At a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on last Thursday, President Trump once again reiterated his desire to cut military spending. He stated that the United States, Russia, and China should reduce their “defense” budgets in order to focus on more productive things.
“It doesn’t really make sense, does it? We’re spending the money against each other and we could spend that money for better purposes if we get along,” Trump said. “And I’ll tell you, I think that something like that will happen.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a town hall with troops at the Pentagon, also hinted at military program cuts. And Trump says DOGE will look at the Pentagon.
Trump was more specific when discussing nuclear weapons. “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons. We already have so many you could destroy the world 50 times over or 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and [Russia] is building new nuclear weapons, and China is building new nuclear weapons.”
Trump is right about the danger of nuclear weapons. (However, during his first presidency, he withdrew the U.S. from the vital Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces and Open Skies treaties.) If he is serious at all about his supposed goal of cutting military spending, “getting along” with Russia and China, and not wanting to build new nuclear weapons, a very effective way to achieve all three would be to eliminate intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) right now.
Hellbound and Down 