After 9/11, Washington promised quick wars with clear goals. What followed was two decades of nation-building, trillions of dollars spent, thousands of American lives lost, and a chaotic exit from Kabul. America First means a strong military that is used rarely, decisively, and only for American interests.
The young men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan did everything their country asked. Many deployed four, five or six times. They came home to an overwhelmed VA, while the officials and think-tank experts who sold the wars rarely faced any consequences.
Iraq was launched on the claim that Saddam Hussein had active weapons of mass destruction. No such stockpiles were found. Afghanistan ended in August 2021 with the Taliban back in power, 13 American service members killed at Abbey Gate, and billions of dollars in U.S. equipment left behind.
Honoring their service means never sending them to fight again without a clear mission, a vote of Congress, and a plan to win and come home.
Approximate breakdown of the ~$8 trillion total: war-zone spending, obligations for veterans' care through 2050, and post-9/11 homeland security and other operations. Source: Costs of War Project, Watson Institute, Brown University [1].
Pick a spending item to see what it adds up to for American families.
These aren't arguments against a strong defense. A strong military protects America. These are the costs of choices like nation-building, open-ended occupations and blank checks that put foreign priorities ahead of American ones.
Equivalents use rounded national averages: new-teacher salary (NEA), median home price (Census/NAR), four-year in-state college cost (College Board), and an illustrative manufacturing wage. Household count ≈ 132 million.
Tap or click each one to see what was promised and what actually happened.
One week after 9/11, Congress authorized force against those responsible for the attacks. Presidents of both parties have since stretched those 60 words to justify operations in many countries against groups that didn't exist in 2001. Rep. Barbara Lee cast the lone "no" vote, warning that it was too broad. She was right.
Promised: a short war, a disarmed dictator, a stable democracy that would pay for its own reconstruction. Reality: no WMD stockpiles, more than 4,400 U.S. military deaths, the rise of ISIS out of the chaos, and a region destabilized for a generation.
The U.S. joined a bombing campaign that toppled Muammar Gaddafi without congressional authorization. Libya collapsed into civil war and became a hub for weapons trafficking and human smuggling. The Benghazi attack in 2012 killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
A CIA program to arm Syrian rebels reportedly cost about $1 billion a year at its peak, and some weapons reportedly ended up with extremist groups. A Pentagon training program that was supposed to field thousands of fighters produced only a handful, according to testimony to Congress in 2015.
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction documented years of waste and officials painting an overly rosy picture. The Afghan government the U.S. spent two decades building collapsed in days. Thirteen American service members died at Abbey Gate during the evacuation.
Congress approved more than $175 billion in aid across several packages. Whatever one thinks of the war, Americans deserve clear answers: what is the strategy, what is the end state, how is the money tracked, and why should U.S. taxpayers carry a heavier share than the European nations next door?
Number of allies spending at least 2% of GDP on defense. Source: NATO, Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries [4].
In 2014, only 3 NATO allies met the 2% defense spending target they had agreed to. After a decade of American pressure, 23 of 32 did by 2024.
In 2025, NATO allies agreed at The Hague to move toward 5% of GDP on defense and security by 2035. That happened because American leaders stopped asking politely. America First doesn't mean abandoning allies. It means partners stop treating the American taxpayer as a permanent subsidy.
America also maintains an estimated 750 military bases in about 80 countries. Each one should be justified by a clear American security interest, not by habit.
"America First means isolationism."
Tap to see the facts ↻America First supports a powerful military, trade with the world, and alliances that serve U.S. security. It rejects open-ended occupations and nation-building. That's the tradition of Washington, John Quincy Adams and Eisenhower.
"Questioning a war means you don't support the troops."
Tap to see the facts ↻Supporting the troops means not wasting their lives. Many veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are now among the strongest voices for restraint, and for holding accountable the leaders who sent them on missions without clear goals.
"The president can take the country to war whenever necessary."
Tap to see the facts ↻Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to declare war. The president can repel sudden attacks, but sustained wars need the people's representatives to vote and own the decision.
Repeal and replace outdated authorizations for the use of military force. Any sustained combat requires a recorded vote of Congress.
An independent inspector general for all foreign military aid, with public reporting on where the money and weapons go.
Hold NATO members to the 2035 commitments they signed. Shift responsibility for European conventional defense to Europe.
Prioritize defense of the homeland, the Western Hemisphere and deterring China, over peripheral conflicts.
Revive shipbuilding and munitions production so America can deter war by being ready for it.
Fix VA wait times, fund mental-health care, and make sure no veteran is homeless in the country they served.