'Keep your seat belts on': Bob Woodward tells 'Morning Joe’ why Trump wants expensive nuke buildup

What is behind President-elect Donald Trump's declaration that he welcomes a global arms race?

Veteran reporter Bob Woodward went on Morning Joe on Tuesday and said that Trump wants to enact a Reagan-like buildup of the U.S. military to deal with Russia and China from a position of strength.

However, he said that this buildup was sure to be both "expensive" and "controversial," as the United States already spends more money on its military than any other country in the world -- and it's not even fighting the Cold War anymore.

"This is years of work to build up the nuclear deterrents that this country has," Woodward explained. "And, I think, you know, if you ask Trump, he would say, yeah, that's Job No. 1. We have got to do that. It's going to be very expensive, going to be very controversial. So, keep our seat belts on, once again."

Woodward did note that Reagan had some success by deploying this strategy against the Soviet Union, as he said it "scared the bejesus" out of them and wound up ending the Cold War.

Watch the whole interview below.