Trump's Pricey Birthday Plans Are Sure To Ruffle BFF Elon Musk's Feathers

Coming together fast and falling apart slow, the relationship between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk has been full of ups and downs. While Trump mills around the White House, signing a never-ending stream of executive orders, Musk has infiltrated almost every corner of government via his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). However, it seems Trump is planning to throw himself a birthday spectacle that might be at odds with the mission behind Musk's DOGE. Since Musk is supposedly doing his best to root out fraud and save taxpayers some money, it might send a shock to his system to learn that Trump is now expecting quite the extravagant military parade.

A source divulged to the Washington City Paper that, since the 250th anniversary of the US Army also happens to fall on Trump's 79th birthday, the president is now demanding an expensive show of affection and attention. Apparently the parade would span four miles, wrapping around the Pentagon and wiggling to the White House. And the price tag, which has not been confirmed yet, is sure to raise eyebrows — and that might come as a bit of a headache to Musk, who has already spent millions on Trump's campaign and other critical elections for the conservative party.

Although, Musk might be able to breathe easy due to Trump's poor planning. With limited time to prepare for the event and local officials still trying to get looped in, there's a chance this parade might not go as planned. In fact, it's not even the first time Trump has tried to throw himself something equally showy only to have it backfire.

During his first go at the presidency, Donald Trump visited French President Emmanuel Macron and witnessed the spectacle of Bastille Day. Upon returning home in 2018, Trump then demanded a similar show of force, reportedly saying, "We're going to have to try and top it," according to The Hill. However, the event was ultimately canceled due to many easily foreseen issues. For starters, the $92 million price tag was deemed a substantial waste of taxpayer money for such an event. Plus at the time, there was a mounting lack of public approval for the president throwing himself a military parade. There was also concern around the gargantuan military equipment wreaking havoc on the city streets, causing damage that would require repairs.

With Trump's ego so easily bruised that he lashes out at late-night television hosts, he will most likely be hyper-focused on making the 2025 event a success (or at least bullying people into doing it for him). However, so far, no official plans have been released regarding his birthday celebration. Per The Hill, the Defense Department has some options for keeping costs down, but the amount of additional security needed would quickly surpass a reasonable budget. Doing everything on the fly, since June 14 is only 10 weeks away, will surely to add more to the cost, too. Though it is possible Trump will be dazzled by even a simple flyover, so perhaps those planning the parade could still manage to pull it off.