Renewing American Strength and Leadership Around the World
May 10, 2023
President Donald J. Trump rebuilt America’s military, increased readiness, and destroyed our nation’s enemies. Joe Biden has weakened America’s national security, emboldened our adversaries, and betrayed our allies.
Biden presided over a tragic and embarrassing military withdrawal in Afghanistan, which took the lives of 13 U.S. servicemembers. Joe Biden left 10,000 to 15,000 Americans behind in Afghanistan.[1]
Biden’s reckless withdrawal resulted in the Taliban effectively controlling all of Afghanistan, dramatically more territory than they did on Sept. 11, 2001.[2]
The Biden administration left over $7 billion in military equipment behind, including 78 aircraft worth $923.3 million, 9,524 air-to-ground munitions, over 40,000 military vehicles, 300,000 weapons, and 17,500 “pieces of explosive detection, electronic countermeasure, disposal and personal protective equipment.[3]
Just months after Biden’s calamitous Afghanistan disaster, Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2022 alone, U.S. military aid to Ukraine reached over $50 million.[4] As a result of never-ending military aid to Ukraine, the U.S. stock of Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles have been depleted by a third.[5] By issuing over $100 billion in aid without asking President Zelensky for a realistic timeline, Biden is prolonging and escalating this conflict as it reaches its first anniversary with tens of thousands of people killed.[6][7][8]
This month, the Biden Administration announced another $1.2 billion for weapons in Ukraine.[9] In addition, leaked Pentagon documents revealed that Ukraine may run out of Air Defenses by May 2023.[10]
The Biden Department of Defense has been more focused on liberal indoctrination than military preparedness and warfighting. Amid revelations that the Biden Department of Defense’s woke, diversity chief made public comments condemning “white folks,” DOD leadership did nothing to address the racist statements.[11]
According to a December 2022 poll of U.S. servicemembers, 68% reported witnessing politicization in the military.[12] Meanwhile, 80% reported a decrease in trust in the U.S. military because of the push to allow unrestricted service by transgender individuals.[13]
Joe Biden has overseen a severe recruitment crisis in the U.S. military, forcing the U.S. Navy to lower recruiting standards.[14] Joe Biden fired more than 5,000 servicemembers for noncompliance with his COVID-19 vaccine mandate.[15]
Joe Biden’s soft on China policies, have invited increased aggression towards Taiwan and the United States.
Joe Biden allowed a Chinese spy balloon to violate American airspace for at least seven days, allowing the surveillance craft to observe critical national security infrastructure, including U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile fields.[16] Military exercises suggest China is getting ready to launch a war against Taiwan.[17]
The Biden administration also prioritized radical climate change policy over the human rights abuses of China’s genocidal regime.[18]
Biden has cowered to NATO, as the U.S. continues to unilaterally fund the organization. The Biden administration has ignored the fact that many NATO countries including Germany, Italy, and Spain will not fulfill their financial obligations—and show no plan to do so in the future—instead simply passing their tab on to the American taxpayers.[19]
Biden has emboldened America’s adversaries around the globe. Opposing sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and observing Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Biden has strengthened Russia’s hand in Europe.[20]
Biden has lifted restrictions on Cuba’s communist regime[21] and has begun easing sanctions on Venezuela’s socialist government to ease gas prices that spiked because of Biden’s radical energy policies.[22]
President Trump rebuilt the United States military after eight years of decline and neglect under the previous Administration.
WATCH: President Trump Will Prevent World War III
President Trump revitalized our defense industrial base, secured the largest pay raise for our troops in a decade, and created the sixth branch of our Armed Forces: the United States Space Force.[23]
President Trump also became the first American leader since Ronald Reagan not to start a war.[24]
President Trump completely rebuilt the United States military with over $2.2 trillion in defense spending, including $738 billion for 2020.[25]
The Trump administration secured three pay raises for our service members and their families, including the largest raise in a decade.[26]
President Trump upgraded our cyber defenses by elevating the Cyber Command into a major warfighting command and reducing burdensome procedural restrictions on cyber operations.[27]
In four years, President Trump defeated 100% of ISIS’ territorial caliphate in Iraq and Syria.[28] As a result, nearly 8 million civilians were freed from ISIS’ bloodthirsty control, and liberated Mosul, Raqqa, and the final ISIS foothold of Baghuz.[29]
On orders from President Trump, the U.S. military killed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,[30] and eliminated the world’s top terrorist, Qasem Soleimani.[31]
President Trump twice took decisive military action against the Assad regime in Syria for the barbaric use of chemical weapons against innocent civilians, including a successful 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles strike.[32]
President Trump negotiated an extended ceasefire with Turkey in northeast Syria.[33]
The Trump administration created the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC) in partnership between the United States and its Gulf partners to combat extremist ideology and threats, and target terrorist financial networks, including over 60 terrorist individuals and entities spanning the globe.[34]
The Trump administration completed several multi-year nuclear material removal campaigns, securing over 1,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and significantly reducing global nuclear threats.[35]
President Trump also established a whole-of-government strategy addressing the threat posed by China’s malign efforts targeting the United States taxpayer-funded research and development ecosystem.[36]
As a result of his bold diplomacy and principled realism, President Trump brought Peace to the Middle East by brokering four Middle East peace deals, collectively called the Abraham Accords, and our NATO allies agreed to pay $400 billion more in defense spending.[37]
President Trump has pledged to get Biden’s radical left ideology out of our military and rehire every patriot who was unjustly fired.[38]
To protect our people from the threat of nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles, President Trump will also build a state-of-the-art next-generation missile defense shield.[39]
President Trump signed sanctions on Nord Stream 2, as part of a major effort to reduce European dependance on Russian natural gas.[40]
Additionally, President Trump also implemented the toughest sanctions against Moscow since the end of the Cold War.[41]
The Trump administration made NATO defense spending among allies a top foreign policy priority. Once allies began funding the program, NATO was in a far stronger position at the end of the Trump Presidency than it was under Barack Obama.[42]
Putin invaded Georgia when Bush was President. Putin invaded Crimea when Obama was President. Putin invaded Ukraine when Biden was President. When President Trump was in the White House, Putin knew better than to start a war on his watch.
[1] https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Risch%20Afghanistan%20Report%202022.pdf
[2] https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/5-questions-congress-must-ask-austin-milley-mckenzie-about-afghanistan-pullout
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/politics/afghan-weapons-left-behind/index.html
[4] https://theconversation.com/us-military-spending-in-ukraine-reached-nearly-50-billion-in-2022-but-no-amount-of-money-alone-is-enough-to-end-the-war-197492
[5] https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/us-military-has-fewer-munitions-you-might-think-and-thats-problem
[6] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/06/biden-ukraine-strategy-slow-weapons-stalemate-russia/
[7] https://www.crfb.org/blogs/congress-approved-113-billion-aid-ukraine-2022
[8] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/us/politics/ukraine-russia-casualties.html
[9] https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3388890/biden-administration-announces-additional-security-assistance-for-ukraine/
[10] https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-may-run-out-of-air-defenses-by-may-leaked-pentagon-documents-warn-b96b0655
[11] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pentagon-drags-out-decision-after-probe-into-woke-diversity-chief-accused-anti-white-people-tweets
[12] https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/poll-nearly-seven-10-active-service-members-have-witnessed-politicization-us
[13] Ibid.
[14] https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/lowering-standards-navy-recruiting-hiring-bad-faith
[15] https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/07/07/airman-to-be-kicked-out-of-military-after-19-years-over-biden-vaccine-mandate/
[16] https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/04/biden-chinese-spy-balloon-bilateral-ties-00081215
[17] https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/11/politics/taiwan-foreign-minister-interview/index.html
[18] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/john-kerry-says-we-have-tough-choices-between-climate-change-and-genocide
[19] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-nato/in-nato-debut-bidens-pentagon-aims-to-rebuild-trust-damaged-by-trump-idUSKBN2AF1MX
[20] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/bidens-weakness-emboldens-authoritarians-and-terrorists
[21] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/biden-restores-more-cuba-flights-and-loosens-trump-era-remittance-restrictions
[22] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/biden-looks-to-venezuela-as-he-faces-high-prices-at-the-pump-and-the-polls
[23] https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/national-security-defense/
[24] Ibid.
[25] Ibid.
[26] https://www.edwards.af.mil/News/Article/1602401/trump-signs-national-defense-authorization-act-with-26-percent-pay-raise-for-tr/
[27] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-military/trump-lifts-cyber-command-status-to-boost-cyber-defense-idUSKCN1AY1MR
[28] https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/09/10/president-donald-trump-timing-right-isis-editorials-debates/2280013001/
[29] https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/341384-trump-administration-congratulates-iraq-on-liberation-of-mosul/
[30] https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-50200383
[31] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/02/world/middleeast/qassem-soleimani-iraq-iran-attack.html
[32] https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/politics/donald-trump-syria-military
[33] https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/united-states-turkey-agree-ceasefire-northeast-syria/
[34] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/us/politics/us-targets-terrorist-financing-with-new-round-of-sanctions.html
[35] https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/issues/national-security-defense/
[36] Ibid.
[37] Ibid.
[38] https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda
[39] Ibid.
[40] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50875935
[41] https://www.npr.org/2018/07/20/630659379/is-trump-the-toughest-ever-on-russia
[42] https://www.heritage.org/defense/commentary/nato-allies-now-spend-50-billion-more-defense-2016