Alan Zendell, April 2, 2026

Forty days after starting a war with Iran, Donald Trump finally got around to addressing the people who elected him on a platform that included no more endless wars, although the fallout from this one will be felt for years. Trump ordered our matchless military to attack Iran without consulting either Congress or our allies. Considering that the number of targets attacked, (obliterated according to Trump,) is approaching 15,000, this war was never going to be a quick foray like kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

This war is about Trump’s boundless ego and his belief that he understands war and diplomacy better than anyone else. Remember how many times he referred to his generals as stupid? Surrounded by yes-people and sycophants, his administration has run completely out of control because no one tells the truth to a president who punishes people who tell him what he doesn’t want to hear. Led by the nose by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who would ruthlessly destroy every Arab neighbor if he could, Trump allowed himself to be convinced that he really is the all-powerful dictator of policy for the western world.

The war with Iran is as much a result of Trump’s domestic reign of terror as anything else. Look at who is setting American policy goals: Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, Pete Hegseth, Scott Bessent, and J. D. Vance, all of whom march in lockstep with Donald Trump’s quest to create a Fascist oligarchy to replace our constitutional republic. Trump always imagined he was someone who could set the world on fire; now he’s doing it.

Reality check: we’re not safer than we were when Trump started this war, declaring that Iran was an imminent nuclear threat to the United States, a claim that has been debunked by both military and national security experts willing to speak out and risk their careers. Political analyst Van Jones said it perfectly after Trump’s speech, last night. He noted that Trump’s contradictory ramblings since the war began seemed to have focused on three objectives: getting rid of the regime that murdered thousands of its own people and is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, preventing Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon, and assuring free passage of international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

In addressing those concerns, Lindsey Graham called Trump’s speech a compellng explanation for the need for the war, and Ted Cruz said it made him feel safer. Mark Warner stated the obvious, that the speech had not provided evidence that Trump gave any thought to what happens after the bombing stops. Jones called last night’s speech a disaster. He said all Trump accomplished was replacing an old, murderous Ayatollah with a younger, worse one, and the revolutionary guard, which rules Iran with an iron fist is still in control. With respect to Trump’s claim that since we know where Iran’s refined uranium is buried, deep underground at Istafan, there’s no need to remove it because we can watch with spy satellites and hit them hard if they make a move to retrieve it, Jones said that is exactly what we were doing before the war. The war has left Iran’s stash of enriched uranium intact, which was what Trump claimed at the outset, was what convinced him to attack.

About opening the Strait of Hormuz, did Trump start this war ignorant of the near certainty that Iran would retaliate by attacking the small gulf states considered U. S. allies and threatening shipping in the Persian Gulf? Or was he fully aware of the threat, knowing that our European allies would suffer most from energy shortages, not to mention friendly countries like Japan and the Philippines who reported they will run out of oil in less than a month if the Strait isn’t reopened?

After putting Europe in that position, Trump tried to goad them into sending ships to reopen the Strait, and when they refused to get involved in his war, he abused all of our allies in worldwide media. Yesterday, he threatened to use Europe’s lack of support for a war about which they were never consulted as an excuse to quit NATO, the alliance that has kept the world safe for eighty years.

Trump cannot control when this war ends. He can only control when our military stops bombing Iran. But the fanatical Shia clerics who control Iran have long memories. The war will end only when they’ve exacted revenge at times and places of their choosing, and that does not address the always present risk of the war expanding into a nuclear conflict. Donald Trump has not made anyone safer by following Benjamin Netanyahu into battle without an exit plan. If he tries to extract himself from the mess he created, he will leave us with a legacy of terrorism and uncertainty that will never stop.

When you poke a beast like Iran in the eye, you’d better make sure it’s dead before you walk away, especially when all the friends you’ve alienated stop watching your back. This war has shown, as much as anything, that most world leaders detest Trump. They fear him, not as an adversary, but as a rabid animal running wild.