On questions about depleted munitions, Team Trump struggles to keep its story straight
In the spring, as the war with Iran continued to unfold, many U.S. officials expressed concerns about the state of the military’s weapons stockpiles. The New York Times reported in May, for example, “Inventories of air-defense missiles, air-launched stealth cruise missiles and Tomahawk missiles have all been greatly reduced because of the war, and will take years to replenish.”
A month later, MS NOW reported that the conflict had “significantly depleted the U.S. military’s global munitions supply, causing concern among lawmakers who have demanded more transparency on the status of stockpiles from the Pentagon.”
As the war crosses the six-month threshold, these concerns are intensifying. The Wall Street Journal reported this week on the United States’ “shrinking stocks of Patriot and other air defense interceptors.” A related Journal report noted there are growing concerns “about how many missiles the U.S. military has left,” adding, “The White House and the Pentagon are pressing defense contractors to speed up this process, but there’s only so much that can be done. Making a missile is a lot more complicated than making a lawn mower.”
The good news is that Donald Trump and prominent members of his team have had quite a bit to say about the subject in recent days. The bad news is that many of their overlapping stated positions are contradictory.
Position #1: Everything’s fine. In a written press statement issued by the White House on Monday afternoon, the president was quoted as saying, “We have far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need.”
Position #2: Things could be better. A couple of hours after the White House issued its statement, Trump told reporters during a Q&A on Air Force One that when it comes to certain weapons, such as Patriot missiles, “we’re in very good shape, but for some of the more sophisticated stuff, we’d certainly like to have more.”
Position #3: There might be a problem, but everyone should blame Biden: On Monday afternoon, the president said, in reference to U.S. military stockpiles, “President Biden gave a lot of it to Ukraine, and so we’re building that up.” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, Trump’s former national security adviser, adopted a similar line on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday, arguing, “We have to take a step back here in that a lot of stockpiles were depleted … from what we gave Ukraine over the last however many years, four or five years.”
Position #4: Never mind what we just said about stockpiles being depleted: After Waltz told a national television audience that U.S. stockpiles “were depleted,” host Kristen Welker asked, “But you acknowledge they’re depleted?” He replied, “No.”
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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