There is a certain thrill in seeing America’s military firepower at work. Americans should celebrate the effectiveness with which U.S. pilots safely ejected from their crippled fighter jets that were accidentally shot down by the Kuwaiti air defenses as the attacks on Iran continued over the weekend. The Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from U.S. ships in the Arabian, Red, and Mediterranean Sea wiggle around right as they are launched, but soon focus on a precise path to a specific target hundreds and hundreds of miles away is an image to behold. At times, the horror of war is shrouded by the marvel of our modern military.
The first visual sights of Operation Epic Fury were the cruise missiles that were fired at targets in Iran - in one of the targets was Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei - who was at the fatal end of a missiles’ mission. Iranians - in Iran and around the world - celebrated the death of Khamenei - who has ruled with a malicious hold on the people of Iran.
Recent protests against the ruling Shia government failed to overthrow the government and it is reported that thousands - many tens of thousands - of protesters were killed by the government. This is one of the reasons President Trump said he felt the need to act against Iran now.
And that is the big question - why now? Supporters of the president are promoting what the president is saying about Iran. The terrorist nation was rebuilding their nuclear facilities with the intent of having nukes and missiles with the ability to touch the U.S. mainland with nukes.
At times when our country is at war with another country - we should put politics aside and support the President of the United States. But under the current political climate in America that is much easier said than done.
Skeptics are quick to consider that the attack on Iran is the ultimate distraction from The Epstein Files, which contained the president’s name numerous times, as well as, the number of times he was on Epstein’s jet. The release of the files has also been delayed and is still defying a court order by not being fully released. Suspiciously, 53 pages are missing with a sequence of pages suggesting that those pages include damaging information about Donald Trump’s link to Jeffrey Epstein, who was known to have provided underage girls for the sexual pleasure of rich, older men.
But putting the salacious thoughts aside, the president and the administration are promoting the attack on Iran as a necessary evil to protect the safety of Americans and there is cause to accept that reason. Regime change also appears to be a primary goal of the war with Iran, but military experts point out that regime change cannot be accomplished with bombs and missiles. Boots on the ground would be required to manifest a full regime change and I do not believe Americans have much of an appetite for body bags and a continuing death toll to change a regime that did not appear to be an imminent threat to the American people. As of the writing of this blog, 6 Americans have been killed and the number of deaths is expected to rise as the campaign continues.
The challenge for President Trump is to prove that the attack on Iran is not part of a plan to designate him a “wartime president.” Operation Epic Fury started at a time when the president’s approval rating was at about 36% - the lowest since Harry Truman. It also happened at a time when Democrats appeared to be making gains in elections across the country as the midterms elections of 2026 approach. The stakes are high because President Trump will meet great resistance if he loses the support of Congress - something many Republicans are publicly fearing.
Since the idea that the more secular Iranians will take to the streets and attempt to overthrow the Iranian government is a long shot - the end game of the attack on Iran is difficult to imagine at this point.
But they know things we don’t know and we are left to trust an administration that has not always been trustworthy. Let’s hope that the reason for the timing of the attack on Iran has nothing to do with the Epstein Files, the president’s falling approval rating, the upcoming midterm elections, and the president’s own ego that continue to give us the feeling that he is the one being talked about in the Tears For Fears song, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.”
As an American - I shall remain hopeful and optimistic.