Trump: More Militarism and Isolation

Military spending and anti-immigration policies skyrocket in the 2019 U.S. budget

Donald Trump’s budget for 2019 confirms – if there remained any doubt – the most ominous omens over what the rest of his presidency has in store for us.

There will be skyrocketing military spending, with a special focus on borders and nuclear weapons, alongside a large increase in the deficit and a drastic cut in social spending and international cooperation. In addition to breaking the promise to limit spending, the U.S. plans to continue down the path of aggressive isolationism, something which is incomprehensible to many of its citizens and allies.

True to his style of making spectacular promises, the leader presents a $200 billion investment in infrastructure in the next 10 years as his top policy. This investment will, in theory, help to raise a total of $1.5 trillion from public and private funds. However, no one has explained how such an ambitious plan can be financed. What’s more, Trump previously promised that the public investment would be $1 trillion, but has come up with an offer of five times less.

Meanwhile, in less than three weeks, 700,000 registered immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children will be left without any legal protection whatsoever.* Trump’s budget contains nothing for them. His reasoning gives rise to cynicism: He has done it “so that congressmen and women can debate freely and reach an agreement.”**

That diplomacy will have a budget 20 times lower than that of the military reveals Trump’s idea of the United States’ role in the world. Equally, that peaceful operations and contributions to the U.N. bear the brunt of cuts moves Washington even further away from its role as the defender of the multilateral order that it has carried out for decades. The U.S. will spend more but will have less influence.

*Editor’s note: The Trump administration had initially given Congress until March 5 to come up with a solution for the Deferred Action for Child Arrivals program, or it would shut the program down. However, on Feb. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of a ruling made by a judge in a lower court, which required the federal government to continue accepting renewal applications from DACA recipients.

**Editor’s note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.