Trump is weakening the US military's global readiness to confront threats


Haley Britzky

@halbritz


New: In the aftermath of the resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, multiple sources told CNN they believe Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is damaging the Army’s efforts to adapt to the modern battlefield as he focuses on culture wars and prioritizing his own image of the “American warfighter,” and pushes out leaders who don’t align with his vision“It’s conflicting because yeah he put out a memo saying this is important, but … he’s talking about muscles, dudes in dresses, testosterone,” an official said. “We don’t see a change at that level.”
 
Robert Barnes, who is a go to guy for understanding what is going on in the WH, says that Driscoll gave up on Trump.
 
QP! said:
agreed.


agreed.


Curious about your reasoning on this?



I do think SINCE Trump's picking fights all over the world, especially with allies, China will not take any military action as they are massively benefitting as being seen as the more stable and trustworthy 'world power' right now, as the US diminishes. And i believe China, more than most studies leaders of the past and the wisdoms they can gain from them such as :

- Napoleon was credited with the expression "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"
-Sun Tzu said "To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself." and "you cannot force a victory; you must maintain perfect discipline and wait patiently for your opponent to make a critical blunder that leaves them vulnerable."

So ya, i think if China was even thinking of any military in the area they will defer it so as not to rally any allies back to the US and Trump and allow the Mad King to continue to destabilize allies and diminish America.
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Those so-called allies, from China's perspective, are not real allies on equal footing. They're more like vassal troops, I'm not sure if you get what I mean. What I'm saying is that the argument "Trump damaged U.S. relations with its allies" doesn't hold water, because the U.S. completely dominates its relationship with its dependents. Those countries might put on a show of opposing some of Trump's policies, but when it comes to a war with Russia or China, they'll just go along with whatever the U.S. decides. Specifically in East Asia, Japan is actually the one pushing the U.S. into war. Just like Israel dragged the U.S. into the war with Iran, Japan essentially plays the role of Israel in this region.

For China, things aren't that complicated. First, they hope to achieve reunification through peaceful means. Second, they believe they still need to focus on building up their own strength. The ideal scenario is for China to establish absolute military superiority in the region, making it clear to the U.S. that a war here would bring no benefit to America, and then resolve the issue peacefully.

I think it will ultimately come to war, because there are a lot of Americans who are eager for it. This war would have bipartisan support. So we're just waiting for it to happen. All this talk isn't really going to change anything. I'd say it's about ten years out, or maybe five to fifteen.
 
Cypress said:
Explain how one "reads" a Youtube video.
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So you never learned how to use the transcript feature. Not surprising.
BTW, you can use AI to summarize it for you. I think you can even ask ChatGPT to do it on your own reading level.
 
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Hawkeye10 said:
The NAVY coating problems are real.
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Don't worry. Trump knows a 'coating guy' who if given a no bid contract will fix it right up...

images
 
Tbird19482 said:
And the SAILORS on them chip the lose pant off and repaint them AT SEA
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So?

Photos look rusty because U.S. Navy ships spend months at sea in salt water, and rust forms faster than crews can stop it.


Steel + seawater is the core problem. Almost every surface ship is steel. Salt spray, humidity, and heat attack any place the paint is scratched, worn, or thin—edges, welds, drain pipes, scuppers, ladders, and flight-deck fittings. The result is the orange-brown streaks called “running rust.” NAVSEA has said this directly: high operational tempo plus steel plus seawater produces visible corrosion and staining.


When a ship is underway and launching aircraft or conducting operations, sailors cannot hang over the side in bosun’s chairs to chip and paint .


Environmental rules also restrict over-the-side scraping and blasting because debris goes into the ocean. Deep preservation waits for port or dry dock.


Painting a destroyer or carrier is enormous work. Crews are often short-handed due to watches, flight operations, and other maintenance. Between major shipyard periods the job falls on the sailors themselves, and they can only do so much while the ship is moving.


Design and paint have limits. Drainage often runs down the hull. Fasteners and fittings are not always stainless. Even newer polysiloxane coatings last longer and hold color better than the old silicone-alkyd paints, but they still chalk, get abraded, and fail at edges. Perfect application conditions (clean, dry steel, controlled temperature) don't exist at sea.


The rust you see in photos is usually surface staining, not structural collapse.


The Navy spends billions a year fighting corrosion because if it is ignored it does eat into welds and structure.


Crews chip and paint every day when they can. US ships often operate farther from home than most other navies, so the gray hulls show it.


The rusty look of U.S. Navy ships is not “Trump/Hegseth’s fault” in the sense of something they created. It is a long-standing problem that predates them by years.


Photos of streaked, rust-stained destroyers and carriers circulated in 2018–2022 (USS Stout after 215 days at sea in 2020, USS Curtis Wilbur, USS Dewey, and others). NAVSEA, GAO reports, and Navy officers were already talking about high operational tempo, sailor shortages, shipyard backlogs, environmental limits on over-the-side work, and the simple chemistry of steel + saltwater.


Those conditions existed under Obama and Biden.


President Trump also noticed the rust and told Navy leadership to “fix the damn rust.”


In short:


  • Fleet-wide rusty appearance = chronic, multi-administration problem.
  • Rust itself is physics.

Now, post an emoji, and hop to it!
 
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