We should only use our military if we get something in return for doing so. Make these other countries pay for their own defense, instead of social programs, and pull our troops out of Europe and other places around the world.
My god, that’s really shallow. Please tell me you are millennial.
Yeah... but you're looking at that the wrong way. That's not really a testable proposition, but the result of the Trumpian influence campaign. Look at it as a test case of that campaign's success from a PR standpoint.
What you get is two things that sank in:
1. Other countries are sucking the U.S. dry. That way the ridiculously high American spending on the Military-Industrial-Complex is no longer a decision the empire made in order to maintain its dominance, it's these other country's fault.
2. The Trumpletons know somewhere in their nebulous minds that they are being scammed by their federal government: The costs of maintaining an empire is preventing a decent social safety net for ordinary Americans. They do not, however, blame the federal government for that, they blame (who else?) these other governments that are actually maintaining these oh-so generous "social programs" - about which they know next to nothing. So, they can't have a safety net because of the social programs of other states.
There may be a third, in the form of a purposely created misunderstanding: U.S. troops in Europe have very little to do with defending Europe. They are paid-by-Europeans, unsinkable U.S. aircraft carriers, maintained to project force all over the globe, and into the Middle East in particular. So, Europeans (Japan etc.) contribute their territory to the American imperial quest, while Trump and the Trumpletons whine about "fighting their wars for them".
All in all, Trump is creating yet another scapegoat - other than immigrants, Muslims, the swamp, the establishment, democrats - in order to deflect the anger his maladministration would otherwise certainly stir up.
Makes sense now?