The embattled and deeply unpopular US president on Saturday commissioned the USS Gerald R Ford, a twilight symbol of American military might in an age of Pentagon downsizing through the increased use of drones and artificial intelligence.
In comments to assembled sailors and officials onboard the $13 billion warship, Trump took the opportunity to demand that Congress dramatically increase military spending, according to the Washington Times.
"We're getting bigger and better and stronger every day of my administration," the US president proclaimed, adding, "America is coming strong."
The largest nuclear-powered military ship on the planet, the USS Ford is named for the 38th president, who is primarily remembered for succeeding US President Richard Nixon, after the latter resigned in a political scandal with marked similarities to the many ongoing federal investigations currently hampering Trump, his family and his advisors.
Calling on the US Congress to boost US military spending by ten percent, or about $45 billion, Trump suggested that the last ten years had affected American defense prowess — the most powerful and expensive military force on Earth by a wide margin — to the point of helplessness.
"Deferred maintenance, a lack of investment in new equipment and technology and a shortfall in military readiness," has hamstrung a global force involved in multiple ongoing conflicts worldwide, the president suggested.
"It's been a very, very bad period of time for our military," Trump declared, cited by the Washington Times.
The US spends more money on its military then the next eight countries combined, while suffering from some of the lowest rates of healthcare effectiveness, highest rates of infant mortality and deepest resource inequality in the developed world.
