Israel and its proxy, the United States, launched a barrage of missiles at Iran Saturday, kicking off a war that, no matter its length, will forever change the Middle East.

The attack is the product of decades of political gamesmanship that has led U.S. politicians to send American troops half the world away to fight and die for a sundry of excuses all while neglecting their obligations at home.

Donald “the peace president” Trump campaigned aggressively in the lead-up to the 2024 election as being America First. He was going to lower prices, correct the immigration excesses of the Biden administration, release the “Epstein files” and start no new wars. How has that worked out?

While you suffer under the maladministration of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristie Noem and the FBI’s Kash Patel and all the rest, Trump has been laser-focused on personal projects like his ballroom and attending to the many visits of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This has worked out well for the prime minister, who knows that while he has the backing of the United States president, he can continue to commit atrocities against Palestinians in defiance of the United Nations and other U.S. allies. 

This weekend’s attack on Iran was preordained after reports indicated that Trump was looking for a “decisive” solution for Iran, while negotiations mediated by third parties, such as Oman, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, were underway the past few weeks.

Negotiations that were staged, ostensibly, to prevent Saturday’s military action revolved around the demand that Iran give up all uranium enrichment, all of its missiles and cut off its proxies, such as the Houthi Rebels in Yemen, were due to continue into next week. 

The Iranians were dealing, as The New York Times has reported, that the foreign minister of Oman, Badr Albusaidi, who was mediating the talks between Iran and the United States, flew to Washington before the attack to say that Tehran had agreed not to stockpile enriched uranium.

It seems that this left Iran caught on the back foot when the bombs started flying. The Times reported that Iranian state media was slow to direct citizens on where to go, and that the air raid sirens did not sound when the attacks began. 

It took Iran over an hour to muster a response, and when they did, it was a small quantity of missiles that were easily swatted by a combination of Israel’s Iron Dome and U.S. anti-aircraft artillery. Though, neighboring countries have not fared as well in days following the initial attack.

But the massive buildup of U.S. resources, the most since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, seemed unnecessary since we were told after last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer that Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities in Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan were destroyed.

In a statement released on Truth Social Saturday, Trump told Iranians to use the opportunity to “take over your government,” and that “this will be probably your only chance for generations.” It seems to be clear that the goal was always regime change, as opposed to an imminent nuclear threat.

Using and encouraging the population of foreign nations has been a staple of Trump’s second term. After placing crippling sanctions on the Iranian people, the country’s already dire economic situation worsened.

When demonstrations started within the mercantile ranks of Tehran, they were immediately buoyed by the reported heir of Iran’s former monarchy, Reza Pahlavi, whose message was amplified by the U.S., which led to border demonstrations and a brutal crackdown from the regime.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration smuggled in Starlink terminals, courtesy of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to broadcast the regime’s crackdown on the protests, which Trump used to restart a maximum pressure campaign that would ultimately culminate in Saturday’s attack. 

If these uprisings sound familiar, there is a reason for that. The Iranian protests would follow an uprising in late 2024 in which rebel forces would suddenly rise and overthrow the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. In the aftermath of that toppling, Israel would quickly move to advance its territory beyond the Golan Heights, which it annexed in 1981, to hold territory in southern Syria’s Quneitra province. Israel would end up using its Air Force to clear anti-aircraft and naval infrastructure, thus clearing the airways from Israel to Iran, since Iraq’s regime was toppled years ago. 

This latest war was not about uranium, missiles or Iran’s proxies. It was always about Netanyahu’s tyrannical drive to turn the Middle East into a Greater Israel. No number of civilian deaths is too many when it comes to these ambitions, as the brutal campaign in the Gaza Strip has shown. 

Speaking of the Palestinians, what will become of them now that the threat of an Iranian response is off the table if they are displaced, or worse?

Besides them, we know who else will pay the price — Americans and our allies who will face increased risk of terrorist attacks as radicals fill the void of another haphazard attempt at regime change. This was the case when Saddam Hussein was toppled, and the Islamic State rose in the void.

In addition to the U.S. and its other allies, Palestinians will almost certainly see an unconscionable increase in brutality, as Israel has already ratcheted up its settlement expansion in the West Bank leading up to the strike, The Washington Post reported.

As if to punctuate the fact that this war is not about the wants or interests of the American people, Trump spent the weekend at Mar-a-Lago as the attacks took place. Instead of briefing the people on live TV, he chose to attend a donor’s dinner there, The Times reports.

This is what it has always been about: Trump’s personal enrichment — his donor’s and his vanity — the gifted jets, monuments and cryptocurrency deals. It is a pay-to-play system with the world’s most powerful military as its enforcer.

Americans need to make their voices heard and state clearly at the ballot box that the United States needs to prioritize its own people. Its political class needs to deliver on its domestic promises and not solely focus on the wants of a tyrant overseas.

May this be the anchor that finally sinks this version of the Republican Party.

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