During his July 11 rally at the Phoenix Convention Center, GOP hopeful Donald Trump spoke of his love for the military and promised that, if elected, he “would have a military so strong that we would never have to use it.”
This is the same “Peace Through Strength” approach that Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan adopted to deal with America’s enemies in their times. Roosevelt oversaw the construction of the Great White Fleet–which he had sail around the world so those tempted to attack the US could see it and know what was coming if they did.
Reagan did the same thing with nuclear weapons and military might in the 1980s–letting the Soviet Union know that an act of aggression toward the United States would be met with overwhelming, unrelenting force.
Trump fell into line with both of these on July 11, saying he would make the military so strong that our enemies would look at it and say, “No way we’re messing with that.”
But Trump added one other crucial point: Taking care of our veterans is part of strengthening our military. He said, “In bringing back our military we have to do something else, we have to take care of our veterans. Because our veterans are treated like third-class citizens. [But] they’re the greatest.”
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