Here's How Much You Spent On Trump's War So Far

Trump launched a war to distract from Epstein — and it’s burning through your tax dollars faster than you can count them. Meanwhile, Republicans are closing your hospitals.

Hey Raw America family. I’m grabbing a late lunch here, and I just have to say: here we go again.

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Now let’s get into it. Because I’ve seen this movie before.

I started Raw Story right as the Iraq war machine cranked into high gear. I watched the Bush administration burn through trillions of dollars on a war launched on lies. I watched the media cheerlead us into it, while defense contractors popped champagne.

Twenty-two years later, it’s happening again. But this time Raw America is here to make sure you see every last receipt.

Your Money, Their War

On Saturday, the United States launched Operation Epic Fury, a massive air, sea, and missile assault on Iran. Five days in, here’s a taste of what your tax dollars have bought.

Roughly 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles, at $1.4 million each. That’s over half a billion dollars just in cruise missiles, fired from the decks of Navy destroyers. At the Navy’s current production rate, it’ll take five years to replace what we blew through in a single weekend.

Patriot missiles: $4 million each. THAAD interceptors? Nearly $13 million. Per missile. And we’ve been burning through them around the clock trying to shoot down everything Iran is throwing at us.

Billion-dollar B-2 stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop guided bombs. F-22s. F-35s. Reaper drones firing Hellfire missiles. The Pentagon even debuted brand-new kamikaze drones and a new stealth Tomahawk variant.

At least the defense contractors had a good product launch.

So what’s the total price tag? The Penn Wharton Budget Model, one of the most respected fiscal analysis operations in Washington, puts the likely direct cost to taxpayers at around $65 billion. When you factor in the broader economic damage from oil spikes, supply chain disruptions, and trade losses, the total could reach $210 billion.

$210 billion up in flames. Since Saturday.

And it isn’t just Trump’s attempt to distract from Epstein that’s costing you money. Three U.S. F-15 fighter jets were also shot out of the sky over Kuwait. Not by Iran. By Kuwait. Our own ally’s air defenses blew our jets to pieces in a friendly fire disaster. All six aircrew ejected safely, but the jets are gone. $351 million burning in the Kuwaiti desert.

A retired Air Force veteran who planned F-15 flights for a living didn’t mince words. He called it “operational incompetence,” the result of rushing to war without adequate coordination with allies.

This is what happens when you launch a war from Mar-a-Lago on Saturday after a donor soiree. When your Defense Secretary is a former Fox News host.

Pete Hegseth’s response to reports that more than 100 girls were killed in an errant strike was, “No stupid rules of engagement. War is hell.”

And remember, Trump’s own Pentagon assessed that Iran posed no immediate threat. This war was a choice.

Now Let’s Talk About What Republicans Won’t Pay For

While the Pentagon is lighting tens of billions on fire in Iran, here’s what’s happening at home, courtesy of the same Republican Congress that authorized this spending.

Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” slashed a trillion dollars from Medicaid. The largest cut to the program in its history. Ten million Americans are projected to lose their health insurance. Rural hospitals that serve Republican voters are already shutting down.

More than 300 rural hospitals are at “immediate risk” of closure. In Georgia, a hospital just closed its maternity ward. In New Hampshire, a community health center shuttered. In Iowa, a hospital system laid off dozens and closed a clinic.

Summer food programs for hungry kids? Gone. SNAP benefits? Frozen.

Here’s one way to think about it: the Center for American Progress points out that a single Tomahawk missile could cover 775 children on Medicaid for a year, or provide more than 3,600 children with meals in the National School Lunch Program. The $5 billion-plus already spent on this war could fund SNAP benefits for more than 2 million Americans for a year.

They’ll spend $351 million on fighter jets shot down by our own allies but won’t pay for a kid’s lunch.

They’ll fire off over half a billion in cruise missiles in a weekend but can’t keep a maternity ward open in rural Georgia.

For these people, bombing a country that their own Pentagon says poses no immediate threat is more urgent than healthcare for their own voters. Killing Iranian schoolgirls is a higher priority than feeding American schoolchildren.

This isn’t just hypocrisy. It’s cruelty dressed up as patriotism.

Kristi Noem’s $300 million flying palaces

Speaking of cruelty and waste: on Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since her agents executed two Americans in Minneapolis. Protesters erupted in the hearing room. A former FEMA employee stood up and shouted, “Kristi Noem, you should be ashamed of yourself! You have disgraced our agency!” She was dragged from the room.

Our new Raw America reporter was on Capitol Hill, filming it all, including protesters confronting and rebuking Noem.

Raw America also revealed this week that Noem has spent roughly $300 million of your money on private luxury jets. DHS, which owned zero private jets before Noem, now has two Gulfstreams. It’s also trying to buy a Boeing 737 that features a queen bed, showers, a kitchen, and a bar. DHS officials have nicknamed it “the Big Beautiful Jet.”

The money came from border security funds.

Kristi Noem gets a flying palace. Rural hospitals get the door.

Jeffrey Epstein Calling

On the same day the war dominated every headline, the House Oversight Committee quietly released video of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s Epstein depositions — roughly nine hours of testimony recorded last week. Both denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

Bill Clinton recalled a conversation with Trump about Epstein on a golf course decades ago, in which Trump said he and Epstein had “some great times together.” Democrats have pushed for Trump to testify next. NPR reported last week that at least 50 pages of Epstein files related to Trump are missing from the public record.

If you wanted to bury a nine-hour Epstein testimony dump, launching a war would be one way to do it.

Thank You Again

I started Raw Story because the mainstream media was failing us during the Iraq war. Our reporters exposed stories the big outlets wouldn’t touch. We published the facts the powerful didn’t want you to see.

Now, with Raw America, we’re doing it again. We just hired a reporter on Capitol Hill. We’re tracking every dollar, every missile, every lie.

Raw America doesn’t take ads from defense contractors. We’re not pro-war because it brings in more viewers. We don’t have a billionaire owner who cashes in when Lockheed’s stock goes up.

We’re funded by readers like you. That’s not a slogan. It’s our business model. And it’s the only business model that lets us tell you the truth about a $65 billion war that only one in four Americans supports.

Thank you for being a part of this movement. It’s growing bigger every day, because of you.

If there’s someone you think needs to hear this truth, please share this newsletter far and wide.

No billionaires. No ads. No defense contractor sponsors. Just the truth.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Sunday.

— John Byrne

Founder, Raw America and Raw Story