Trump under fire for $200 billion Pentagon request — from the right

If President Donald Trump wants more money for his un-Constitutional war in Iran, Congress should audit it, at least according to a prominent right-leaning pundit.

Commenting on Trump’s request for $200 billion in additional funding Eric Boehm, a pundit at the right-leaning Reason Magazine, wrote on Tuesday that “the war in Iran has now entered its fourth week, and there is still little indication of any long-term plan or strategic goal for the conflict. The entire war has unfolded without congressional authorization for the use of force or a declaration of war.”

Boehm’s overall thesis was that “if you want to have a war, you have to find a way to pay for it,” which historically has required either “raising taxes or generating revenue via ‘war bonds’ and other such mechanisms. America drifted away from that principle in the late 20th century and has never looked back. The past 20 years have been marked by wars abroad and tax cuts at home. The post-9/11 wars in the Middle East cost about $8 trillion, and nearly all of that amount was borrowed and added to the debt.”

To answer the question as to whether doing more of this would be a good day, Boehm asked members of Congress to inquire of their constituents if they would prefer “a tax break, a health insurance subsidy, or another war in the Middle East. I have a pretty good idea about which option would finish last in that poll.”

In closing, Boehm praised Rep. Eric Burlison (R–Mo.) “for finding the most novel and responsible approach. Burlison told CNN last week that the Pentagon should ‘pass an audit’ before Congress votes for any supplemental war funding. ‘Then I'll know that at least they're keeping track of the dollars,’ he added.”

Boehm concluded, “Sounds like a fair deal to me.”

Compared to other conservative critics of Trump’s war, Boehm’s editorial is practically tame. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused Trump of being manipulated by Israel, arguing “Israel wanted it to happen. This is Israel’s war” and claiming “this country has certainly been manipulated a lot by Israeli intelligence—and other foreign countries’ intelligence, but certainly by Israeli intelligence.”

Similarly right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan, one of Trump’s biggest supporters during the 2024 presidential election, denounced Trump’s invasion of Iran as a “betrayal” of the anti-war policies he promised during the campaign.

“Well, it just seems so insane, based on what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right?” Rogan said. “He ran on, ‘No more wars,’ ‘End these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”

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