Trump overrides decision to decommission a carrier...BAD move!

I am overriding the Decommission Order of the magnificent aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, built in 1998 (fairly new), and considered one of the largest and finest in the world. It will be updated at a fraction of the cost of a new one (which also are being built)!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 1, 2019

On the surface this might seem like an awesome move by the President.  IT'S NOT!

A few things come to mind.

1.  The defense budget glory days are over.  It's time to get smart.  It's time to take ACCEPTABLE risk.

2.  Have you seen how many planes our carriers are carrying today?  We have EXCESS capacity when it comes to carriers.  We could probably shave another two or three, get back to a once standard deployment of 100 plus airplanes AND STILL be over capacity!

3.  We are experiencing a kind of "military diplomacy" that MUST BE reversed. Have you heard the idea that service members are ambassadors?  That's great when you're insisting on decent behavior when in other lands but falls short when you start using the military as your PRIMARY diplomatic tool.  It's my opinion that President's have become lazy and relied too much on showing the flag worldwide.  Fewer carriers would help reverse that trend.

The above is just off the top of my head as I read Trump's tweet.  There are probably millions more.

The sad reality?

We're gonna have to accept cuts to the military if we're going to be able to afford the outrageously expensive weapon systems coming online.

In other words the Pentagon did not act with haste when the funding was high...that's why the F-35 was allowed to remain in development for so long...why it takes so long to build ships...why we have so many foreign bases.....

Cuts, modernization and streamlining should have occurred long ago.  Now the price must be made.  The Navy was willing but Trump won't allow the pain to come.

Too bad.

Kicking the can down the road will cost us dearly I fear.