SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Donald Trump has shaken up many aspects of American politics in the weeks since his election.

Some of these shake-ups have left people concerned about the future, while the jury is still out on other actions by the president-elect.

But if there is one thing Trump has done well, it’s calling out the price tag of previously sacrosanct military spending programs.

Trump’s blunt critique of costs for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the planned next generation Boeing 747 that will serve as Air Force One. Trump is also promising to restrict the ability of government buyers who make the deals with private defense contractors from working for those firms upon retiring from government.

The point is not whether Trump is exactly right in his critiques of inflated program costs – he’s close enough, and he’s tapping into something very important: the idea that the president should act as a steward of the public’s money.

Trump is showing a willingness to strongly question how public money is spent, and he’s forcing Boeing and Lockheed to defend how they run their programs.

The people haven’t had a president with the willingness to put military spending on the front burner of criticism in a long time. Trump should keep this up.

Of course, Trump’s scrutiny isn’t about the military itself. We all strongly support our service men and women. But supporting the military doesn’t mean writing blank checks to defense contractors.

The people elected Donald Trump to shake things up in Washington D.C., and his criticism of the Boeing and Lockheed programs show he’s off to a strong start.