...and for there to be less capacity for Congress to pack the military budget with pork-barrel projects, I'm not sure this is the time to be making drastic cuts. Although the current administration's isolationism and (perceived, at minimum) unreliability in honoring treaty agreements alters the mix as bit, there remains every chance of war with China over Taiwan and the latter's ultra-critical microchip industry. While I remain deeply unimpressed with the Trump administration's acumen in international affairs and global economics, anyone with an IQ higher than room temperature understands that there is no choice but to help prevent a forced takeover of the chip industry by China. That will require massive military resources: China is no pushover, especially with very short logistic lines.

China is today's industrial giant, not us. Perhaps we can return to at least some semblance of our former industrial glory (dubious...but that's a topic for another thread), but that will take decades. Right now? We're not even close (although the gap is smaller when considering military production capability). That recent successful Ukrainian mass drone attack? Well...China is estimated to be able to produce 500,000 similar drones per month. That would likely rise to 700.000 on a war footing. And that's just one small example.

We do indeed need to spend more mindfully and efficiently on our military, but that we do need to spend seems inarguable.