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The greatest presidents of the last century were “navalists”: Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Ronald Reagan. All three knew that the United States was a naval power and that surrendering the supremacy of the seas meant surrendering the leadership of the world.
When President-elect Trump joined me on Monday’s program, I asked him if he intended to follow the example of TR, FDR, and RR, all three of whom constantly watched our Navy. Exchanges:
HH: Do you intend to rebuild the navy?
DJT: Yes. We have a great gentleman, you know, as you know. Maybe you should put him on your show.
HH: John Phelan. That.
DJT: He’s fantastic. John is a fantastic, very, very successful business person. Very successful. Top. And he is in charge of that, and we will do something with the ships. We need ships. And we may have to take a different route than you would normally take. It is, you know, the beginning of construction. We didn’t, we don’t build ships anymore. We built a boat in a day. We don’t build ships anymore. We want to get it going. And maybe we’ll use allies, too, in terms of building ships. We may have to. We need ships. The Chinese building, from what I hear, disables a ship every four days. And we sit and watch. And we suffered a lot. During the Biden administration, all he knew was nonsense about building a Green New Deal, giving money, putting up windmills everywhere…”
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I followed up:
HH: Up in Maine, at the Bath Iron Works during World War II, they fired a destroyer every 17 days. They have been working for a year and a half now. Can you change that? Can you transfer the developer view to shipbuilding and build new docks, grave docks, open new shipping lines…
DJT: Yes.
HH: Production?
DJT: Well, that’s what you need. You know, I gave a great contract for destroyers in Wisconsin. Beautiful, they were beautiful. I even had something to do [with the design of the frigates.] I am a person who believes in the beauty of the ship. It doesn’t cost more to have the right angles, and it was really beautiful. And they did and they really did a good job, and the generals, you know, Biden’s admirals and generals and all the people involved, they started playing around and messing around and changing the design, and this, you know, that cost. It costs a lot of money, because now they say ‘Oh, it’s going to cost more money’ for something that’s not as good. But they started playing with the design. I heard about it a year later. They took what I had. It was perfect. And what is, is to build it. No changes, no change orders, no extra money, no nothing. You build it. They did a great job. But generals or admirals came in and said oh, why don’t we expand it a little bit? Why don’t we do that? Why don’t we do that? And it’s designed specifically for speed and stuff. When you start expanding it, you start making it slower. It was also designed on a boat that was incredibly successful in that same class, you know, design-wise.
KAMALA HARRIS SERVED TRUMP’S 2024 PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY DURING A JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS.
HH: Yes, Fincantieri designed it and you bought it.
DJT: And we had it, and [the Biden Pentagon] made changes. They always have to make changes. You know, these guys go in there and think they’re smart, and in many cases, unfortunately, they’re not, so they take something and make it worse for a lot more money. That’s what they do. I mean, they spend more money to make it worse.
HH: For get a navy even up to 330 ships, let alone more, you would have to say every day, “What have we done for the Navy today?” Is that the kind of focus you bring in, like [a] call [to] Phelan every day? “What did you do today, Mr. Secretary of the Navy?” Because that’s the focus.
DJT: Well, I’ll do it. Yes, I will do that. But we’re going to announce some things that are going to be really good about the Navy. We need ships. We have to get ships. And you know, everybody said oh, we’ll build them. We may have to go to others, give them an offer, and it’s okay to do that. We will offer them until we are ready. We are not ready for ships. We don’t have docks. You know, Biden closes everything. It’s almost like they want death for this country. He wants to close the docks. He doesn’t want anyone to build anything. All they talk about is the green new deal.”
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS O’Kane (DDG 77) of the U.S. Navy and the Thaon di Revel-class multirole combat ship ITS Raimondo Montecuccoli (P 432) of the Italian Navy sail side by side in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. (Official US Navy photo) ((Official US Navy photo))
It’s a “navalist” talking and countering his approach to the absurdity of the “Green New Deal” which couldn’t even deliver charging stations on a large scale. This is a president who understands that America’s position in the world depends on its fleet, and not on the fleet planned for 2050, but on what is in the water today. Trump, the developer, knows what a “critical path” is and if he and Phelan are on the same page, Navy modernization can quickly restart.
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Trump’s first term left a lasting legacy on the federal courts, particularly with three Supreme Court appointees. He will continue to expand and deepen that particular influence over four years, just as the extension and revision of Trump’s tax cuts will leave an indelible mark of renewed strong economic growth.
But our nation’s freedom depends on military power we own and show, and the backbone of that power is our fleet at sea and under it. If new Navy Secretary John Phelan focuses as relentlessly on buying ships and submarines as the president-elect wants, in four years Trump’s rebuilding of the Navy and the shipyards we need to maintain and expand will be a legacy he ensures as long as he has influence on the Supreme Court.
Hugh Hewitt is the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” which is heard weekday mornings from 6 to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network and is simulcast on the Salem News Channel. Hugh Wakes America on more than 400 affiliates nationwide and on all streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel’s News Roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6:00 PM ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches constitutional law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has appeared frequently on all major national television networks, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American newspaper, written a dozen books and hosted a number of Republican talk shows. candidate debates, the last Republican presidential debate in November 2023 in Miami, and the four Republican presidential debates in 2015-16. cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump during his 40 years on the air, and this column is the main story that will lead his radio/TV show today.
