Trump doesn’t much care for things that do not personally benefit him. Then what’s to make of the juxtaposition of his attitudes toward Russia (Putin, good) and NATO, for which he demands all members live up to a vague pledge to spend 3% of their GDP on military expenditures? Why would our defense costs have to go way up if the threat has gone way down?
This particular shakedown is to enrich American defense contractors. American companies have an overwhelmingly dominant position in international arms sales. At 43% it is nearly four times the second largest exporter, France. Who are the beneficiaries of an increase in spending on weapons? Republican firms like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Rayethon, General Dynamics, Northrup Grumman and United Technologies. These in turn become, hmm, kickbacks seems like an ugly word for it but the benefits from those arms sales tricke down and become donations to the political parties. In defense-related industries this amounts to some $26B, according to Open Secrets. Of that, 60% goes to Republicans.
Wait, it gets worse. Three court rulings have gutted the feeble attempts to render transparent all this money rocketing around buying influence. There are no longer any restrictions on corporate spending, allowing groups that are non-profits organized under section 501.c.3 of the tax code so that they can now raise unlimited amounts of money, and do not have to disclose their donors to the public. This is called “dark money.” It is under the table support for corporate causes. According to the FEC nine of the top ten Dark Money spenders (2008 to 2014) spent to support Republican causes. Add them up and $528,819,164 or 95% goes to the Republicans and just $28,335,401 or 5% goes to Democrats. THAT is more than likely where Republican corporate donors pay tribute to their benefactors, where you can’t see most of it.
If pressing our allies to spend more on bombs and less on butter makes any sense at all this is the way: heavy increases in military spending benefit primarily American arms manufacturers, who happily pay for the privilege with legal but unreported kickbacks to Republican campaigns and “independent committees” operating on behalf of Republicans.
That giant sucking sound? That’s Trump showing Putin how far he is willing to go to get a hotel on Red Square.
