By Harold Hutchinson

Should Joe Biden win, American military readiness will crater. This isn’t alarmism; it’s a reality we can predict based not just on what many on the Left are demanding, but on the records of the last two Democrat administrations.

As we’ve noted before, military readiness has been an issue on multiple fronts, and both parties deserve blame for this state of affairs. Bill Clinton made reckless cuts in the force structure. George W. Bush failed to adequately rebuild that force structure even as America fought — and still fights — what is rightly called the Global War on Terror. Barack Obama? His deep cuts were both profound and disgraceful.

That left President Donald Trump in a bad position. His choice of James Mattis as secretary of defense was excellent on multiple levels. He pushed for military readiness and also removed obstacles for the troops (like Obama’s misguided land-mine policy). Mattis, though, disagreed with President Trump on fundamental issues such as the Paris Climate Accords, the Iran nuclear deal, and the relocation of the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. His departure thus became inevitable.

In any case, after four years of Trump’s work toward restoration, Biden would extract four years of military budget cuts. These cuts would likely affect the new B-21 Raider bomber, which is already urgently needed because the Air Force has just 21 B-2s, thanks in no small part to RINO Republican John Kasich, who’s now among the establishment figures endorsing Biden. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter inventory could see cuts as well.

A Biden administration might very well decide to let the recently fire-damaged USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) be scrapped, and also choose not to replace it. The Army, Marines, and Coast Guard would likely find themselves stretched thin.

Furthermore, Biden is promising to “restore” the relationships that Trump has ostensibly broken. Does he mean reinstituting the awful Iran nuke deal? Cutting slack to NATO deadbeats like Germany and Canada, who’ve failed to fulfill their obligations for years? (It’s worth noting that Germany had to ground its Tornado ground-attack jets due to its desire to be green instead of combat ready, while Canada had to borrow a replenishment oiler from Chile.)

Not only would a Biden administration fail to support the troops with sufficient funding. Not only would it also fail to ensure they have enough of the advanced weapons they need to deter China. In addition, a Biden administration would make it more likely that we fight new wars because of our weakness. And Democrats have the gall to claim Trump isn’t backing the troops?

Our troops need funding, and they need new weapons. A President Joe Biden would give them neither.