For whatever reasons you may wish to cite, this country has not won a
war against a large, seriously militarized opponent since WWII. We have,
of course, won against dip**** countries like Panama, Iraq, Grenada. If
we get into a war with the Russians or the PRC, and neither side
unleashes nukes, I'm not sure we'd win against them, either. And if
nukes are unleashed, no one wins. Which leads to the question of why do
we waste so much $$$ on a military that likely will not be used in any
large-scale war. If we had used half or more of the money wasted on the
military the last 40 years on infrastructure instead, we'd have a
first-class country with a good electrical grid, railroads, roads, dams,
sewage, energy usage, and environment.
People will pay any amount for a perceived defense. If Trump really
wanted his wall, he should have had the Pentagon build it. $5Billion
would disappear in the couch cushions of the DoD budget.
He floated that idea but was convinced that the Democrats would make
it political suicide.
Funny thing is ... I don't think he cares about political suicide and
may still find a way to pull that off. I think he's trying to get as
much $$ as he can from Congress and will then supplement additional
programs costs from the DOD.
It's getting almost sickening to watch the "debates". It is obvious
to the most oblivious observer that the Dem's only reason for not
voting to fund any part of a wall/fence/slat/barrier is because they
want to deny Trump the ability to claim another campaign pledge met.