In a bold show of militarization and fiscal prioritization, President Donald Trump has unveiled what he hails as a “record-breaking” $1 trillion defense budget during a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 7. The announcement marks a sharp escalation in military expenditure, even as Trump’s administration pursues sweeping federal budget cuts in nearly every other domain.

“We are very cost-conscious, but the military is something that we have to build and we have to be strong because you have a lot of bad forces out there now,” Trump told reporters. “Nobody’s seen anything like it.”

Trump’s statement underscores a recurring theme in his second-term governance: strong national defense amid growing global threats, paralleled by domestic austerity. While the United States has historically maintained the highest defense budget in the world, the $1 trillion milestone is unprecedented, even by US standards. The current defense budget, approved last December, already stood at $895.2 billion.

The move places the US even further ahead of its global competitors in defense spending. China, currently the world’s second-largest military spender, has allocated $256 billion for 2025. Russia, in the midst of its ongoing conflict with Ukraine and economic sanctions from the West, is budgeting $157 billion.

Despite these vast sums, Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, emphasized the administration’s intent to use the funds “wisely – on lethality and readiness.”

In a post on his personal X (formerly Twitter) account, Hegseth stated, “President @realDonaldTrump is rebuilding our military – and FAST,” echoing Trump’s narrative of restoring American military dominance. “We intend to spend every........

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