President Trump in a phone interview with Wayne Allyn Root, yesterday:
By the way, they talk about munitions and we’re fine with munitions. You know, we’re having to do with, we’re fine. But the reason it would be lower and we’re building them like crazy, but the reason it’s low, is because [Biden] gave $300 billion worth to Ukraine.
So the current level of U.S. strategic munitions is “fine,” and it is also “low.” At the same time.
A lot of people didn’t like Friday’s Morning Jolt, and argue that all information about our stockpiles of critical munitions is classified, and thus I am a bumbling moron for wanting a straight answer on whether our stockpiles of critical munitions is sufficient or not. Look, it’s not my fault that in June, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “that is a manufactured story that the media wants to peddle. And, ultimately, we are — our stockpiles are — are great,” and then in July, Hegseth said, “without these funds, we face critical shortfalls that threaten our ability to also simply pay our service members, rapidly replenish equipment and munitions, and sustain vital operation without disruption.” I’m not the bad guy for remembering what was said a month earlier and noticing the contradiction, or in the case of the president last night, what he said a few moments earlier.
Either the U.S. military has enough strategic munitions for ongoing conflicts with Iran and to deter other enemies like China, Russia, and North Korea, or it doesn’t. (If the Pentagon has enough of some munitions but not enough of others, that is still a consequential shortfall.) The worst-case scenario would be the president believing that we do have a sufficient supply of critical munitions like air defense interceptors, when we don’t.
But hey, what are the odds of this president making a decision and not heeding the warnings of military advisors, right?