Commentary by Stephen Macaulay
“I have the best plan of all. But I’m not going to tell you what my plan is.” -- Donald Trump, April 6, 2026, at a press conference when asked about regime change in Iran.
But what he is absolutely clear about is what he wants his new budget to include, and that’s lots and lots and lots of money for the active military. As in an increase from the 2026 budget figures for Defense of $440.9 billion.
To save you from doing the math: $440.9 billion is 3,734.3% bigger than $11.5 billion, the increase Trump proposes for Veterans Affairs.
“But wait!” you think. Maybe the $440.9-billion bump is necessary to keep up with our adversaries.
You could think that. But maybe you’d think differently to know that in 2025 defense spending by the top five countries looked like this:
- US $997 billion
- China $314 billion
- Russia $149 billion
- Germany $88.5 billion
- India $86.1 billion
So last year’s US defense spending was 217.4% bigger than China’s.
Now there could be the argument made that because we are in a war — or at least we are bombing the “fuck” out of Iran, we need to jack up US defense spending.
Maybe there ought to be a consideration of how the money is being spent.
A Patriot missile, being used to shoot down a Shahed drone, costs $4 million, which would be enough to buy you, say, 80 Ford F-150 XLT pickup trucks.
Next on the list of increases is Veterans Affairs.
Trump has proposed an $11.5 billion increase. That’s fair. We should take care of the people who have taken care of us.
But also on the increase side of the budget ledger are the Department of Justice, $4.7 billion (just think of what Pam Bondi could have done with that had she not been given her walking papers); Transportation $1.6 billion (Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week at an event in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where Mercedes-Benz was announcing a $4-billion expansion of its plant: “We’re sick of companies leaving America and going to other parts of the world. Incentivizing them to come back to our country and to help our workers is something Mercedes has been doing for a long time, but we’re seeing it in full force here today” (Presumably no one told him Mercedes is a German company); and $900 million for Energy. Perhaps Trump truly believes that once the Iranian incursion is over gas prices will drop like a stone. They won’t.
But then there are the places he’s going to cut.
Like $15.5 billion from the State Department. Who needs to worry about diplomats when you have Jared and Steve? All Marco has to do is vigorously nod whenever Trump says anything.
Health and Human Services is getting a $15.4 billion trim, which is because, as you know, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. believes fact-based medicine is overrated.
Housing and Urban Development? A $10.7 billion cut — probably because many of the cities where there needs to be help are controlled by Democrats, and so it is the fault of people who live there.
Agriculture is getting a $4.9 billion cut and Labor a $3.4 billion reduction, which makes it a good thing that those farmers and union workers already voted for Trump because they might rethink that ballot selection were they to realize how things are going. Interior and Education are both proposed to be cut by $2.3 billion (to quote Pink Floyd, “We don’t need no education. . . .”).
Homeland Security — which isn’t just about ICE, but also includes FEMA, the outfit that helps when there are disasters — gets a cut of $2.1 billion (who needs to take care of people in need when we have bombs to drop?).
Treasury has a proposed $1.5 billion cut and Commerce $1.3 billion (let’s not forget that Commerce has put out some numbers about how the economy is doing that isn’t in keeping with the Trump line because, well, those numbers are factual, not fanciful).
The things that help every day Americans are clearly not high on his agenda.
Blowing stuff up—well, that’s another thing entirely.
Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.