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How Trump is using the Pentagon and a bizarre anti-drugs program to distract from his appalling coronavirus response

Donald Trump, flanked by Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, centre, and David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, right, prepares to read a statement on tensions with Iran: AP
Donald Trump, flanked by Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, centre, and David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, right, prepares to read a statement on tensions with Iran: AP

General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced this week that the US is deploying thousands of troops, special operations forces, naval and coast guard fleets, reconnaissance aircraft, and other counter-narcotics operations off the coast of Venezuela. This, after intelligence officials apparently learned that drug cartels were looking to move narcotics into the US during the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement to send military personnel and vehicles to the South American nation comes after Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro was charged with drug trafficking by the Justice Department last week. But don’t be fooled – Trump isn’t worried about more Americans doing drugs, just like he isn’t worried about migrant children in cages. He’s looking to win over Florida constituents, including Venezuelans and Cubans, who want Maduro out.

The real threat facing America right now isn’t shipments of cocaine. The president is looking for a victory on the battlefield to distract from his sensational mismanagement of the pandemic. A US-led coup d’état is looming.

Experts agree that the so-called War on Drugs is a four decade-long failed endeavor that has only served to divert billions of dollars annually from more necessary public spending, like public healthcare. But politicians and the military don’t want you to hear that – they’re trying to keep themselves in business.

“We’re the United States military and we will defend our country, regardless of the cost,” Milley said in yesterday’s press conference. And he’s right – for the most part, US taxpayers have grown accustomed to helping to fund trillion-dollar military bills, such as Trump’s Space Force project which is set to cost $2 billion in the first five years. But this time, asking the American people to fund the military’s unnecessary pet projects is a game of entirely different stakes.

The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act’s budget totaled $735.2 billion dollars – that’s by far the most military spending by any country in the world, with China’s military spending coming in at a distant second. We also spend the most per person on healthcare, but Americans clearly aren’t seeing returns on that investment. According to research by the Peter G Peterson Foundation, that’s thanks to a range of inefficiencies and the privatization of the US healthcare system – a tragic list of errors that has critically complicated responses to Covid-19.

Just as America is number one worldwide for the amount we spend on our military, we’re also right at the top when it comes to the number of cases of coronavirus. That’s an astonishing accomplishment for the richest nation in the world, especially after our president boasted just weeks ago about how much better the US had done at containing it compared to everybody else. This is not what being a global leader is supposed to look like.

It gets worse: As the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths continue to grow, so do unemployment claims. Our federal government’s top priority should be mobilizing all of its resources to ameliorate the effects of a pandemic that is spiraling out of control. That should include seizing any additional military personnel and financial resources available and putting them to use to control the spread of the pandemic and its economic consequences.

It's outrageous to think about spending hundreds of millions of dollars on counter-narcotics operations when we don't have personal protective equipment for doctors, or ventilators for patients, and are sending a single check for $1200 to some Americans who might be out of work for months – with no federally issued moratorium on people having to pay their growing bills or credit card debt. As the father of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin, once wrote, “Time lost is never found again.”

It’s not the fault of our service members; they have no say when they are sent on senseless missions that only serve to line the pockets of private defense contractors and members of Congress who reap the collateral benefits of those contracts made in backroom deals. Like in many wars, invasions and intimidation operations in the past, those service members are mere pawns in the hands of politicians – mainly Republicans who played with too many GI Joes and not enough dolls growing up. Yet again, working-class folks are the ones that will shoulder the economic and health-related consequences from an over-inflated military budget that serves the over-inflated ego of our president and his cronies.

I, like many other Americans, feel overwhelmed at the state of affairs of our nation. I worry about the financial stability and health of my family, friends and community. And I linger on the questions: Where is the outrage? Where is the compassion?