Trump squanders millions rather than preserve WA jobs and help poor, elderly | Editorial

President Donald Trump is squandering taxpayer dollars on unnecessary – and risky – shows of military force in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and around the nation.

He and congressional Republicans could put those resources to much better use preserving jobs in Central Washington and helping the poor, sick and elderly across the country.

This week, Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to Los Angeles to respond to protests against the administration’s escalating enforcement of immigration laws. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass took a hands-off approach, but escalating violence rendered that untenable. Crowds vandalized buildings, set fire to vehicles and threw objects at law enforcement officers. Federal buildings were particular targets.

Yet rather than bring calm, the presence of troops led to protest escalation and more protests occurring in other cities. Bass only belatedly declared a downtown curfew.

Trump argues that the deployments are needed for national security in response to what he has dubbed an ‘insurrection.’ Yet America has survived far worse protests without bringing in the troops.

In a better world, the president, governor and mayor would have convened and worked out a solution that didn’t involve heavy-handed military intervention. Surely all could agree that violence has no place in peaceful protest and that there are legitimate debates to be had about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement is handling detentions and deportations.

Trump’s deployment will cost $134 million, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a U.S. House committee. That was before the president doubled the number of National Guard members, so no doubt the price has gone up.

Adding to the pattern of costly military displays, the Pentagon is reviewing a request from the Department of Homeland Security to deploy more than 20,000 additional National Guard members across the nation to assist in rounding up immigrants who cross the border illegally. The cost of that operation would be $3.6 billion, an official briefed on the matter told USA Today.

All of this unfolded days before a military parade Saturday in Washington D.C. The event coincides with a long-planned 250th anniversary celebration for the U.S. Army and – not coincidentally – the president’s 79th birthday.

President Trump has long wished for a grand military parade similar to one he witnessed on Bastille Day in Paris during his first term. It’s now happening – at an estimated cost of $22 million to $45 million.

That expense could grow if the damage to D.C. streets from tanks and other heavy equipment is greater than the $16 million budgeted for repairs. It also could increase if the president cracks down on protesters in D.C. and nationwide with the vigor he has suggested.

All for what? Tanks and artillery rolling down the streets of the nation’s capital as the leader looks on is the sort of thing that happens under despots. It calls to mind images of Moscow’s Red Square during the height of the Cold War or North Korea.

This is not a dignified way to celebrate our military service members nor the long history of the U.S. Army. Trump does not center the people who served nor their enormous sacrifices for our country. Instead, this is a silly show of power to boost one man’s ego and intimidate any who might dissent.

The timing of Trump’s militaristic expenditures couldn’t be worse. Congress is considering cuts to Medicaid and other essential aid programs to poor, sick and elderly Americans. Other cuts – enacted and proposed – would slash critical federal programs like weather forecasting and scientific research.

Central Washington schools, for instance, could lose $20 million in crucial support services for migrant students – children whose parents are seasonal workers essential to the agricultural industry here.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, which employs 6,400, is facing layoffs and cuts to its national security mission, in addition to cuts at the Hanford nuclear site.

If the president were not spending potentially $4 billion or more on sending the armed forces into American cities and his birthday parade, perhaps the dollars saved could preserve some of those important programs.