I don’t expect him to start anything but if you actually do build a strong military (and I have a feeling he may) sooner or later someone is going to try to test it.
Like others in this thread, I think Trump does not have an interest in starting any wars (and defining what you mean by war is another thing; the USA hasn’t fought a properly declared war in over 70 years). However, to quote (possibly paraphrased) from a early 20th century Russian diplomat:
Of course that lead to the Russo-Japanese War, which didn’t work out well for the Rus…
But my point is, if Trump feels the heat and things are not going well domestically, a “Splendid Little War” (re: the Spanish-American war of 1898) may be seen as a way to restore prestige and a ‘rally round the flag’ spirit in U.S. citizens (Reagan was the master of this, in Panama and Grenada, even Clinton in Bosnia found one).
Trouble is, there are very few spots left like this: Central and S. America are pretty peaceful these days (hardly perfect, but nothing we can justify stepping into at this time), Africa has some messes but none that I can see being in our National Interests, Asia has some big problems (see below) but nothing much else brewing, same with the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East (with one exception) seems to have settled down (which can change at any time, I grant you). So finding a Panama or Grenada or Bosnia doesn’t seem to be to easy.
Which leaves the Big (Russia and China) and the Medium (Iran and N. Korea). I will take it that no one wants a direct conflict with the Big Guys, unless it is absolutely unavoidable, and if anyone thinks a full-out war (meaning invasion and occupation) of Iran or N. Korea fits either the short or splendid definitions above, I have a house to sell you in Mosul…
Which leaves Syria and ISIL. And I think President Trump will be hearing from his military folks about trying to ‘crush’ them by throwing troops into that cauldron (they may have to introduce him to the concept of “Logistics”). I suspect he’ll slightly tweak what Obama has been doing and congratulate himself on his 'change of tactics that will defeat the RIT (Radical Islamic Terrorists).
So in summary, I can see him wanting (to shore up popularity) to start a “short, victorious war” at some time, but right now I don’t see a proper target out there.
We shall see, eventually. IMHO as always. YMMV.
You should hope not. This is one of those nonsensical things he stated a lot during the election that he apparently thought was for God-Emperor rather than President. But the day Trump takes any action to change the value of US securities (which is what “negotiating down the debt” means), the US dollar will forever lose it’s status as the world’s stable currency, and pretty much become worthless overnight.
The safety net here is that it would cost billionaires their fortune, so assuming they have an ounce of sense (facts not in evidence, I admit), nobody’s going to let that one move beyond talk.
Billionaires who know whats going to happen can always divest their US dollar holdings and put their money into whatever else. Yen, Euro, Yuan, Pounds, heck they can store their wealth as gold or silver bullion and wait for the fallout to settle. Perhaps this is another one of Putin’s goals that he’s using the useful idiot for? Not only weaken NATO and the EU but also weaken the US dollars place as the world’s global reserve currency.
This is inane; war is amazing for business, if you’re in the right kind of business. People have made fortunes off of every war that has ever needed manufacturing of any size.
And since it’s never the politicians who go to the front lines, it’s the citizens who suffer. Always.
As noted, war is great for business. Also, Trump isn’t really much of a businessman, he inherited his money and went bankrupt. He’s great at the conning his debtors, but not at really building things.