At this point, a month and a half in, to be exact, I find myself shocked that anyone can still be surprised by the twists and turns of the Trump administration. His promise to add to our defense budget is just another check mark on the list of deplorable decisions he has made since entering office. A historic $54 billion defense budget is in and of itself an act of aggression. For what possible reason, beyond planning to be the ones who start World War III, could we need that large of a defense budget for?

The blowback after the announcement is well deserved, Trump’s presidency has announced its plan to end the National Endowment for the Arts, but plans to waste tax payer money on expanding our defense budget when there is no need. Will it create jobs? Considering none of his job making promises have gone anywhere, and we are utilizing Russian steel for American projects, it’s doubtful. Are we truly in danger? Only from poor military choices made by an inexperienced leader and his atrocious advisor Steve Bannon. The question of where do we win if we increase the military budget will remain unanswered as long as the Trump administration keeps up their current strategy on giving out information.

This $18 billion increase covers the entirety of NASA’s budget, but will not go very far within our defense department.

While we could be expanding our country’s infrastructure or helping veterans and the homeless, we are just building more weapons and preparing for worse wars than the ones we’ve seen in our country’s history. Building fear and more xenophobia is hardly what our already divided country needs, the Trump administration is actively ignoring the needs of the people and promoting the wants of those around them instead. Upping the defense budget will only lead to harming other departments such as education and housing and urban development. We cannot afford to sacrifice our everyday citizen at the hands of a warmonger.

Jesse Saunders is the president of the Hofstra Democrats.

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