President Donald Trump once wrote, “The best thing you can do is deal from strength.”
After four years of the Biden administration‘s “America Last” agenda, divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, and overall mismanagement, the U.S. military no longer projects the strength needed to uphold our status as the leader of the free world. As a result, Russia is waging a war of conquest in Europe, China is preparing to invade Taiwan, and Iran is closer than ever to obtaining nuclear weapons.
Trump must once again restore American strength by rebuilding a military that was weakened by his Democratic predecessor. The president has done it before, and I trust that he will do it again.
In the Trump-Pence administration, we grew the Navy to nearly 300 ships, established the Space Force, and invested more than $2.2 trillion to rebuild our military. Abroad, we didn’t start a single war — but we certainly ended them. We eliminated Qasem Soleimani, crushed ISIS, kept Russian President Vladimir Putin in check, and put the Chinese Communist Party on notice. We left the world a safer, more secure place.
Under President Joe Biden, real defense spending shrunk. Biden’s disastrous DEI agenda weakened the U.S. military, and an unconstitutional vaccine mandate drove out many of our most capable warfighters. Tragedies such as the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan fell squarely on Biden and left Americans embarrassed, and the military demoralized. Meanwhile, China continues to ramp up its military spending and flex its muscles — not just in Asia but across the world.
While our federal debt and annual deficits are unsustainable, voices within the Trump administration have proposed cutting defense spending by 8% annually for the next five years — a cut of 35% from this year’s budget by year five. While recent reports suggest that these cuts may be reallocated toward Trump’s agenda, the reality remains: After four years of Biden, our military needs rebuilding, not downsizing. Slashing America’s defense budget would be a grave mistake and a gift to Moscow, Tehran, and Beijing.
As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rightly pointed out during his confirmation hearing, spending less than 3% of GDP on defense, as we did in 2024, would invite a national security crisis. Relative to the economy, defense spending has cratered to post-World War II lows — and is less than half the Cold War levels. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, made a compelling case for increasing defense spending to 5% of GDP. The arsenal of democracy needs more, not fewer, resources to deter the growing axis of chaos in Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea.
However, trimming bureaucratic waste while strengthening our warfighters — what Hegseth calls “cutting the fat and growing the muscle” — would be a welcome downpayment on protecting our soldiers and making our military more lethal.
Over the last four years, the politicization of the military has left us weaker and more divided. It’s time to restore the U.S. military as a unifying symbol of America’s national greatness rather than yet another platform for left-wing virtue signaling.
Heeding Hegseth and Wicker’s warnings would send a clear message that America is back. It would signal a return to the high watermark of the first Trump administration when our adversaries knew that if they harmed an American citizen, we would hunt them to the ends of the Earth.
TRUMP EASES REQUIREMENTS ON MILITARY RAIDS AND AIRSTRIKES
Just as importantly, it would reaffirm our sacred commitment to the brave American soldiers who wear the uniform: When they put their lives on the line in defense of their fellow citizens, we will give them every tool available to ensure they can accomplish their mission safely and effectively.
Trump has rebuilt the military before, and the whole world benefitted tremendously as a result: four years of peace and prosperity secured by American strength. For the sake of our men and women in the armed forces and for our national security, we must do it again.
Mike Pence is the founder of Advancing American Freedom and former vice president of the United States.