Commentators who have spent more than a decade trying to understand the secret behind Donald Trump’s grip on American life often point to the Iraq War as the moment when public trust in the Washington establishment completely collapsed — leading tens of millions of voters to decide to smash the system.
Trump, who has sharp political instincts, rode that wave. As early as 2016, in the campaign that ultimately carried him to the presidency, he presented himself as the leader under whom “there will be no endless wars, and no new wars.” That narrative took hold and proved effective again in 2024. “Kamala Harris will start World War III,” Trump warned, once more pledging to “pull back” the United States from the world, both diplomatically and militarily.
Trump announces attack on Iran
(Video: Truth Social)
A little over a year into his second term, Trump has completely forgotten those promises — if he ever truly believed them himself. In 2025, while claiming that he had “ended eight wars” and applying heavy pressure to secure a Nobel Peace Prize, the United States has launched strikes in seven countries. With each attack, his military appetite has only grown — and surrounded by advisers and confidants who are even more extreme than he is, he hears no dissenting voices.
Last summer, following the previous strike in Iran, Trump claimed that “the Iranian nuclear program was eliminated.” When American journalists reported that this was not in fact the case, they received direct threats from the White House. Now, eight months later, the American president has launched a war without obtaining the required congressional authorization, as mandated by the Constitution — and without explaining to the American public, or to the world, why he is doing so. Trump released a recorded video in the middle of the night, said that Iran posed “immediate threats” — and that was it.
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US PResidnet Donald Trump boasted that he stopped 8 wars, and then he started one
(Photo: Truth Social)
In 2012, when he was still an insignificant Twitter user, Trump wrote that “now that Obama’s poll numbers are falling, watch him start a war with Iran. He’s desperate.” That tweet suddenly feels very relevant.
Despite what he says publicly, Trump knows his political standing is not strong. The economy is faltering, the Epstein files scandal is not going away, and the midterm elections are approaching — and could become a Democratic tsunami. Trump has decided that a war with Iran — if it ends with regime change — could completely transform the picture. And having learned over the past year that he can truly do as he pleases, he has no problem ignoring American and international law.
A large majority of Americans oppose this war. If it becomes entangled — and certainly if there are American casualties — fingers will be pointed directly at Israel, and American Jews will be the ones forced to deal with the immediate fallout. In the long term, a new Gallup poll showing that, for the first time ever, more Americans sympathize with Palestinians than with Israel may be only the beginning.