E-Edition
Sign up for email newsletters
Sign up for email newsletters
E-Edition
Trending:
Donald Trump’s Iran war, with shades of Vietnam looming over it, is a disaster in the making, not just for his presidency but for Republican hopes to keep Congress and the White House.
The war with seemingly no endgame has even MAGA loyalists disgruntled, especially at War Secretary Pete Hegseth, who looks like he’s out of his league in leading the Pentagon.
The war and its effects on the economy seem more and more likely to launch a blue sweep in the midterms, meaning Trump will be fighting for his political survival for the final two years of his term. It guarantees a lot more Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss appearances on CNN.
In an interview with the New York Times, defeated Texas Sen. John Cornyn predicted a midterm “disaster” and said it would lead to “the most miserable two years of his (President Trump’s) life.”
With inflation soaring and gas prices still high, Trump is risking power hungry Democrats impeaching him again next year and destroying any chance for JD Vance or Marco Rubio to succeed him in 2028.
The war already has echoes of Vietnam and Iraq, where Presidents Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush got obsessed with stopping communism and looking for weapons of mass destruction – without any success.
The foreign wars took down Johnson and nearly toppled Bush, who landed America in quicksand in Iraq that took the lives of 4,500 U.S. soldiers.
Trump’s Iran war also has no clear mission, even though we know Iran is extremely dangerous and threatens Israel.
The Republican president has not articulated a clear reason why we’re there. Protecting Israel? Oil? Trying to prevent a nuclear catastrophe?
What is it?
What is the winning scenario? To force regime change in Iran? That hasn’t happened. The regime has too strong a grip.
Trump totally miscalculated. He thought we could bomb Iran into submission.
In order to run a war with clear popular support, you have to articulate a strong reason why we’re there and why we should be suffering economically and risking U.S. lives. Trump has failed to do that.
Even on conservative talk radio MAGA loyalists are turning against Trump.
Hegseth also does not instill confidence and it’s apparent he’s way over his head. He went from the set of Fox News to Secretary of War, and is not particularly popular among the MAGA crowd.
The war has also taken a toll on Trump, who at times seems tired and drained of his usual energy, even though he has somehow kept up his public appearances at 79 years old.
And his on again, off again threats against Iran and erratic decision-making have not instilled confidence among the American people.
Copyright 2026 Boston Herald. All rights reserved. The use of any content on this website for the purpose of training artificial intelligence systems, algorithms, machine learning models, text and data mining, or similar use is strictly prohibited without explicit written consent.
