“Representative Marlin Stutzman, Republican of Indiana, argued [against Trump critics] that Mr. Trump’s attack on Iran would head off a worse threat down the road and pave the way for a new Middle East that would be friendlier to the United States. ‘To those who say, “Well, President Trump said he wasn’t going to take us into any wars,” he’s keeping us out of wars in the long run,’ he said on CNN.”
The paragraph of course echoes what American leaders have been saying for many years: Iran is a terrible threat to Americans and the world. It is not. Iran, except for recent tit-for-tat attacks with Israel, has never attacked a neighbor in the modern period. Its leadership has been judged by US and Israeli intelligence as being “rational actors.” Furthermore, while Iran does enrich uranium at high levels, there is no reported evidence that they are developing a nuclear weapon.
The representative from Indiana then says, ‘“To those who say, ‘Well, President Trump said he wasn’t going to take us into any wars,’ he’s keeping us out of wars in the long run.” In other words: war is peace.
Anyone who has read George Orwell’s novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four, will be familiar with the phrase. Orwell was exposing a contradictory way of messaging employed by political leaders. Representative Stutzman just used it presumably with a straight face.
It is common for US presidents to acquire a taste for deploying military power. Obama racked up a body count with his drone program. Biden conducted attacks in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Bush II oversaw one of the worst atrocities of the twenty-first century. It goes on and on.
Americans and Israelis share much in common. One of the things they share is they welcome violent men to run their countries.
This violence did not have to happen. It is a war of choice. The current occupant of the White House has acquired the taste. His supporters will defend anything he does; and they will say things like “war is peace.”
Seeing as though his approval rating is down in the upper-30s, it might be nice for the majority to make itself heard in November’s midterm elections.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/us/politics/trump-peace-president-war.html
