BURSTMarines “deployed” to Los Angeles. Vendors selling “white privilege” cards at Fort Bragg. The U.S. Army’s anniversary being used as an excuse to throw President Trump a birthday parade. Over the last several weeks, veterans like me have scratched their heads and wondered how an apolitical institution like the United States military had become an overtly political weapon.
Add in the fact that military spending is still out of control, there is no oversight on said spending, and we seem to want to engage in more forever wars than before. You have to ask: Where is the supposed civilian oversight of the military?
Right now, you have probably seen plenty of articles about how military leaders are paralyzed by the Trump administration's usage of the military, putting them into situations that go against the purpose of the military. And some people want to blame generals on a failure of leadership for not standing up to Trump and refusing to be used as props, whether in Los Angeles for crowd control or Washington, D.C. for a parade.
But the real question is why Congress, the elected officials who are supposed to rein in any misuse of the military, is either MIA or going along with these travesties. There is no doubt that Americans have had it up to their eyeballs with Congress’s continued inaction when it comes to acting as legislators. Opinion polls are low for Congress on both sides of the aisle, and it seems like our anger is falling on deaf ears.
The recent use of the military by Donald Trump and his proposed military budget should be a warning to Congress to get its act together. For someone who feels like they can bully their way into getting everything and anything they want, Trump knows that having unrestrained use of a military and a seemingly unlimited budget will make him virtually unchecked when it comes to application of presidential power.
Let’s start with the budget. For all the posturing that the Department of Government Efficiency and the fiscal conservatives have done about government spending, the military budget is still going up. We are looking at a $1 trillion budget solely on defense. Now, we do need defense spending. Keeping this country (and the world) safe costs money. But for politicians who love to compare the federal budget to a household budget, giving more money to a government department that can’t pass an audit is not very fiscally responsible.
We have seen the military and defense contractors sell Congress on the need of various weapons systems just to see billions wasted. Just look at the fiasco with the United States Navy and littoral combat ships. Fighter jets are built late and with massive cost overruns. It seems that no matter what contractors and generals ask for, they get.
There is money to be made when reckless spending like this is allowed and no one knows that better than Congress. Many elected officials trade stocks in defense contractors and make good money off of it too. Some even serve on the committees that should be asking the hard questions on how we are spending taxpayer money to where we are spending it. Most importantly, why do we need to spend it around the world even for conflicts that Americans may be averse to get involved in.
We have seen both Democrats and Republicans balk at sending more weapons to Israel, Ukraine and other allies. But the system that lets Congress get rich means that we will probably send more, no matter American public opinion. The lack of oversight has created a bloated military machine that spends a lot of money but may not actually protect the country.
Right now, Americans are being sold (well, told really) on the need for a “Golden Dome” to protect the United States from a missile attack. A project that will cost $175 billion (which means it will likely cost way more than that) to save the United States from a whole list of enemies both real and perceived.
As we speak, companies like Lockheed and Boeing are jockeying for the money, with SpaceX, Palantir and Anduril also trying to get a seat at the table. Make no mistake, the Golden Dome will happen because Congress members on both sides of the aisle stand to make millions by charging taxpayers billions.
Which brings us to Trump. The lack of oversight on the budget means that any president can engage in battles, wars, actions and projects without any major pushback. Trump did a great job of selling to voters on the need to stop "forever wars," but the system that allowed quagmires like Afghanistan and Iraq to happen has not been fixed. Trump and any future president can still engage in low intensity conflicts, proxy wars, and use the military in any way they see fit.
Including deploying Marines to Los Angeles.
Blaming generals for allowing parades to happen, pep rallies to be political and troops to be deployed internally is not going to accomplish anything. Moving to have elected officials truly be fiscally responsible with the military budget would force the president to use the military in a responsible manner and resort to a diplomacy first strategy. One that would mean less war, less spending and less volatility in the world and in our country.
Jos Joseph is a published writer and is a graduate of the Harvard Extension School and Ohio State University. He is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq. He currently lives in Anaheim, Calif.