OPINION:
Donald Trump vs. Kamala Harris is the biggest story going, and it’s an important one because this November’s election between the former president and the current vice president will determine whether or not globalists will get their Great Reset win; whether America’s borders will remain porous; whether inflation and redistribution-of-wealth schemes will destroy this country’s economy and entrepreneurial spirit.
But an even bigger contest is America vs. China.
“China is expected to have 395 ships by 2025 and 435 ships by 2030, while the U.S. Navy operates 296 ships, and will likely have 294 by the end of fiscal 2030, according to the Congressional Research Service,” The Hill wrote.
These include aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers and assault ships — the bread and butter of wartime maritime operations.
Build, baby, build. The incoming president of the United States must take speedy steps to counter this disparity. It won’t be easy. There are resource challenges; there are political challenges. Toward the first: The number of shipyards in the United States has dwindled considerably over the decades, from 300 in the 1980s to 20. The industry’s gone private for the most part; contractors do the heavy lifting that government shipyards used to do. But if contractors don’t have healthy bottom lines, and are short on manpower, and face regulatory hurdles from the very government that now relies on them to build, then what’s to become of America’s military fleet? The U.S. Navy may have plans to bring the fleet total to 381 in the next three decades or so. But without the shipyards to build, and without the contractors to build, these plans mean nothing.
It all comes down to a matter of politics.
And this is the second challenge the incoming president must face and overcome.
The Democrat Party isn’t exactly a friend of military spending.
“On average,” the American Enterprise Institute wrote in 2021, “Republican administrations increase defense spending by $46.3 billion when they take power and Democrats decrease defense spending by $8.2 billion when they transition into power.”
Democrats much prefer putting money into special interests that advance their far-leftist agendas — even if it means compromising military readiness and preparedness and U.S. national security interests.
Here’s an example.
From Rep. Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, speaking in June in opposition to the fiscal 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies bill: “This bill disarms our military in the face of the climate crisis by failing to include dedicated funding for resilience projects to help protect our bases and installations from rising sea levels and extreme weather. The bill … includes harmful policy riders preventing the implementation of executive orders on climate change and clean energy … and this bill attacks the rights of women veterans by limiting abortion access and prohibiting abortion counseling.”
This goes toward the mindset of Democrats on U.S. military priorities. To Democrats, the military isn’t a fighting force so much as a means of forcing through radical policies they can’t pass the legislative route. They see climate change as a larger threat than China.
“House Democratic caucus leader claims climate change is ‘largest national security threat’ facing US, world,” Fox News wrote in 2022, of Rep. Jason Crow.
They care more for protecting access to abortion than they do protecting America’s own borders.
“Senate Democrats ask military to protect abortion access for service members,” NBC News wrote in March of 2023.
China cheers all this political theater.
China’s got a Belt and Road plan to spread its communist rot throughout the world, using a dollars-for-concessions approach the CCP riffed from America. China’s got a hold on youth in America through TikTok; through infusion into the culture and places of higher education; through the world of sports and entertainment. China’s got a growing presence on America’s farmland. And China, under this existing administration, has even managed to fly several spy balloons over the United States, collecting who-knows-what-and-how-much data during the process.
November’s election is crucial for the direction of America’s domestic policies.
But more than that, November’s election is crucial for the determination of freedom around the world. If China is able to continue its course, the CCP will supplant America as the dominant force on the global stage.
Trump knows this. Harris? She knows climate change and abortion — and, oh, yes, open borders.
“In 2024, the U.S. Military Is Weak … and That Should Scare You,” The Heritage Foundation wrote in February.
It should. It should because China and all of America’s enemies know this, and they won’t be waiting much longer to take full advantage.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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