Featured Image Credit: Win McNamee / Staff / Getty
President Donald Trump is once again stirring up controversy in the USA, and while his first term is remembered for his outlandish plans to build a giant wall across the Mexican border, it seems his second term will be iconized by his plans for a 'Golden Dome' covering the entire country.
While Donald Trump wasted no time signing hundreds of controversial executive orders in the aftermath of his January 20 inauguration, that's nothing compared to his bigger plans now that he's settling back into his chair behind the Resolute Desk.
If splashing some $1 billion on potentially turning a Qatar jet into the new Air Force Once wasn't divisive enough, how about taxpayers being stung for a $175 billion 'Golden Dome'?
Way back in January, the POTUS made a throwaway mention of plans to target 'next-generation' aerial threats like ballistic and cruise missiles being launched against the USA.
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He's now unveiled his plans for the futuristic Golden Dome, and while now quite putting a physical dome over us like Stephen King's dystopian Under the Dome, it's a similar concept.
Taking influence from Israel's Iron Dome, which has been detecting and bringing down missiles since 2011, Trump's Golden Dome will include "space-based sensors and interceptors," with $25 billion being earmarked for the scheme and a proposed total of $175 billion over the course of its implementation.
Still, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office suggests it could cost at least three times more.
Simply, current systems apparently haven't been able to keep up with the continuously sophisticated advancements in high-tech weaponry.
Speaking at the Oval Office, the Commander-in-Chief championed how his Golden Dome will be "capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from the other side of the world."
He also claimed that Canada has phoned him and asked to be part of the scheme, with Trump adding: "As usual, we help Canada as best we can."
The whole thing is set to be overseen by Space Force General Michael Guetlein. Guetlein is currently the Vice Chief of Space Operations at Space Force.
The Golden Dome comes after the Pentagon warned that the likes of Russia and China's missile tech have long outpaced the USA's current defense capabilities.
Cheering his Golden Dome, Trump said: "There really is no current system. We have certain areas of missiles and certain missile defence, but there is no system. There has never been anything like this."
Not everyone was sold, with one person on X saying: "The Golden Dome might be the dumbest idea in American history. It's like something someone came up with post-lobotomy but before the anesthesia wore off."
Another mused: "Tump says we’re going to spend $175 BILLION on a 'Golden Dome' to protect us from… *checks notes* — Canada and Mexico, presumably? Endless waste, enriching his friends — as we cut health care for regular people, seniors…But keep telling us they care about the debt."
A third said: "Donald Trump's 'Golden Dome', which he'll award to Elon Musk, is a f**king scam the likes of which have never been seen before. A $25 billion 'down-posit', which balloons into $175 billion? It reeks of waste, fraud, and abuse to me."
