On ABC’s This Week, Sanders reacted to a clip from Harris’s acceptance speech, where she emphatically endorsed Israel’s right to protect itself, and said she will “ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”

“All due respect, the United States is now spending more than the next 10 nations combined on defense,” Sanders said. “I agree with the vice president. We want the strongest defense in the world. But I do think enough is enough. You’re seeing military contractors profits soaring, and I think we can have the strongest defense in the world without spending a trillion dollars a year.”

Sanders is a regular critic of the Pentagon’s ballooning budget, arguing other domestic causes should take priority. In 2020, Sanders proposed cutting the Pentagon’s budget by 10% to give teachers a raise, and in 2023 he opposed the defense budget, which came to $886 billion.

Harris, who Sanders has been in support of since becoming the Democratic nominee following Biden’s dropout, shocked many viewers with how strong her defense rhetoric was in her DNC acceptance speech.