“We need to take care of our armed forces. We have already done it, we will have to do it again,” the president-elect insisted on Thursday during a gala in his stronghold of Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.
Donald Trump promised Thursday a “strong army” and the end of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, while the defense and foreign ministries assured that the transition between Democrats and Republicans would be smooth until January 20. During a gala in his stronghold of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, the president-elect welcomed his sensational appointments to Health, Justice, Defense and to a commission for“governmental efficiency” entrusted to Elon Musk.
“We need to get back to being a great country with low taxes and a strong military. We must take care of our armed forces. We've done it before, we'll have to do it again.”Trump insisted, criticizing “the big piece” represented by the approximately 1,000 billion dollars of American spending in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021. This colossal figure was given by President Joe Biden during the August 2021 military withdrawal.
A reduced army?
Supporter of a non-interventionist foreign policy, Trump has promised to “work on the Middle East and (to) work very hard on Russia and Ukraine” car “this has to stop”. The president-elect has entrusted Elon Musk with proposing clear cuts of some $2,000 billion in federal government spending, with possible numerous cuts to senior positions at the Pentagon.
Asked about a risk of reducing the size of the most powerful army on the planet, the deputy spokesperson for Defense of the current Democratic administration, Sabrina Singh, recalled the blocking for months in 2023 by a Republican senator to Congress for the nomination of 425 military leaders. “A significant number of general and senior officer positions (were) pending (…) and people were thus occupying two, three positions at the same time: yes, this would have an impact on operations, on morale and on the ministry »warned Ms. Singh.
“Ensure an orderly and calm transition”
But between now and the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20, “(we will) do everything we can to ensure an orderly and calm transition”she promised. “When the next secretary's team is ready for this transition, we want to make sure they are ready to succeed.”added the spokesperson, without mentioning contacts between the minister and outgoing head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, and the one who was designated by Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth.
This presenter for the popular conservative channel Fox News is a former infantry officer in the National Guard, who was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. If this 44-year-old man, who has never led a single institution, is confirmed by the Senate, he will command 3.4 million soldiers and civilians and be at the head of a staggering annual budget of more than 850 billion of dollars.
As for American diplomacy, Democratic Secretary of State Antony Blinken should have “in the coming weeks, adequate exchanges” with his successor designated Wednesday, Marco Rubio, regarding the transition, according to State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel. The 53-year-old Republican senator from Florida, known for his hostile positions on China and Iran, will be “a staunch defender of our nation, a true friend to our allies, and a fearless warrior who will never back down in the face of our adversaries”praised Donald Trump
