Brian Chow
Since Trump’s second term began in January, he has issued an executive order to build a “Golden Dome for America,” a multi-layered missile defense shield against “ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next-generation aerial attacks from peer, near-peer, and rogue adversaries.” He has issued another order to rename the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” its name until 1947, projecting a “peace through strength” approach to international relations. Moreover, under Trump’s repeated prodding, NATO finally agreed for each member to commit 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) annually to defense by 2035—a commitment that, once completed, will nearly double the alliance’s annual defense contribution.
These are all defensible steps that, in Trump’s view, strengthen US national security. Yet the president has persistently been pessimistic about the possibility of bipartisan support for his initiatives. Accordingly, he has implemented them through brute force: using presidential authority to issue executive orders without waiting for Congress to pass laws supporting his agenda, and relying on the Republican majority in both chambers to shoot down prospective challenges.
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