Trump's trillion dollar military mistake

Why did Trump just back a trillion-dollar military budget? Why does a country surrounded by two giant oceans need bases around the world?

When I voted for Trump in 2024, I had hoped that he would begin to dismantle the American Empire. I know, it was probably too much to hope for, but it seemed to me then that there was no way the empire was sustainable, given that the country is more than $36 trillion in debt. I felt that it was time for serious cuts to the military, and that included dismantling a significant portion of the more than 800 bases the US has around the world.

Well, I was wrong because Trump just went in the other direction:

Speaking Monday evening in the White House, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement: The US appears poised for its first $1 trillion defense budget request.

“We also essentially approved a budget, which is in the [vicinity], you’ll like to hear this, of a trillion dollars,” Trump said while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “$1 trillion, and nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build our military, and we’re very cost conscious, but the military is…