trump's military parade keeps getting bigger.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 service members are now set to march in Trump's military extravaganza, which is estimated to cost $12 million, U.S. defense officials have told ABC News. That's nearly the cost of the $14 million joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises Trump canceled for being "tremendously expensive," and almost the size of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

About a year ago, Trump saw a Bastille Day military parade in France and decided he wanted to bring that patriotic spectacle to D.C. In February, he gave official "marching orders" to the Pentagon to organize an all-American version, and later told reporters he'd "have to try and top" the French one.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A March memo suggested the parade run from the White House to the Capitol, complete with vintage aircraft displays. Tanks wouldn't make an appearance, as they'd tear up the D.C. streets.

Planning appeared to stall for awhile after that, as White House officials weren't exactly feeling the pomp, NBC News reported. But about 50 Defense Department personnel have now been dedicated to working on a Nov. 10 parade, scheduled to celebrate Veterans Day and the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. That number will probably grow to about 3,000 by November, ABC says.

Add in 100 military vehicles, 50 aircraft, and 100 horses — no puppies like Chilean military parades — and Trump will have a crowd close to the 8,000 marching on Thanksgiving in New York later that month.