[killjoywashere]

It's highly valid: you have to convince the Russian satellites (aka, Europe) and the Chinese satellites (Japan, Korea, Philippines) that you can present China and Russia with a credible threat of ground force. Which is nuts in a way, but that's where we're at. But we've staved off catastrophe for 70 years in large part by maintaining unparalleled economic strength (the world economy is measured in dollars after all). It's a self-reinforcing situation: as long as the Europeans and Asians believe in you, they trade with you, ally both politically and economically with you, and keep Russia and China in check.

Now, Trump is undoing that. The fourth leg of the nuclear triad is ground force. The fifth leg is economic power. He's kicking legs out as fast as he can.