Episode 915: The Trillion Dollar War Machine

Newt's World

Gingrich 360

News, Politics

4.7 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Newt talks with William Hartung and Ben Freeman about their new book, "The Trillion Dollar War Machine.” They discuss the profits of militarism, highlighting the role of traditional Pentagon contractors and high-tech firms in promoting destabilizing technologies. They also examine the influence of politicians, lobbyists, media, and think tanks in perpetuating the war machine, enriching a wealthy elite at the expense of global peace and domestic stability. Their conversation further explores the inefficiencies in the defense acquisition system, where increased spending does not equate to increased security, and they highlight the wasteful nature of current military expenditures. They also discuss the evolving nature of military technology and the challenges posed by new defense tech firms verses traditional defense contractors. They conclude with a call for a national discussion on military strategy and spending, emphasizing the need for a bipartisan effort to address these systemic issues.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:02.5	Guaranteed Human.
0:08.4	On this episode of Neut's World, America spends nearly a trillion dollars a year in its military.
0:15.3	This extraordinary spending not only detracts from our ability to address pressing social problems,
0:22.3	but compels us into foreign wars to justify our vast arsenal. Sold to us in name of security, our military industrial
0:28.4	complex actually makes us far less safe. Top policy experts, William Hartung and Ben Freeman,
0:35.6	follow the profits of militarism from traditional Pentagon contractors
0:39.9	who received more than half of the Pentagon's budget to the upstart high-tech firms
0:44.8	that shamelessly promote unproven and destabilizing technologies. They unmasked the enablers of the war
0:51.5	machine, politicians, lobbyists, the media, Hollywood think
0:55.4	tanks, and so many more, whose work enriches a wealthy elite at the expense of everybody else,
1:01.5	spreading conflict around the world and embroiling America and endless wars. Here to discuss their
1:06.6	new book, The Trillion Dollar War Machine, A Runaway Military Spending Drives America
1:12.0	into Foreign Wars and bankrupts us at home. I'm really pleased to welcome my guests,
1:18.1	William Hartung and Ben, thank you for joining me on Knits World.
1:35.6	Yes, thank you.
1:37.0	Thanks for having this, New.
1:38.3	Pentagon spending today adjusted for inflation is $100 billion higher than it was at the height of the Cold War. Yet we have
1:47.6	half the troops, half the ships, half the aircraft. How did the U.S. end up paying more, but getting so
1:55.3	much less? That stat there, that was one of the stats that really first shocked us when we started writing
2:01.8	this book. It revealed a hidden truth behind the U.S. military of today, that we're spending
2:08.2	more and more on security and getting less of it. And what our book attempts to do is explain
	...

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