That's just the usual Trump narrative. Like others have said, welfare costs a lot more than defense.
Though we do really need a bigger nuclear umbrella against Putin. That's the only thing that really matters against Russia. And we have no other credible defense threats.
But the US was always opposed to the EU having its own for proliferation reasons. Now that they suddenly back out we're in a bit of a bind because I doubt France and the UK's deterrence is enough of a threat to Russia to prevent incisions.
And yes the US purchased a lot of goodwill and power by offering its defense. There would have been a lot more opposition to Iraq and Afghanistan (both of which accomplished nothing for the people there I might add, and the invasion of Iraq even caused ISIS)
PS: I just want to add, it's the distribution of wealth that makes the difference. Europe has very few billionaires unlike America. We don't believe in 'the market' above everything. Hence we distribute wealth more. This is also why we have much less violent crime, the difference between rich and poor is not as big. It doesn't have that much to do with defense spending.
And why should someone be able to be a billionaire? With say 10 billion someone could spend a million a day to live, and still make their money last 27 years. Here in Spain most people don't make a million in total wages during their entire life.
You vote for the system in the US, things don't have to be that way. But the ultra rich make it seem like everyone could be rich if they only just work hard. Obviously that's false. Most rich people don't work very hard and definitely not 100.000 times as hard as people making 100.000 times less than they do.
Though we do really need a bigger nuclear umbrella against Putin. That's the only thing that really matters against Russia. And we have no other credible defense threats.
But the US was always opposed to the EU having its own for proliferation reasons. Now that they suddenly back out we're in a bit of a bind because I doubt France and the UK's deterrence is enough of a threat to Russia to prevent incisions.
And yes the US purchased a lot of goodwill and power by offering its defense. There would have been a lot more opposition to Iraq and Afghanistan (both of which accomplished nothing for the people there I might add, and the invasion of Iraq even caused ISIS)