Letter to the editor: Peace president starts war

First published in the Brunswick Beacon, 03.26.26

Trump ran as the “Peace President.” He called the Iraq War “a big, fat mistake” and said it would have been “wonderful” if Bush had been impeached for it. He claimed Obama would “start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate.” But it was Trump, not Obama, who sabotaged ongoing negotiations by attacking Iran in coordination with Israel. What caused Trump’s 180?

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned Trump around. Graham told the Wall Street Journal that he has been lobbying Trump since the 2024 election, urging him to “make history” by toppling the Iranian regime. Graham said he met Netanyahu in Israel and “coached” him on how to persuade Trump.

Netanyahu has long expressed confidence in his influence over U.S. policy. In 2001, he said, “America is a thing you can move very easily.” Netanyahu’s confidence may have been vindicated in 2026.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump bombed Iran because Israel was determined to strike: “We knew there was going to be an Israeli action that would precipitate an attack against American forces. If we didn’t preemptively go after Iran before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene called Trump’s war “a 100% betrayal of what MAGA was supposed to be when we voted in 2024. It’s turned into some perverted, deranged version of MAGA that nobody wants.”

Trump appointee Joe Kent resigned as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, saying, “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel.”

Every Democratic senator opposed Kent’s nomination, citing his anti-Israel record. But Graham and Rubio have no such record, and their statements also suggest that Netanyahu’s influence pushed Trump into yet another “big, fat mistake” in the Middle East.

Was MAGA betrayed because Trump got played?

Linda McConnell Baker

Leland