Democratic Rep. Jackie Speier (Calif.) on Tuesday compared President Donald Trump to Napoleon, and said that with the exception of France, only "authoritarian regimes" have military parades, despite America having them in the past.
Speier was reacting to questions from CNN's Anderson Cooper about Trump's reported desire for a military parade in Washington, D.C.
"I was stunned by it to be quite honest," Speier said. "We have a Napoleon in the making here, and I believe that we have so many issues around the world in terms of preparing for wars that are ongoing and wars that may be, you know, in the offing because of what's happening in North Korea that I would say that it's really a waste of money ... He's truly Napoleon-like."
"I think he would argue ... or others who support the idea would say ‘it's a way of honoring our troops, it's a way of showing off their capabilities and also a show of the country's pride in them,'" Cooper said.
"Any of those kind of military parades that I've seen in the past, it is all about, you know, authoritarian regimes frankly, with maybe the exception of France," Speier said. "But it's not our style, it's not the way we do business, and I really object to it and I think it's going to cost a lot of money. So what's really in it for the American people?"
The U.S. last held a national military parade in 1991 under President George H. W. Bush to celebrate the success of the Persian Gulf War.