{"id":59588,"date":"2026-06-02T14:45:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=59588"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:45:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:45:58","slug":"william-astore-on-trumps-dream-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/02\/william-astore-on-trumps-dream-military\/","title":{"rendered":"William Astore on Trump&#8217;s Dream Military"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i>Reprinted from <a href=\"https:\/\/bracingviews.substack.com\/\">Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Today I went on \u201cJudging Freedom\u201d with Judge Napolitano to talk about President Trump\u2019s so-called dream military. And at $1.5 trillion (or even higher) in FY 2027, it\u2019s already nightmarishly expensive.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-CA7DM2W5nY?si=sSkb2XMWFwfR6MSS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>What is driving this enormous price tag? Conceits like Trump\u2019s Golden Dome, a missile defense shield that will never work as advertised for a cost of $1 trillion or more. A golden fleet of Trump battleships when the battleship was rendered obsolete by World War II. Eighty years ago! Prodigious \u201cinvestments\u201d in the nuclear triad like the unnecessary Sentinel ICBM and the redundant B-21 Raider bomber. A new fighter jet, the F-47, numbered to curry favor with Trump, America\u2019s 47th and possibly worst president.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, even more worrisome than throwing trillions down the tubes is how Trump and Hegseth are perverting the U.S. military, making it serve Zionist imperatives and agendas while turning it into a Christocentric cult of unholy warriors. If that\u2019s not bad enough, Hegseth is conducting his own social engineering experiments by purging officers he doesn\u2019t like and preventing a disproportionate number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/01\/us\/politics\/hegseth-navy-promotion-list.html\">Black and female officers f<\/a>rom pinning on their first star.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Trump and Hegseth, a Biblical expression just popped into my head: When the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit.<\/p>\n<p>Other topics discussed include Trump\u2019s alleged cussing out of Bibi Netanyahu (to no apparent effect) and Israel\u2019s continued expansion into Lebanon and elsewhere. While Trump\u2019s strategy remains obscured in darkness (deep in a pit, perhaps), Israel\u2019s strategy is clear: annex Gaza, the West Bank, southern Lebanon, and much of Syria in the cause of a Greater Israel with more power and command over regional water supplies and offshore gas and oil reserves.<\/p>\n<p>And at the price of mounting a murderous genocide, I suppose that strategy is on its way to being achieved, never mind the blood and screams of innocents. Then again, to Zionist Israel no Palestinians, even newborns, are innocent.<\/p>\n<p>P.S. In the video freeze frame, I\u2019m either asleep, in deep thought, or possibly slipping into a coma. My thanks as ever to the Judge for a set of challenging questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reprinted from Bracing Views with the author\u2019s permission. Today I went on \u201cJudging Freedom\u201d with Judge Napolitano to talk about President Trump\u2019s so-called dream military. And at $1.5 trillion (or even higher) in FY 2027, it\u2019s already nightmarishly expensive. What is driving this enormous price tag? Conceits like Trump\u2019s Golden Dome, a missile defense shield [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_social_image_id":59590,"_social_image_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[758],"class_list":["post-59588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","_social_image_id":{"width":150,"height":150,"file":"2026\/06\/wa-an.jpg","filesize":502549,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"wa-an-300x152.jpg","width":300,"height":152,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":15418,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-300x152.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-300x152.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-300x152.jpg"},"large":{"file":"wa-an-1024x518.jpg","width":1024,"height":518,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":101250,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-1024x518.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-1024x518.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-1024x518.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"file":"wa-an-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":8684,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-150x150.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-150x150.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-150x150.jpg"},"medium_large":{"file":"wa-an-768x388.jpg","width":768,"height":388,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":66324,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-768x388.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-768x388.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-768x388.jpg"},"et-pb-post-main-image":{"file":"wa-an-400x250.jpg","width":400,"height":250,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":29917,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-400x250.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-400x250.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-400x250.jpg"},"et-pb-post-main-image-fullwidth":{"file":"wa-an-1080x647.jpg","width":1080,"height":647,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":134478,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-1080x647.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-1080x647.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-1080x647.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-image":{"file":"wa-an-400x284.jpg","width":400,"height":284,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":32775,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-400x284.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-400x284.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-400x284.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-module-image":{"file":"wa-an-510x382.jpg","width":510,"height":382,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":48570,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-510x382.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-510x382.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-510x382.jpg"},"et-pb-portfolio-image-single":{"file":"wa-an-1080x546.jpg","width":1080,"height":546,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":109591,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-1080x546.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-1080x546.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-1080x546.jpg"},"et-pb-gallery-module-image-portrait":{"file":"wa-an-400x516.jpg","width":400,"height":516,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":42610,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-400x516.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-400x516.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-400x516.jpg"},"et-pb-image--responsive--tablet":{"file":"wa-an-980x495.jpg","width":980,"height":495,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":94489,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-980x495.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-980x495.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-980x495.jpg"},"et-pb-image--responsive--phone":{"file":"wa-an-480x243.jpg","width":480,"height":243,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":32371,"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an-480x243.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an-480x243.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-480x243.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1","keywords":[],"alt":""},"s3":{"url":"https:\/\/antiwar-cdn.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com\/2026\/06\/wa-an.jpg","bucket":"antiwar-cdn","privacy":"public-read","key":"2026\/06\/wa-an.jpg","provider":"s3","v":"4.0.2","optimized":false,"options":[],"formats":[],"mime-type":"image\/jpeg"},"ID":"59590","name":"wa-an.jpg","path":"\/home\/antiwar\/public_html\/antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/wa-an.jpg","url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an-150x150.jpg","full_url":"https:\/\/d27srd8s9736cr.cloudfront.net\/2026\/06\/wa-an.jpg","title":"wa-an","caption":"","description":"","alt":"","srcset":false},"subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59588"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59592,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59588\/revisions\/59592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59588"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=59588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}