by Elwood Watson
The undefined war the U.S. and Israel are fighting in Iran has reached its third week, with no signs of stopping. Social media continues to be dominated by riveting images of exploding oil tankers and refineries, alarmingly skyrocketing prices, and the remains of an annihilated Iranian elementary school.
Leaders and military experts have provided no cogent or feasible explanation for why we embarked on such risky and futile endeavor, and President Trump’s motives for the attack lacked clarity from the outset. They are no clearer now that he declared the war “very complete.”
Supreme leader Ali Khamenei was assassinated and succeeded by his son, whom President Trump deemed “unacceptable.” Although regime change was the end goal, Trump and his advisors made the curious decision to alter their strategy and revise their plans. What began as a long-haul commitment to reverse the decades-old Islamic Revolution has become a military exercise to neutralize Iran’s military power.
Trump has not yet declared “victory” or stated, “mission accomplished.” He argues he has won, but also that he has many more victories in mind. His egoism has no space for the nation’s physical and economic well-being. His actions have provided a stark demonstration of what one man’s exercise of the armed forces, unrestrained by the rule of law and devoid of any concern for potential economic consequences, can bring about.
That is the significant dilemma of the MAGA movement. Appeasing Trump’s imperialistic psyche is leading to the unraveling of American exceptionalism. In usurping power to himself, the president has weakened the pillars of the nation’s influence throughout the world and jeopardized the safety and stability of our allies.
As of this writing, nearly 2,500 people have been killed, including almost 200 Iranian schoolchildren and several U.S. service members. More than 150 U.S. service members have been physically injured, several severely so. Such statistics are no doubt a sobering precursor to the final total.
The amount of resources being spent on this war — at the moment, roughly $1 billion per day, or $41,666,667 per hour and $11,574 per second — is obscene. Such money and resources would be much better served assisting and augmenting American people’s quality of life.
Millions of Americans need health care, decent and affordable housing, stronger K-12 education, quality childcare, and eldercare for an ever-growing elderly population. Just a fraction of the money that the United States has spent on misguided or ineffective wars would help mitigate many of the nation’s infrastructure issues. Instead, they have spent more than $1 trillion on the Pentagon, and Trump has argued that it needs $500 billion more.
Many people, including yours truly, have been shouting at the top of their lungs at MAGA voters that Trump does not care about them. He cares about only one person, “THE DONALD,” to quote his late ex-wife, Ivana Trump. He is reckless and impulsive. He spouts numerous falsehoods to deflect the overwhelmingly justified criticisms directed at him and is forever shifting the narrative.
Honesty, transparency and credibility are crucial factors in times of war. The public needs to be assured it can trust and verify the information being fed to them by the government.
Attempting to promote war without adequate public support is a futile effort. After decades of ongoing international conflicts, the American people are justifiably weary about nation entering another global conflict. We have been in enough wars with no feasible exit strategy. Remember the end result of Afghanistan after almost 20 years of U.S. involvement? President Trump, who fiercely railed against forever wars during the 2024 presidential campaign, should be astute to this fact.
Fortunately, many Americans are finally waking up. The polls have routinely shown Trump has low approval ratings, including for his handling of the Iranian conflict. Yet a clear majority of Republicans support the war – the diehard, largely MAGA faithful who are laboring under the delusion Trump is concerned for their welfare, despite rising gas and food prices.
It is apparent the president has no feasible exit strategy. He has failed to provide a concrete statement about what victory will require, claiming he will do so when he “feels it in his bones.” It is a ludicrous state of affairs.
Those of us who ascribe to the principles of multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law continue to strenuously resist an administration that represents the antithesis of moral values. Democracy is more than “on the ballot.” It is on life support.
Copyright 2026 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.