OPINION: Hey Trump, War Won’t Save You From Your Own Disaster

June 18, 2025

By Brian Hews

Here we go again.

When the poll numbers plummet, the indictments pile up, and the promises prove hollow, what does a desperate, cornered, wannabe strongman like Donald Trump do? He beats the war drums—this time, pointing them straight at Iran.

It’s the oldest trick in the authoritarian playbook: when things are falling apart at home, manufacture a crisis abroad. Distract the public. Drown out the headlines about job losses, deportation raids, inflation spikes, and the real-world consequences of idiotic tariff tantrums. Create a big, shiny explosion overseas and pray voters forget about the dumpster fire burning stateside.

Let’s be clear: Trump’s presidency has been a spectacular failure. He said he would end the Ukraine war day on. He pledged to balance the budget—then blew a trillion-dollar hole in it with his proposed tax cuts for billionaires. He claimed to be a peace broker but spent his first months cozying up to dictators while trash-tweeting world leaders like a drunk uncle with Wi-Fi.

Now, with his approval in freefall and even MAGA die-hards feeling the sting of his economic blunders, Trump wants to remind America that he’s still “tough.” So he’s tossing matches at a powder keg in the Middle East, hoping to light up enough headlines to scare voters into thinking he’s a wartime president again. Spoiler alert: it won’t work this time.

This is not leadership—it’s cowardice masquerading as strength. It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, and it’s textbook Trump: always thinking of himself first, no matter how many lives or international treaties he has to sacrifice to stay in the spotlight.

We’ve seen this movie before. Bush did it in Iraq. Reagan played footsie with Iran in the ‘80s. And now Trump—who spent his presidency dodging military service, mocking POWs and Gold-Star families, and defunding the VA—is suddenly a tough guy ready to go toe-to-toe with Tehran? Please. This is a man who ran from a bald eagle.

Let’s not fall for it.

Iran is not a campaign prop. American troops are not your political human shields. And war is not a PR strategy, Mr. Trump.

No amount of flag waving, chest thumping, or saber rattling can distract from the truth: your record is a flaming wreck. And the American people are getting tired of watching you swerve from scandal to scandal while pretending to care about anyone but yourself.

A real leader owns his failures. A coward starts a war.

Contact Brian Hews at [email protected] or follow @cerritosnews.bsky.social