Source: The New Republic
by Nancy Okail
“Earlier this year, in an unexpected divergence from the long-prevailing foreign policy rhetoric of presidents from both parties, Donald Trump gave a speech in Riyadh criticizing interventionists, neoconservatives, and America’s habit of bombing Middle Eastern countries. … Many were intrigued by Trump’s acknowledgment of past U.S. failures in the region and the historical disregard for those nations’ agency. But five weeks later, he authorized U.S. airstrikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran, and a day later endorsed ‘regime change’ to ‘Make Iran Great Again.’ The bombings may have surprised many, but it was hardly unprecedented. It followed a pattern that every U.S. president this century has, at some point, contributed to: launching military action without oversight, or based on false, manipulated, or selective intelligence—and facing no real consequences for doing so.” (07/04/25)