The Chris Hedges Report

Episode: The Trillion Dollar War Machine (w/ William D. Hartung)
Air Date: January 1, 2026
Host: Chris Hedges
Guest: William D. Hartung, Senior Fellow at the Quincy Institute

Episode Overview

In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges interviews military-industrial complex expert William D. Hartung about his new book, The Trillion Dollar War Machine (co-authored with Ben Freeman). Together, they explore America’s sprawling war industry, the roles of Pentagon contractors and Silicon Valley, the myth of American exceptionalism, and the intersection of ideology and greed that has sustained and supercharged U.S. militarism for generations. Hartung exposes how unchecked military spending devastates both domestic priorities and global security while enriching a narrow elite. The conversation covers political, economic, and cultural enablers, failed oversight, the influence on media and academia, and the grave consequences for democracy and the world if the military-industrial complex remains unchallenged.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Rise and Transformation of the U.S. War Machine

[00:10 - 11:32]

• Eisenhower’s Warnings vs. Today’s Reality:

  • The U.S. spends nearly a trillion dollars annually on its military; the Pentagon budget is now twice what it was at Eisenhower’s warning.
  • Eisenhower, while not a pacifist, was wary of a “garrison state” and tried to hold the line against military contractors and overbuilt systems all vying for bigger slices of the budget.
  • “The fact is that since the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower who first coined the term military industrial complex in 1961, the United States hasn't been led by a single president, Republican or Democrat, who truly stood up to the war machine...” (Host, 00:59)

• Sacred Cows and Service Rivalries:

  • The nuclear triad (land, sea, air) was created more from rivalry among military branches than from strategy.
  • “[The nuclear triad] was, you know, the navy and the air force wanted their piece of the pie.” (William Hartung, 05:15)

• Ideology and Greed:

  • Hartung: the military-industrial system is fueled by both ideological narratives (American exceptionalism, fear of rivals) and self-enrichment.
  • “The ideological side is completely out of control and some of the decisions, I think, are actually diminishing US power.” (Hartung, 06:31)

• Cultural Reinforcement:

  • Media, Hollywood, academia, and sports all help sell myths of endless war and American virtue.

2. Silicon Valley: Disruptors or Warmongers?

[07:01 - 12:06]

• Silicon Valley Overtakes the Old Guard:

  • Tech giants (Palantir, Musk, Thiel) are even more ideological and aggressive than traditional contractors like Lockheed or Raytheon.
  • “If Ayn Rand was on steroids, this is what you end up. Except these folks have weapons, which means if anyone's going to get us killed, it's probably them.” (Hartung, 08:23)

• Tech & Defense Merging:

  • Startups merge to take down traditional primes; they want to dominate not just the marketplace but policy itself.
  • “They've even written a little manifesto, Arsenal Democracy 2.0…” (Hartung, 09:53)

• Mission Creep and Hubris:

  • The tech industry promotes itself as “new patriots” with a unifying mission centered on AI and weapons.
  • “We need a unifying national mission. And that should be a new Manhattan Project to apply AI to weapons.” (Hartung, 10:46)

3. The Death of Oversight and Congressional Dissent

[12:12 - 17:51]

• Loss of Independent Voices:

  • Oversight in Congress has collapsed; few politicians now challenge weapon systems or war spending for fear of losing their seats.
  • “There's less public support for those kinds of folks... Some people, you know, they just, well, you know, Trump is rich. I want to be rich.” (Hartung, 14:11)

• Jobs Blackmail:

  • War industry disperses manufacturing across the country to “job blackmail” politicians into supporting unnecessary systems.
  • “You want to close that plant, you lose jobs.” (Host paraphrasing, 15:22)
  • Most “defense jobs” are heavily concentrated in just three states, but every state is led to believe its economy depends on war spending.

• Pork Barrel Burnout:

  • Members of Congress champion weapon systems for local gain, not strategic need, bloating the Pentagon budget with redundant, failed or obsolete systems.
  • “Even if the Pentagon wants to make a decision, this pork barrel politics gets in the way.” (Hartung, 19:50)

4. Overpriced, Underperforming Weapons & Misplaced Priorities

[18:04 - 23:44]

• Bloated Procurement, Flawed Systems:

  • Billions are poured into weapons (like the F-35, Littoral Combat Ship, Osprey) that routinely malfunction or become irrelevant.
  • “The littoral combat ship... It was designed to do three different things and did none of them well.” (Hartung, 19:15)
  • New military tech is often vastly more expensive than adversaries’ weapons. “They're making them in their garages.” (Hartung, 21:15)

• Academic Corruption and Talent Waste:

  • Research funding and engineering jobs are dominated by Pentagon contracts, starving domestic infrastructure, green energy, and civilian needs.
  • “If you work for the war industry, you get cost overruns. You're guaranteed.” (Host paraphrasing Melman, 22:05)
  • “There’s so many things we could use scientific expertise for... All of that is getting squeezed for people to go into the weapons industry.” (Hartung, 25:12)

5. Gaza and Unchecked Militarism in Practice

[25:49 - 28:12]

• U.S. Complicity:

  • The U.S. continues to supply weapons and diplomatic cover for humanitarian disasters, including Israel’s war in Gaza.
  • “It's just shocking how the US government occasionally sort of says tsk ts, but keeps the weapons and the money flowing.” (Hartung, 26:41)

• Authoritarian Drift:

  • Moves are underway to purge dissenting voices and fill government and military ranks with loyalists indifferent to rule of law or basic decency.
  • “Their idea of a war fighter is somebody who's loyal to Donald Trump, not to the Constitution.” (Hartung, 28:10)

6. The Information War: Media, Think Tanks & Public Discourse

[29:03 - 36:32]

• Corporate Ownership of the Narrative:

  • Contractors lobby with taxpayer funds and have captured media, Hollywood, and think tanks to uniformly promote militarism.
  • “They should wear the company logo while they’re speaking.” (Hartung, 30:00)
  • The Pentagon has script approval over films featuring U.S. weapons.

• Manipulating Expertise:

  • Retired generals and intelligence officers serving as media experts are often board members or paid consultants for arms companies, distorting public debate.
  • “The think tanks can do that. And they have this aura of legitimacy.” (Hartung, 31:56)

• Marginalizing Dissent:

  • “The only time I get in the media is like a pro military story. And in paragraph 32, they're like, oh, yeah, some people disagree, but it's not the framing.” (Hartung, 35:20)
  • Deeper analysis and accountability have disappeared from the mainstream.

7. Domestic and International Consequences

[37:02 - 47:55]

• Eroding Democracy and Social Welfare:

  • “Domestically it'll further erode what's left of our democracy. It'll encourage kind of scapegoating and McCarthyite tactics…” (Hartung, 45:42)
  • Weapons jobs are a form of “job blackmail” preventing communities from pursuing more meaningful, high-quality employment.

• Global Destabilization:

  • U.S. militarism leads to suffering, instability, and death abroad:
    • “US policies have done immense damage, possibly millions of people have died or been injured.” (Hartung, 46:32)

• The Vicious Cycle:

  • End of one war (e.g., Afghanistan) immediately creates pressure to “open up” the next (e.g., Ukraine) to keep arms sales high.

• No Lessons Learned:

  • Despite disastrous outcomes in Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., policymakers double down on failed strategies, convinced new tech or new enemies will bring success.

• Potential Future:

  • Without a mass movement, further authoritarianism and endless conflict are likely.
  • “We’d have to take more risks than we’re used to because this crowd doesn’t really follow the law.” (Hartung, 47:07)
  • Hartung presses for coalition-building across issues to resist and demand change.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “If Ayn Rand was on steroids, this is what you end up. Except these folks have weapons, which means if anyone's going to get us killed, it's probably them.”
  — William Hartung, 08:23

• “You want to close that plant, you lose jobs.”
  — Host (paraphrasing the industry argument), 15:22

• “[The littoral combat ship] was designed to do three different things and did none of them well.”
  — William Hartung, 19:15

• “The only way to be safe from these things is to get rid of them, which is a long-term fight.”
  — William Hartung, 17:37

• “They should wear the company logo while they're speaking.”
  — William Hartung (on retired generals and media pundits), 30:00

• “Domestically it'll further erode what's left of our democracy... [militarism] is actually going to weaken the country.”
  — William Hartung, 45:42 & 45:58

• “US policies have done immense damage, possibly millions of people have died or been injured.”
  — William Hartung, 46:32

• “It’s a tough time. But I do believe that there’s resilience and ability to do that, but we don’t. It’s not guaranteed.”
  — William Hartung, 47:40

Important Segment Timestamps

• [00:10] — Opening theme & context (collapse of civilizations, militarism)
• [04:18] — Hartung on Eisenhower, greed and ideology
• [08:00] — Silicon Valley’s technocratic hubris/war ambitions
• [12:12] — Demise of Congressional dissent and oversight
• [15:25] — “Job blackmail” and pork barrel politics
• [18:04] — Dysfunctional, costly weapon systems (F-35, ships, Osprey)
• [22:05] — Academia and scientific community co-opted by military
• [25:49] — Gaza and the mechanics of U.S. complicity
• [29:03] — Information war: media, lobbying, and manufactured consent
• [37:02] — Domestic and global costs of militarism, alternatives
• [45:42] — What happens if the war machine remains unchecked?

Closing Reflection

William Hartung and Chris Hedges provide a stark, evidence-driven account of how the military-industrial complex, now fused with Silicon Valley’s techno-utopianism, has hijacked U.S. politics, media, education, and culture to perpetuate endless war and social decay. The root causes are found in a toxic blend of ideology and greed, and the prospects for change, while daunting, rest on acknowledging truths, building coalitions, and reclaiming genuine democratic oversight for the common good.

For more from Chris Hedges and William Hartung, visit:
chrishedges.substack.com