Carolyn Kaster/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.The previous column in this series contrasted Donald Trump's isolationist geopolitical stance with plans to increase the size of all four branches of the US armed forces – army, navy, airforce and marine corps, with the last constituting the Pentagon’s major instrument of expeditionary warfare.
The column concluded a little cautiously, suggesting that if such an expansion went ahead it did not necessarily imply Trump's keenness to go to war. But the situation might change if domestic reversals made an "overseas adventure" look a tempting diversion:
“In all of this there may be an element of giving Trump increased options in a time of crisis, but the fact remains that this will be a substantial expansion at a time when the Republicans control both Houses of Congress. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that if Trump’s first term runs into trouble, not least with an inability to deliver on domestic campaign promises, then that would be the kind of circumstance where an overseas adventure – “war” in other words – might become rather attractive. What these various expansions mean is that in such circumstances the military will be in a stronger position to oblige” (see "Trump and the Pentagon", 7 November 2016).
