“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex” – President Dwight Eisenhower
‘America First’ is a slogan – not a commitment
Trump promised MAGA that he was an intransigent America Firster. He would defend Fortress America. And the rest of the world could tend to their own affairs. Unlike his predecessors, he would not shed the nation’s blood and treasure in fly-specked Middle Eastern desert hell-holes. Then he attacked Iran.
He said it was to thwart the making of a nuclear weapon by the fundamentalist Islamic State. On March 4th, he explained the urgency: “If we didn’t hit within two weeks, they would’ve had a nuclear weapon.” It was a statement at odds with a claim he made after bombing Iran in June 2025. “Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!“
However, as more details emerged, it appeared that America’s interests may not have been the proximate cause of the conflict. Israel had led the strikes, and America had followed. And worse, despite Trump’s continual complaints that America’s allies were not pulling their weight, it became clear that the US was providing much of Israel’s defense. And in doing so, leaving America short of defensive weapons.
The cost of fighting Israel’s fight
On Friday, the Washington Post provided details in a piece headlined: U.S. bears brunt of Israel’s missile defense, Pentagon assessments show.” The subhead fleshed out the point: Amid hostilities with Iran, the American military expended far more advanced interceptors to protect Israel than Israeli forces did, according to Defense Department data.
The piece starts with an analysis from Defense Department officials:
“The U.S. military has depleted much of its inventory of advanced missile-defense interceptors after expending far more high-end munitions defending Israel amid hostilities with Iran than Israeli forces used themselves.
The imbalance … underscores the extent to which Washington has shouldered the burden of countering Iranian ballistic missile strikes during Operation Epic Fury, and raises questions about U.S. military readiness and security commitments around the world.”
Trump’s betrayal of his America First philosophy did not come cheaply. The US launched more than 200 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, interceptors in defense of Israel. THAADs retail for $12.7 million apiece. Thus, 200 of them (half America’s arsenal) cost $2.54 billion.
In addition, WaPo reports that “more than 100 Standard Missile-3 [SM3] and Standard Missile-6 [SM6] interceptors fired from naval vessels in the eastern Mediterranean.” An SM3 costs an average of $29 million. The SM6 starts at $53 million. The total cost is unknowable. But $4 billion is a conservative estimate.
None of these expenses includes the cost of labor and transport (US Naval ships are not cheap). Or the far higher cost of offensive operations against Iran. The Pentagon’s figure for that is $29 billion. Independent analysts put the number at $50 billion and higher.
In addition, the US provides $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel annually.
The cost of America Second
Trump’s expenditures on the Iran War may be high. But they are paltry compared to his military budget plans. In 2024, President Biden’s last year in office, the US Defense budget was $883.7 billion. For 2027, Trump has requested $1.5 trillion. That is a 70% increase. Trump promised to slash government expenditures. When is he planning to start?
This level of military spending might have some justification if some enemy had just bombed Pearl Harbor. But what new global military threat to American interests has emerged in the last three years? China’s quest for world domination is economic. Russia can’t beat Ukraine – and they are neighbors. Which leaves Iran.
And even Trump has vacillated between dismissing them as a problem before claiming that they are an existential threat.
In 2025, he boasted he had destroyed their nuclear stockpile. Then in March, he crowed he had done it again. And now he threatens to do it a third time. It is hard to maintain that they remain a threat. Yet Trump does. Even though they do not have the missile technology of the North Koreans, whom Trump has written off as a concern, mainly because he and Kim Jong Un exchange love letters.
Eisenhower warned against the influence of America’s military/industrial complex. It didn’t occur to him that the US President might be beholden to another country’s military/industrial complex.
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