At the beginning of December, President Donald Trump was very unhappy with the high price of militarism. “I am certain that, at some time in the future, [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] and I, together with President [Vladimir] Putin of Russia, will start talking about a meaningful halt to what has become a major and uncontrollable Arms Race,” he tweeted. “The U.S. spent 716 Billion Dollars [on the military] this year. Crazy!”
His outrage apparently was not to last. Within the week, Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis settled on $750 billion as the target for Pentagon spending in 2020, a $50 billion bump from the $700 billion the president previously promised for that year. It’s also $17 billion higher than the $733 billion figure a number of top generals are said to prefer.
It could be that asking for $750 billion is just a negotiating tactic: Start high so you have room to be bargained down a little. But even if that is the case, consider: First, the Pentagon’s wastefulness, shoddy accounting, and nasty habit of simply losing enormous sums of money are well-established and will not be fixed by the application of ever more cash. Second, defense appropriations should reflect strategy, not stasis. And third, the long-term trend in Pentagon spending points in a markedly upward direction. Even with a blue Congress, asking for $750 billion for the Pentagon may actually result in $750 billion for the Pentagon, writes Bonnie Kristian in her latest piece at Reason.
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