Earlier in the campaign, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was seen as a major break from the traditional candidates on military spending, a critic of overspending and impractical weapons projects backed by special interest groups.
He is now backing away from that, insisting that he will dramatically expand military spending in all areas if elected, insisting he believes that more military spending is vital in his plan of advancing “core national interests.” He also echoed long-standing US demands for all NATO members to spend 2% on their militaries.
This appears to be designed to make Trump a less controversial candidate among the existing Republican leadership, many of whom have bristled at his “isolationist” platform, which doubted the merits of some recent US wars, as well as acrimony toward Russia along the NATO frontier in Eastern Europe.
Several Congressional Republicans were quick to endorse Trump’s comments, suggesting that at least among them, transitioning his public statements to be more in line with the party leaders is working. Whether it is worth the damage it does to his support among less hawkish voters, however, remains to be seen.
That’s already becoming a concern, too, with a new Clinton ad titled “I Love War” making the rounds, and his campaign trying to back off some of the more bellicose rhetoric within, arguing that critics are “cherry-picking” quotes and putting them in the ad to make him look bad.
This included Trump’s quote on nuclear weapons, in which he declared “the power, the devastation is very important to me.” The comment was made during a Republican debate on modernizing the nuclear arsenal. This is particularly important now, as that budget-busting modernization scheme is starting to come under some scrutiny.
Is Trump getting advised by those “winners” at Campaign For Liberty?
(The ones who helped Rand Paul lose all his father’s supporters, and who wasted his father’s money on lame, mainstream ads.)
Like I said before Russia and the rest of the world as of now your put on notice ask yourselves why he wants this increase in military hardware in personnel and in capabilities…When they try the stuff they’re doing now under a Trump administration you’re talking about an Ego-Maniac that doesn’t like to be embarrassed or tested by anybody and cares about what people say in charge of the world’s most powerful military…Russia watch what you wish for for you just might get it…USA
How is this a change? Not that he is correct. We certainly don’t need to spend more but he has been saying for a long time that he plans on making our military the biggest and strongest it’s ever been. About the only thing I can see that he changed on is that he offered specifics including doing away with the sequester and exact goals for troop and hardware numbers. Factor in savings from making other nations pay for their own defense and it’s still likely to be a wash. He hasn’t dropped his line about being able to get rid of pork spending either. So I’m not sure it adds up to a “huge spending” increase.
Again I’m not saying he is correct that we should spend any extra money, it’s just that he hasn’t really changed his position that I can see.
It’s true. Like him or hate him, this is pretty much standard Trump.
He’s going to be rudely b-slapped when he realizes, if elected, that HE can’t just dictate into effect all these promises he’s making all over the place because its Congress’s job to legislate these things and they’re really not happy with him.
Yet another maniac for the MIC … Trump demands a vastly expanded military so that he can use DIPLOMACY … There’s just no one to vote for in this election.
Jill Stein is still calling for a 50% cut in military spending and shuttering all bases on foreign ground. She really is the only truly antiwar candidate left.
On the issue of military spending Jill is legit… but I can’t accept her Deep Green energy policies and generally her plans to destroy what’s left of the US economy.
Jill has not to my knowledge really made and issue of the underlying policy that justifies such vast wasteful military spending
Accidently but computer version settings on this blog I want to go back to mobile version can anyone help?
Another idiotic loud mouth bully protected and hiding as far away from a war zone as possible. Just like Bomber Bill, Lady McDeath, The Shrub, Obamanothercountry,et al.
Google up The Fiscal Times article, “Pentagon’s Sloppy Bookkeeping Means $6.5 Trillion Can’t Pass An Audit.”
Trump should read this and then promise to call down an audit on the Pentagon before they receive one more dime.
How do we get this information to Trump?