Profiles

Trump is spinning a narrative in which ever larger government budgets—and ever larger piles of deficit spending—create jobs and make America "safe."

Despite its supposedly strained relationship with the Saudi regime, the Obama administration, for example, still managed to offer the royals of that kingdom a record $136 billion in US weapons between 2009 and 2017.

For the Pentagon, happy days are here again. With a budget of more than $1.4 trillion for the next two years, the department is riding high as it attempts to set the stage for yet more spending increases in the years to come.

America's "defense" budget is really more than $1.2 trillion, more than double the Pentagon's official "base budget," once we include all the other related spending like that on "homeland security" and veterans affairs.

Trump has proposed the "Space Force" as a brand new and costly military branch and bureaucracy. The reaction to his plan helps illustrate the complexity of military politics in Washington.