In an interview with Piers Morgan on Wednesday, President Trump
discussed his reasons for not serving in the US military, saying he was
“never a fan” of the Vietnam War. He also argued he is “making up for” that by greatly increasing US military spending.
“I think I make up for it right now – look, $700 billion I gave last
year, and this year $716 billion. And I think I’m making up for it
rapidly because we’re rebuilding our military at a level its never seen
before.”
Trump went on to suggest that he would have been “honored” to have
served in some other war besides Vietnam, though naturally he never did
so, and the pushes for unsustainable military spending are meant to make
up for that.
That’s potentially a risky position to take, of course, especially as
he’s suggested at times that the world in general is spending too much
on wars and militaries, and that many could be better spent elsewhere.
Trump’s talk of spending money elsewhere is true, of course, and
potentially could drive talks with Russia and China. It would, however,
be difficult for him to do so while presenting the Pentagon’s record
budgets as a sort of direct payola for him getting out of the draft.
Trump Says He’s Making Up for Not Going to Vietnam With Higher Military Budget
Says he would've been honored to serve in another war
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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