It’s well-documented phenomenon that many Americans will balk at a public spending measure that costs over a trillion dollars but are totally OK with that if it is for the military. Adam Tooze discusses this in a recent episode of his podcast. If it’s for the military, then it it’s essential and maybe even exciting, like the F-35 or the Manhattan Project.
Trump may not need help capturing all the right-leaning votes in the US, but a tact that could work for him is to pick up some disgraced physicist and push for a Manhattan Project 2. It would be just like the original Manhattan Project, except they’d really do it in Manhattan this time, in some Trump hotel’s spacious event space.
The other difference would be that the new bomb could wipe out all of China. (“CHI-na!” said with a sneer, of course.) This bomb would cost trillions, maybe a quadrillion.
Trump would “be frank with you” and say “that’s a lotta money” but it would make us safe from China and put America back on top.
What if it turned out you couldn’t actually make a bomb like that, and some pedantic wonk pointed it out?
Well, what of it? Trump would just ask Dr. Scientist if we could really make the Superbomb, and Dr. Scientist would say yes, but the science deep state is holding back. Then, Trump would chant BUILD! THE! BOMB! and so would half of America.
But what if it turned out that you could build a bomb like that?
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