President-elect Donald Trump laid out a US military policy on Tuesday that would avoid interventions in foreign conflicts and instead focus heavily on defeating the Islamic State militancy.
In the latest stop on a “thank you” tour of states critical to his November 8 election win, Trump introduced his choice for defence secretary, General James Mattis, to a large crowd in this city near the Fort Bragg military base, which has deployed soldiers to 90 countries around the world.
Trump’s rhetoric was similar to what he said during the election campaign when he railed against the war in Iraq.
In Fayetteville, he vowed a strong rebuilding of the US military, which he suggested has been stretched too thin. Instead of investing in wars, he said, he would spend money to build up America’s aging roads, bridges and airports.
Even so, Trump said he wants to boost spending on the military. To help pay for his build-up, Trump pledged to seek congressional approval for lifting caps on defence spending that were part of “sequestration” legislation that imposed cut spending across the board.
While US armed forces are deployed in far-flung places around the globe, they are only involved currently in active combat in the Middle East, specifically Iraq and Syria for the most part.
Trump described Mattis as the right person for the job and urged Congress to approve a waiver to let him take on the civilian position. Under US law a military leader must be retired for seven years before becoming eligible to become defence secretary.
Speaking to the crowed, Mattis said, “I look forward to being the civilian leader as long as the Congress gives me the waiver and the Senate votes to consent.”
“We’re going to get you that waiver,” Trump said, returning to the microphone. “If you don’t get that waiver there are going to be a lot of angry people.”
Thursday, June 04, 2026
