Adam Dick
President Donald Trump’s efforts, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and otherwise, to reduce United States government spending is the focus of much attention. Indeed, in his speech Tuesday night in the US Capitol, Trump listed several expenditures his administration had uncovered that he categorized as “appalling waste.” He also declared that his administration would balance the budget, something he noted had not been accomplished in 24 years.
It was thus peculiar that Trump slipped into his over hour and a half speech a shout-out to one of the groups most notorious for involvement in massive spending by the United States government — the military-industrial complex. The shout-out, though, was likely not understood by most people. This is because Trump did not use the term “military industrial complex.”
The term “military-industrial complex” was first used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell speech in the context of a warning to the American people. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex,” declared Eisenhower on January 17, 1961. Continuing, Eisenhower warned that this military-industrial complex threatened to “endanger our liberties or democratic processes.” Over the decades since, the term has been regularly used by other individuals who have warned, like Eisenhower did, against this particularly dangerous and expensive public-private venture.
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