All hail the USS Trump.
What would one say is America's "finest hour"? Winston Churchill pinned England's moment of glory on the Battle of Britain, in which "so many owed so much to so few." America's history is far shorter than that of England, but what would one say is its finest accomplishment? There is a strong side to say the victory on two major fronts during World War II. Both massive numbers of soldiers and incredible levels of production led to victory over Hitler and Tojo. American manufacturing produced enormous numbers of wartime goods, which, in a previous article, I summarized. Without the massive numbers of tanks, planes, jeeps, etc., the war would have gone on a lot longer.
America's strength after the war also rested on local production. As much of the world was in ruins, the U.S. found itself the only country with the ability to supply the goods desired after the war: cars, planes, appliances, and more. The U.S. had the field almost to itself. The British briefly led in commercial jet aircraft, but multiple crashes of the Comet due to metal fatigue around the windows ended their dominance and opened the door to American firms like Lockheed and Boeing. The U.S. was a leader in manufacturing, and "Made in the U.S.A." was a symbol of craftsmanship and excellence.
Then came along our globalist "leaders." They loved NAFTA and China entering the World Trade Organization. Politicians and business leaders asked why would one make a washing machine in Iowa if the same appliance could be made in Mexico or China for less money and bigger corporate profits? It reminds me of something I saw recently. Someone suggested that if a hotel had an external audit, it would tell the management to get rid of the doorman and save his annual salary. He could be replaced by a sliding door. But the fellow who brought the story said that a doorman has many functions, such as keeping undesirables out of the hotel, knowing the regulars and taking care of their needs, making sure that homeless people do not sleep near the property, etc. A factory in Iowa keeps expertise in the U.S. and helps to strengthen the local community through salaries. While the interests of stockholders and managers favor Mexico or China, the interests of the United States, the workers and their families, and the local community all say that the production needs to stay put.
On a business trip about a decade ago to Detroit and Cleveland, I was flummoxed by the number of derelict former factories I saw in both cities. Most were windowless and covered in graffiti. One could close his eyes and imagine workers moving in and out of the buildings, trains delivering raw materials and picking up finished products, and the noise and smoke from the smokestack as signs that one was looking at economic health. It is no secret that U.S. manufacturing was hollowed out by moving production out of the country. In general, production became cheaper, profits became bigger, and stocks became more valuable. But nobody cared about the workers or their families or the towns that lived and died with the local factories – until Donald Trump came down the escalator in 2015.
Everybody knows that the battleship bowed out of naval warfare with the introduction of air power. Sure, a battleship can shell a shore or fire cruise missiles, but the days of 16-inch or 18-inch guns lobbing 2,000-pound shells at other ships ended with the Battle of Coral Sea in 1942, which was the first battle in which two fighting navies never saw each other. So why would Donald Trump want a new class of ships that he dubbed "battleships"? For the shipbuilding. The biggest peer threat to the U.S. is China, and any hot war will be fought in the Pacific. Many have noted the incredible imbalance in ship production between China and the U.S. In China, every ship produced has to meet military specs, should it be commandeered for military use. The U.S. is woefully short on ship-building capacity, and the order for the new Trump Class ships and additional submarines and destroyers is a call to rebuild the U.S. Navy as well as U.S. skilled manufacturing. We hit bottom, and it's time to get things built at home. Donald Trump, more than all of his predecessors, has used his power of persuasion, tax benefits, and tariffs to get production of goods back on the mainland U.S. He knows that when things are made in the U.S., it's better for all of us—the workers, the consumers (who might have to pay a little more) and the country as a whole. We saw during COVID that we could not make drugs, gloves, or many other things that citizens routinely need. Will everything be made in the U.S.? Of course not. But there are certain technologies and products that should be made in the U.S. for strategic well-being. As many are learning, Chinese cars not only can listen to passengers, but they can also be disabled should the CCP decide that such an action is warranted. The U.S. just announced an end to foreign drone sales as drones send video back to China.
When I graduated from high school, I believe that over 90 percent of my fellow graduates had plans to go to college. With the hyperfocus on college and the movement of manufacturing overseas, we began to forget how to build things. Great craftsmen are not only a national asset but also the teachers for future generations. While we see ourselves in a digital age, there is a lot of physical work that is required to get us the baubles that we enjoy in our lives. As many have previously pointed out, the half of the country detested by Obama, Clinton, and their comrades are the ones who fuel, feed, and protect the citizens of the United States. People like them, who have never worked with their hands and who see factory workers as a lower class of Americans, see nothing particularly wrong with all of America's drugs being made out of the country. They never think about the day when China could simply stop shipping goods to the U.S. And then what? How long would it take to get factories up and running and arrange raw materials and trained workers to take up the slack? Months under the best of circumstances.
General Leslie Groves wrote "Now It Can Be Told" about the Manhattan Project. One realizes very quickly that a major part of the effort was the industrial participation at every stage of the bomb development and delivery. One of the reasons why Enrico Fermi succeeded with his first reactor under the University of Chicago bleachers was that he had graphite with a level of purity never previously produced. Any contamination could have gobbled up neutrons and killed the chain reaction. At one point, Groves turned to Union Carbide to run one of his massive facilities. He met with the board and told them that each one present had an upside-down file describing the bomb project. If a board member could not vote without knowing why they were needed, he could turn over the file and read the Top Secret document. The board voted unanimously to run the facility—without anyone looking at the secret details.
Donald Trump is setting up the U.S. for decades of success. He not only wants lower prices, better trade practices, and solid infrastructure, but he also wants to reestablish U.S. manufacturing as a key part of America's strength. We tried the globalist program, and it gutted American industry and communities. Donald Trump wants to return the power of production to America. All aboard the USS Donald Trump.