t would be charitable, but woefully incorrect, to say the entire American establishment has learned nothing from Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and a host of smaller invasions. Endless war is a feature, not a bug of U.S. policy. Its tragic consequences are never visited upon those who promote and profit from it. Millions of lives have been disrupted and destroyed. At home, the consequences are borne by the wounded and dead, their families and friends, and the tax and debt enslaved who foot the bill.

This group provided much of Trump’s support (except for the dead, they vote Democrat), but while he occasionally poses as an adversary of those who profit, he actually embraces them. An adversary wouldn’t keep increasing military and intelligence spending, much of which even the lowest DOGE employee could identify as wasteful (if military and intelligence could ever be audited). Trump blissfully signed off on their budgets during his first term and has pledged to do so again. He’s of the “bang-bang” school of military greatness—if its shiny and makes lots of noise, it must be good, and hang the cost. Keep those F-35s coming.

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