Donald Trump recently released his proposed budget, and along with tax cuts for the upper and middle classes, and cuts to government programs, it includes a $54 billion increase in defense spending. This is a popular proposal among Trump supporters and conservatives and sticks with promises that Trump made during his campaign.

Conservatives argue that an enormous defense budget is necessary to properly defend the US and its interests abroad. However, many experts argue that the US already spends a hugely excessive amount of money on defense. The US spent $596 billion on the Military in 2016, which is more than the next seven countries combined. In fact, the US makes up nearly 50% of all world military spending. So why do conservatives consistently talk about the “gutting” of the military? It may have more to do with a policy born from corruption than a genuine concern for safety.

In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ended his final term in office by warning the country of the Military-Industrial Complex. Eisenhower famously asserted, “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex”. This came after a decade including a nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union. Despite his remarks, the arms race only grew in the following decades and continues in a different form to this day.

While excessive spending could be in part attributed to the U.S.’s history of involvement in the world warsp, examining the origins of the push for arms reveals a more sinister side to the militarism. For decades, prominent Conservative politicians have been pushing for additional defense spending. At the same time, many of these same politicians have enjoyed immense campaign contributions from the weapons manufacturers. This creates a cycle of money between the arms industry and politicians which results in an enormous amount of taxpayer money being spent. This position is rationalized like many other conservative positions are: using fear. The conservative base has been thoroughly convinced that the left is attempting to make the country weak. When confronted with numbers and statistics, the fallback argument is essentially “better safe than sorry”. It is easy to forget that the defense budget, which currently makes up 53% of discretionary spending, is money that could be going to anything from environmental programs to health care.

President Trump’s supporters see him as resistant to corruption because of his enormous fortune. Nevertheless, Trump is a part of the Republican party, and will not displease his colleagues and his base. So, despite criticizing the enormous amount of money spent on the Iraq War, Trump chooses to funnel even more money into the industrial machine.

The military-industrial complex is so firmly rooted in US politics that even suggesting cutting back the military can mean career suicide for a politician. President Obama, who made small cuts to military growth, was viciously attacked by conservatives for “gutting the military”. Trying to inform the country of this corruption results in vicious attacks on any politician from lobbies and politicians which essentially work for weapons manufacturers.

Americans often criticize foreign powers like China and North Korea for spending money on military which the people desperately need. Yet in many ways the US is just as bad when it comes to prioritizing spending. What this country desperately needs is a movement to raise awareness of this and other corruptions and a push by elected officials to reform the campaign finance system.  We need our politicians to work for their constituents rather than wealthy industrialists. We need officials who are brave enough to speak out against this system which deprives the American people of their fundamental needs in favor of exorbitant military spending.