New York Times: However Much Trump Spends on Arms, We Can’t Bomb Ebola
Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist

“…The [Trump] administration plans a $54 billion increase in military spending, financed in part by a … cut in the budgets of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. That reflects a misunderstanding about the world — that security is assured only when we’re blowing things up. It’s sometimes true that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, … but it also emerges from diplomacy, foreign aid, and carefully cultivated good will. … The military is one of the strongest advocates for nonmilitary investments — because generals know that they need diplomacy and aid to buttress their hard power. … Our security is advanced not just by being scary, but also by winning friends. President Trump will face a crisis — maybe with North Korea, maybe with China, maybe with some new pandemic — and he will need not just a robust military but also the cooperation of friendly nations…” (3/2).