Donald J.Trump shares Pete Hegseth call for $1.5 trillion defense budget
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argues military spending protects America's economic strength in an opinion piece amplified by the president.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argues military spending protects America's economic strength in an opinion piece amplified by the president.
WHITE HOUSE — Donald J.Trump amplified Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s push for a $1.5 trillion defense budget by mentioning the source (see nypost) on a Truth Social post on July 1, 2026 at 7:51 PM EST.
Here is the full post (see truthsocial): “Hegseth: We must spend big on defense to save America’s economic might: https://nypost.com/2026/06/23/opinion/hegseth-we-must-spend-big-on-defense-to-save-americas-economic-might/”
Pete Hegseth wrote in the New York Post opinion piece that the single greatest threat to national security is under-investment in military spending. He called the proposed fiscal year 2027 defense budget a “generational investment in cutting-edge military advantage” and urged Congress to deliver on the plan through the base budget, a supplemental request and a reconciliation package (see nypost).
Hegseth argued that the Pentagon has quietly underwritten American prosperity for decades, linking military dominance to the strength of the U.S. dollar, low borrowing costs and protection of global trade. “When America is unchallenged militarily, economic possibilities abound: We borrow cheaply, transact freely and set the terms of global trade,” Hegseth wrote (see nypost).
The defense secretary also pointed to China’s military buildup as a reason to rebuild forces he described as degraded under previous administrations. He identified space, sub-sea, cyber, artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and long-range strike as the domains that will determine future battlefields and economic prospects (see nypost).
Hegseth cited internal fiscal reforms at the War Department, saying it is now on track to pass a comprehensive financial audit by 2028. Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg spent the past year reviewing the budget line by line, exposing billions in redundancies and shifting tens of billions to higher-priority missions (see nypost).
The department has also overhauled its acquisitions process, Hegseth wrote. Defense contractors are now investing their own capital in new manufacturing plants and assembly lines in exchange for longer-term orders, saving the department tens of billions while putting hundreds of thousands of Americans to work (see nypost).
Hegseth’s stance signals a potential shift in budget priorities as the administration pushes Congress to approve the historic spending package (see Google). Lawmakers remain divided over the scale of the request, with some raising concerns about the fiscal impact alongside the national debt.
In the last 30 days, 49 of 568 Trump posts on Truth Social addressed the topic of domestic policy.
Source: Zenger real-time database of all Truth Social posts.
Note: Chart generated on July 1, 2026 at 7:56 PM EST
Source: Zenger analysis
Note: Table generated by NewsFindr on July 1, 2026 at 7:56 PM EST