In at least three separate elections, Donald J. Trump was portrayed by his supporters and right-wing intellectuals as an ‘anti-war’ candidate. This framing was interesting in that the Trump doctrine as he and those allied with him have articulated over time is one that should be familiar to most people: “peace through strength.”
This, like so much of Trump’s political messaging, is taken from Ronald Reagan and has been at the heart of every US administration’s foreign policy since at least the 1980s. The emphasis, whoever the president, has always been on the second part, which is why the budget for the US military went up by billions every year under President Trump the last time around just as it did under President Biden.
Those opposed to militarism regardless of who is espousing it were rightly appalled by Barack Obama’s routine use of drones over his two terms as president, including in many countries where no hostilities had been declared. Nonetheless, the numbers show that far from ending these often unproductive strikes that killed so many innocents, President Trump doubled down on them.
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