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Trump vows military build-up, hammers nationalist themes

By Emily Stephenson and Steve Holland

 

President Donald Trump said he would make a massive budget request for one of the "greatest military buildups in American history" in a feisty, campaign-style speech at CPAC. Fred Katayama reports.

 

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said he would make a massive budget request for one of the "greatest military buildups in American history" on Friday in a feisty, campaign-style speech extolling robust nationalism to eager conservative activists.

Trump used remarks to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an organisation that gave him one of his first platforms in his improbable journey to the U.S. presidency, to defend his unabashed "America first" policies.

Ahead of a nationally televised speech to Congress on Tuesday, Trump outlined plans for strengthening the U.S. military, already the world's most powerful fighting force, and other initiatives such as tax reform and regulatory rollback.

He offered few specifics on any initiatives, including the budget request that is likely to face a harsh reality on Capitol Hill: At a time when he wants to slash taxes for Americans, funding a major military buildup without spending cuts elsewhere would add substantially to the U.S. budget deficit.

Trump said he would aim to upgrade the military in both offensive and defensive capabilities, with a massive spending request to Congress that would make the country's defence "bigger and better and stronger than ever before."

"And, hopefully, we’ll never have to use it, but nobody is going to mess with us. Nobody. It will be one of the greatest military buildups in American history," Trump said.

Appealing to people on welfare to go to work and pledging to follow through on his vow to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, Trump drew rounds of applause from the large gathering of conservatives, many of them wearing hats emblazoned with the president's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

His speech was heavy on the nationalist overtones from his campaign last year, focussing on promises to boost U.S. economic growth by retooling international trade deals, cracking down on immigration and boosting energy production.

ROCKY FIRST MONTH

Trump is looking to put behind him a rocky first month in office. An executive order he signed aimed at banning U.S. entry by people from seven Muslim-majority countries became embroiled in the courts and he had to fire his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, for Russian contacts before Trump took office.

With the federal budget still running a large deficit, Trump will have to fight to get higher military spending through Congress. In his speech, he complained about spending caps put in place on the defence budget dating back to 2011.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump's proposed budget for this year "will be very clear" on how to fund the military spending increase.

Trump also heaped criticism on what he called purveyors of "fake news," seeking to clarify a recent tweet in which he said some in the U.S. news media should be considered an "enemy of the people."

He said his main beef was the media's use of anonymous sources. "They shouldn't be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody's name. Let their name be out there," Trump said.

His comments came on the same day CNN reported that White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus asked FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to deny a Feb. 14 report in the New York Times that said Trump's presidential campaign advisers had been in frequent contact with Russian intelligence officers. The request came after McCabe told him privately the report was wrong.

A senior administration official said on Friday that FBI Director James Comey told Priebus later that the story was not accurate. Priebus asked if the Federal Bureau of Investigation could set the record straight, but Comey said the bureau could not comment, the official said.

Trump has repeatedly chosen to make news media criticism a focus of his public remarks since taking office on Jan. 20.

The speech allowed Trump to put his stamp firmly on the conservative political movement, even as some activists fretted that his immigration and trade policies go too far.

With Trump in the White House and Republicans holding majorities in both houses of Congress, CPAC and the thousands of conservative activists who flock to the event each year from across the country are seeing their political influence rising.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-25

[FritsSikkink]

Why should you spend money on education and health care when you can go to war.

[canuckamuck]

That will make the war machine happy. Maybe Trump will live through his whole term.

[craigt3365]

Typical Trump.  Lots of talk, nothing to back it up.

 

Quote

He offered few specifics on any initiatives, including the budget request that is likely to face a harsh reality on Capitol Hill: At a time when he wants to slash taxes for Americans, funding a major military buildup without spending cuts elsewhere would add substantially to the U.S. budget deficit.

 

[Emster23]

The US spent almost 4x as much as second place spender China last year, and ten times as much as third place holder. Yet claims US military is depleted. http://www.globalfirepower.com/defense-spending-budget.asp

[Enoon]

22 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

The US spent almost 4x as much as second place spender China last year, and ten times as much as third place holder. Yet claims US military is depleted. http://www.globalfirepower.com/defense-spending-budget.asp

 

Because developement/production/labour costs are so much lower in China they get more "bang for their buck".............is the argument that the Pentagon put forward.

[Traveler19491]

29 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

The US spent almost 4x as much as second place spender China last year, and ten times as much as third place holder. Yet claims US military is depleted. http://www.globalfirepower.com/defense-spending-budget.asp

 

So-called "cost overruns", padded expense accounts, kickbacks, under-the-table deals, and lobbyist's fees tend to have that effect. A new fighter that, at the moment, is estimated to cost $165 million each, for a plane that still won't fly right. A defense contractor's wet dream.

[williamgeorgeallen]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Why should you spend money on education and health care when you can go to war.

grunts dont need education. they need training and they get free healthcare in the army. going to take many people to control the drones and look at the camera footage till they can automate all of that as well.

[iReason]

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

grunts dont need education. they need training and they get free healthcare in the army. going to take many people to control the drones and look at the camera footage till they can automate all of that as well.

The people of the USA need education and healthcare. Let the army stay in their own country then you don't need so many people too.

[Jack Mountain]

For 1/100 of the money that america spent on weaponry you can destroy the world beyond repair ...

[Thaidream]

Trump's vision of increased defense spending is absolutely absurd. The US defense budget is over $630  Billion and the 17 intelligence agencies many more billions. Yet, America cannot provide universal health care to its citizens; cannot provide tuition free higher education while graduated Amereicans become indebted to the government for 20 years; Veterans cannot get their disability pensions without years of hassle and waiting; and Social Security aged pensions received a .3% increase- a whole $5.00 on average. Is there no one in America who sees the absurd nature of the Trump Administration and his destruction of  America.

I can't think of  ever hearing a worse agenda for the US and the World. He isn't even close to making America great again- he is destroying the very fabric of American life and its values.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Thaidream

[rudi49jr]

5 hours ago, iReason said:

+ 1

[dunroaming]

Trump the peacemaker.  Good to see he has his priorities right.

[farcanell]

Don't worry.... he will make the Arab states pay for it.

[snooky]

Me thinks it might be an idea to look into the depression era CCC :

 

Civilian Conservation Corps - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps

 

Get all the unemployed men in there, put them to work for a nominal wage

and start repairing the infrastructure of the country.  The big contractors

would still be called in for the big jobs so others would not lose out.

Then start collecting the money from those men who were fathers 

not paying for their children and who would now not be able to

skip child support payments.  It would also help cut down on welfare payments.

You forgot to mention their R&D costs in China are so much lower since they manage to

steal most of it from the internet or by other means.

[Thaidream]

I know exactly what the Depression Era CCC was- it put people back to work. However, there no Americans who will do the hard labor work such as picking fruit; working in processing plans and  construction labor. These jobs are filled by illegal immigrants. The problem is that Trump and his inner circle do not want  the rest of America to focus on the truth. The only 'fake news' provider in Ameerica is Trump himself and his inner circle who are taking America to a place no one really wants.