Trump warns of 'many evil forces', US spends a record $1 trillion on defense.
US President Donald Trump has just announced that his administration has approved a record defense budget of approximately $1 trillion, despite implementing a wide-ranging campaign of federal spending cuts.
Trump made this statement during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on April 7.
"We are very focused on cost savings, but the military is an area where we absolutely must invest and maintain strength, because there are so many bad forces out there right now," Trump said. "Nobody has ever seen anything like this."
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth emphasized: "We are committed to using every taxpayer dollar wisely – focusing on combat capability and combat readiness."
Hegseth's predecessor under President Joe Biden's administration, Lloyd Austin, had previously proposed increasing the defense budget by approximately $50 billion beyond the projected amount for fiscal year 2026.
In contrast to Trump and Austin, the Pentagon proposed an 8% cut in defense spending last February, but prioritized funding for advanced technologies such as drones, submarines, defense operations at the US-Mexico border, and campaigns related to deterring China.
Currently, the US Department of Defense budget stands at $895.2 billion. Trump's commitment to increasing military spending comes as his administration, through the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), is implementing widespread federal spending cuts. Under Elon Musk's leadership, DOGE has cut approximately 280,000 federal jobs in recent months.
