Why Donald Trump chose ‘party planner’ Pete Hegseth to lead Pentagon and plan his 6,300-troop, dictator-style birthday parade

Donald Trump picked Pete Hegseth as his Defense Secretary so he could get a grand military parade to mark his birthday.

Unlike others, he knew Hegseth wouldn’t push back on the idea that was ridiculed when he proposed it during his first term, claim Defense Department staffers who spoke under condition of anonymity to DailyMail.com.

And now the president is set to get the parade he has always wanted on June 14 – co-incidentally the date of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US Army, the 109th Flag Day and Trump’s 79th birthday.

‘We needed someone to lead us in multiple zones of conflict around the world’, one department source said of Hegseth.

‘What we got, in effect, is a party planner.’

Army and Defense Department staffers have strict orders as they plan the four-mile military parade – an event many have quietly criticized as frivolous and overtly political.

‘Make it big. Make it long. And, whatever you do, no more Hitler comparisons,’ our source said the Pentagon has been told.

The 6,300-troop parade has been dubbed within the Pentagon as the ‘Trumpenparade.’

Donald Trump picked Pete Hegseth as his Defense Secretary so he could get a grand military parade to mark his 79th birthday

Defense department staffers told DailyMail.com Hegseth wouldn’t push back on President Trump’s big wish, despite it being ridiculed when he proposed it during his first term

The closest President Trump got to the military parade he desired was during his first term for his 2019 July 4 celebration entitled ‘Salute to America’

The label is a riff off the German word Truppenparade, or military march, and in this context refers to the one staged for Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday less than five months before the outbreak of World War II.

On April 20, 1939, Hitler showcased at least 40,000 troops and 162 Luftwaffe airplanes flying overhead in Berlin to convey domestic unity around his Third Reich and warn Allied powers about Nazi Germany’s military might.

The parade marked one of the most brazen propaganda moves of the 20th century.

Trump became obsessed with the idea of reviewing a grand military parade in Washington D.C. after attending Bastille Day commemorations with French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017.

Trump said he wanted a bigger military presence on Pennsylvania Avenue than the one on Paris’s Champs-Elysées that so impressed him.

On orders from the White House, the Pentagon planned such a parade in 2018 despite reluctance by military brass who objected, saying troops and military funding shouldn’t be used for political or personal purposes.

It was then, our sources told us, that the label ‘Trumpenparade’ was first used in the Defense Department to mock what was widely seen as an indulgence.

Trump ended up canceling the parade when members of Congress, pundits and the public scoffed at the $92million cost estimate.

US Army soldiers work on an armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle on display in front of the Lincoln Memorial for US Independence Day celebrations at the National Mall in Washington D.C. for ‘Salute to America’ 

The 6,300-troop parade, planned as part of the Army’s 250th anniversary celebration, has been dubbed within the Pentagon as the ‘Trumpenparade’ – a play on the one staged for Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday less than five months before the outbreak of World War II

President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron at Bastille Day in 2017, which allegedly inspired Trump to want one of his own for his birthday

He accused D.C.’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser of price gouging the federal government for security and logistical fees, even though most of the parade costs would have stemmed from transporting military aircraft, equipment and personnel to the city, housing and feeding troops while there, and other logistics.

Demands for such a parade in Trump’s second term started even before he re-took office in January, the sources claim.

His transition team made it known in meetings with Defense Department envoys to Mar-a-Lago that he expected the grand event on his 80th birthday next year.

Under Hegseth, military brass have been ordered to find ways to make a parade work rather than ways to push back against it. Defense Department spokespeople, meanwhile, were instructed to tell reporters there would be no parade when asked about it over the winter.

Hegseth called the planned event ‘the biggest and most beautiful military parade in our nation’s history’. 

Hegseth’s staff worked with Army brass to organize a parade as part of that branch’s 250th-anniversary celebrations, which were already scheduled for the weekend of June 14 of this year — coinciding with Trump’s 79th birthday, not his 80th.

It was on June 14, 1775, that the Second Continental Congress authorized the creation of the Continental Army, which later became the United States Army. June 14 is also Flag Day, commemorating the adoption of the U.S. flag in 1777.

Army Spokesman Colonel Dave Butler said the parade ‘will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.’

‘We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us.’

Demands for the parade in Trump’s second term started before he re-took office in January, the sources claim, stemming back from being mentioned in meetings with Defense Department envoys at Mar-a-Lago 

Trump wants a bigger parade than the one that impressed him in Paris on Bastille Day 2017 which he watched alongside French President Emmanuel Macron

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the feds should be prepared to pay millions of dollars to repair the pavement they chew up if they use military tanks 

Plans entail bringing in 6,600 soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide. Those could include a Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles.

All but 300 of those soldiers would be marching in the parade, while the rest would do logistical and support work.

Army Spokesman Col. Dave Butler said the parade ‘will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned’ – referencing the parade for the 250th anniversary of the Army

Plans also include 50 helicopters, seven Army bands, a parachute jump by the Golden Knights and possibly a couple thousand veterans, military college students and battle reenactment buffs.

A concert and fireworks show are expected to follow the parade, which is likely to stretch from Arlington, Virginia, where the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery are located, across the Potomac River and into D.C.

Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker that the ‘big, beautiful’ parade will be more about patriotism than ego.

‘I view it for Flag Day, not necessarily my birthday. Somebody put it together,’ he said, distancing himself from plans.

But if it goes ahead this year, there is a possibility Trump could decide Washington should host an annual military parade like Bastille Day or May Day in Moscow – meaning he would get his wish of such a show on his 80th birthday.

Meanwhile, a group called ‘No Kings’ is organizing a mass protest for June 14, describing the parade as ‘a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday’.

Plans entail bringing in 6,600 soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide – including a possible appearance by a Stryker battalion

An annual parade like Moscow’s May Day could even be a possibility if Trump sees the one in June as a success 

Defense officials have estimated the cost could be as high as $45million and that individual Army units would bear the cost, potentially impacting funds used for training.

Trump told Welker the cost would be worth it.

Aides apparently have convinced Trump that holding the parade as part of the Army’s already-scheduled anniversary celebration – rather than planning it for his 80th birthday next year – will help justify the cost.

Some equipment and troops were already included in the Army’s anniversary festival, which was planned to feature a display of helicopters, Humvees and armored vehicles on D.C.’s National Mall.

Still smarting from recent scandals involving Hegseth and outgoing National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, the administration also sees holding the parade sooner rather than later as a way to repair perceptions that the military has become weak and unorganized under its watch, a source said.

One sticking point apparently came with a request by the White House over the winter that the parade include massive missiles like those flaunted by North Korea, South Korea, Iran and Russia to showcase their military capabilities.

Military brass apparently have been able to talk Trump’s team out of the idea.

Another sticking point is whether tanks will be included. As she did in 2018, D.C. Mayor Bowser recently warned that if tanks are used on city streets, the feds should be prepared to pay many millions of dollars to repair the pavement they chew up.

Defense officials have estimated the cost could be as high as $45million and that individual Army units would bear the cost

Still recovering from Hegseth and Mike Waltz blunders, the administration reportedly sees holding the parade as a way to repair perceptions that the military has become weak and unorganized under its watch

If social media comments are any indication, plans for Trump’s military parade are no more popular now than they were in 2018, especially given that the economy is nose-diving and Trump – who never served in the military, famously claiming he had bone spurs to avoid the Vietnam-era draft – is slashing government spending, including on veterans’ programs.

‘That’s some North Korea s**t,’ a poster wrote on Reddit.

‘The parade glorifies him, not the troops,’ wrote another.

One poster urged the many critics on Reddit not to forget that the Army’s 250 birthday is a ‘pretty big milestone.’

‘Everyone stop clutching your pearls and embarrassing yourself,’ they said.