All these things can be true at once.

The Iranian leadership were/are bad guys. For decades they have slaughtered their own people, sponsored terrorism, threatened Isreal and its Arab neighbors, and killed Americans. The world — and Iranians themselves — would be better off without them. And it goes without saying that it would be a very bad thing, potentially catastrophic, should that regime ever acquire nuclear weapons.

War is never a good thing. It may sometimes be a necessary thing, but even under the most justified of circumstances, it carries horrible costs. This war has already seen American soldiers and Iranian civilians wounded and killed. One need look no further than the accidental bombing of an Iranian girl’s school or the flag-draped coffins of our servicemen and women to see the costs of war. That is why war should be a last resort.

There may be a case for war with Iran. But if so, President Trump has not made it.  Indeed, he has not even tried to make it. Why are we at war? And, why now? President Trump and other administration officials have given us a litany of often contradictory explanations that seem to change daily. Even more narrow questions of objectives seem hard to answer.  Is this war about regime change? Is it about preventing nuclear weapons (and weren’t we told we obliterated the Iranian nuclear program last year)? Is it about destroying Iran’s military strength so that it can’t threaten us or its neighbors? Was there an imminent threat? Was Iran about to attack us? Is it all these things or none?

This entire war has an ad hoc quality about it that is deeply troubling. Our military is performing brilliantly of course. I would expect nothing less. But there certainly seems to have been a lack of long-term strategic planning.  There was no attempt to build support with the American public or with our allies. Indeed, we have so alienated those allies that Trump has been left begging for help from China to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

In many ways, Trump seems like the proverbial dog that caught the car.  What do we do now? Questions like “how many weeks will the war last?” are silly. Imagine someone asking that question at the beginning of World War II. Yet Trump’s statement that the war will end when he “feels it in [his] bones” is even more ridiculous. What are the criteria for “winning” this war and bringing the troops home? Are there any? Of course, at some point President Trump will declare victory (like nobody ever thought possible!). Unfortunately, though, Iran gets a vote, particularly in an age of asymmetrical warfare.  The enemy always gets a vote. 

Trump has now bombed or attacked at least eight countries. He is threatening others. And he is talking casually about “taking” Cuba next. Increasingly Trump is acting the bully and imperial power, stomping about the world, ready to remake it according to his whims. Few will shed tears over most of his targets, but it is not as though Trump seeks to replace the bad guys with peace-loving, democratic, good guys. If that was his intent, Maria Machado would be running Venezuela not Delcy Rodriguez and we would be fully behind Zelenskyy and Ukraine. Rather, his inclination seems to be replacing the bad guys with more pliant bad guys. What seems to matter is not whether a regime respects the rights of its citizens but whether or not it plays by Trump’s rules. For that matter, Trump can’t even get upset that Russia is providing intelligence and targeting information to the Iranians.

There is plenty of room for “what aboutism” when it comes to presidents ignoring Congress (not to mention the Constitution) when it comes to war powers. Even so, the military is not a shiny toy for presidents to play with. The president should seek congressional authorizations for his actions, or Congress should step up and perform its constitutional duties.

Finally, the locker room braggadocio and pseudo-tough bro talk coming from the president and Pete Hegseth is unworthy of a great nation, our military, and the sacrifices being made by the men and women who are fighting this war (not to mention their families). Bombast only makes us look weak and diminishes support for the war at home and abroad.