First of all, let me note the obvious. Floating the idea for a new battleship is only evidence that Trump and his minions have no knowledge of naval history and no understanding of modern warfare. Military.com provides a history-packed take-down of USS Trump in an article fittingly titled Trump Announces New Class of Battleships Despite Century of Evidence Proving the Large Warships Are Obsolete.
As one retired naval officer noted in a YouTube video, the Trump battleship is not a viable weapons program. It is a vanity project.
An article posted at Militarywatchmagazine.com notes the problem of USA’s deindustrialized industrial base. Shipbuilding is in particularly bad shape. The Navy has encountered severe problems trying to build a successor to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, though crippled shipbuilding capacity has not been the only or even major reason. The 9,500 ton Arleigh Burkes were designed over 40 years ago, and the first of them put to sea 35 years ago. But Arleigh Burkes are still being built, because at least four major surface combatant programs have been cancelled in the past two decades:
- 20,000-ton CG(X) guided-missile cruisers;
- 15,000 ton Zumwalt-class destroyers;
- 3,000 ton plus Independence-class and Freedom-class littoral combat ships;
- 7,291 ton Constellation-class guided-missile frigates.
I’ve been extremely disappointed by the mainstream media coverage so far. No one has yet slogged through the books, articles, writings and internet postings of the US Naval Institute and the Naval War College to report back what the current naval consensus and discourse is concerning major surface combatants.
But here is what really worries me. Has Congress authorized and approved funding for a new class of surface warships? No, it has not. This means that if Trump and his regime actually proceeds to so much as sign a contract in furtherance of building a “Trump class” warship, he will once again be acting in complete defiance of the US Constitution and the rule of law.
Article I, Section 8 on the powers and duties of Congress is unambiguous, and the historical development of the budgeting and spending process of the national government is clear: any decision on any program of military spending must originate in Congress as a Defense Authorization Act, and then Congress must vote to approve actual funding with a Defense Appropriations Act.
Both ChatGPT and Copilot, reported that the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 does NOT include any language authorizing any new Trump‑class battleships.
Trump’s announcement of a new class of surface combatant and a so-called “Golden Fleet” (which smacks loudly of the ostentation of ancient oligarchies like Venice) is just one more instance of Trump’s complete disregard for the Constitution.
