The maniacal leader of one country starts a war against another, not because he has to, nor because his own country is directly threatened, nor because the other country attacked first, but simply because he wants to, it makes him feel strong, and he's sure it'll be over in a couple of days. Instead, the war drags on forever and ends up destroying the economy of his own country.

Sound familiar? It should. It's Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine. But it's also Donald Trump's war against Iran. Indeed, it's uncanny how closely Trump in Iran is following Putin's playbook in Ukraine, often using the very same language.

OK, to be honest, it's not exactly the same. There are no American troops on the ground in Iran (not yet). The United States is not trying to seize any Iranian territory (not until the Trump crime family builds a new Trump Tower in Tehran). And, so far, Trump's war has only lasted a couple of weeks, not four years. But the similarities between the two wars are striking.

For starters, neither Putin nor Trump call it an act of "war." When Putin launched Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022, he called it a "special military operation," or "S.V.O" - which is what Russians still call it today. Trump follows suit. Although he's occasionally slipped and uttered the "w" word, Trump and his followers know the American public have no stomach for another war in the Middle East. So they twist themselves inside out, trying to come up with non-war words.

Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters "I think it's an operation." Other Republicans in Congress have called it "strategic strikes," "combat operations," or a "military mission." On March 11, Trump himself called it nothing but a "little excursion."

Also out of the same playbook: Both Putin and Trump falsely accused the other country of starting the war. In 2022, Putin said Ukraine had harmed Russia for so many years, he had "no other choice" but to invade. Using almost the same words, in 2026, Trump blamed Iran for decades of "bloodshed and mass murder" and asserted that "we can't take it anymore." Although Ukraine never attacked Russia, and Iran never attacked the United States.

Obviously, Trump didn't learn anything from Putin. Like his BFF Vladimir, Trump started the war in Iran with unclear goals and shifting objectives. At first, Putin insisted his goal was "regime change." Then his goals narrowed to seizing most of eastern Ukraine and keeping Ukraine out of NATO. Similarly, Trump still hasn't provided any straight answer for what his war's all about. Depending on the last reporter he talks to, he shifts from regime change, to eliminating terrorist threats, to destroying Iran's nuclear capacity, to wiping out its missile arsenal. It's impossible for him to win a war, or for the American people to support a war, he can't explain.

Both Putin and Trump also operated on two false assumptions. One, that the other side would quickly collapse. Instead, both Ukraine and Iran have shown surprising resistance. Two, that once they launched their war, citizens would rise up and topple their own government. Putin urged Ukrainian soldiers to "take power into their own hands." Trump called on Iranians to "seize the moment." It didn't happen in Ukraine and hasn't in Iran.

Perhaps most troubling, both Putin and Trump started their wars with no obvious, achievable exit strategy. Which has already led to a long, deadly, costly conflict in Ukraine, with still no end in sight. Without a clear end game, many military experts warn that Iran could turn into a "Ukraine-like quagmire." Trump has no idea how long his war will last. One day, he predicts it'll take months. The next day, he says it's already over.

Meanwhile, of course, civilian casualties mount up. As of early 2026, 15,172 civilian deaths were documented in Ukraine. An estimated 1,800 so far in Iran, including 175 school girls, according to a preliminary Pentagon investigation, killed by a misguided U.S. Tomahawk missile. Which Trump, without any evidence, but solely in his "opinion," blamed on Iran.

One thing for sure. Watching Trump's war in Iran, now we know why he's done nothing to stop the war in Ukraine, which - remember? - he promised to end on day one. Why not? Because he's always had a man-crush on Putin and wanted to be just like him. So now in Iran he's following Putin's war-making tactics to the letter. Vladimir must be so proud.

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

How can you win a war you can't even explain?

America is at war. A full-scale, illegal, unnecessary war against a country that posed no imminent threat to the United States. A war that could have long-range, disastrous consequences in the Middle East. And we are in that war for one reason only: Because Donald Trump decided to start it. This is Trump's war.

In high school, we were taught there's such a thing as a "just war." I still believe that. But this is surely not one of them. If only, before attacking Iran, Donald Trump had considered the history of wars in the Middle East. Not ancient history, but in our own lifetime.

In 1990, when President George H. W. Bush was considering sending American troops to expel the Iraqi Army from Kuwait, he asked Gen. Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for advice. His response should be the test required of every president.

According to the "Powell Doctrine," before any military action is undertaken by the United States, eight questions must be asked - and each answered affirmatively.

Here they are: (1) Is a vital national security interest threatened? (2) Do we have a clear, attainable objective? (3) Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed? (4) Have all other nonviolent policy means been fully exhausted? (5) Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement? (6) Have the consequences of our action been fully considered? (7) Is the action supported by the American people? (8) Do we have genuine broad international support?

Again, under the "Powell Doctrine," the answer to every one of those questions must be "Yes." Under the "Donald Doctrine," the answer to every one of those questions is "No!"

There was no national security interest threatened by Iran. Diplomacy was barely tried, let alone exhausted. The American people don't support this war, not even Trump's MAGA followers, to whom he promised "no new wars." And, worst of all, Trump not only has no "exit strategy," he can't explain why he started this war in the first place.

We've heard nothing but an embarrassing string of what the media calls Trump's "evolving explanations" or "rolling rationales" for the war in Iran. The answer to "Why did you start this war, Mr. President?" seems to be whatever first pops into Trump's head.

First, Trump said it was because Iran posed an "imminent threat" to the United States in the form of long-range missiles capable of reaching the United States. Yet last year, Trump's Defense Intelligence Agency said Iran's capacity to develop a "militarily-viable" intercontinental missile was still 10 years away. Next, he said we needed "regime change," which didn't sit well with his MAGA base after having told them "regime change is a proven, absolute failure."

Then, Trump claimed Iran was within weeks of developing a nuclear bomb. Which also fell flat because, for the last nine months, Trump's been bragging that his June 2025 bombing of Iran had "obliterated" their nuclear capacity. He was either lying then, or he's lying now.

He also accused Iran of "walking away" from negotiations in Geneva, until the Foreign Minister of Oman, who was hosting the talks, said Iran had agreed to most terms and it was the United States who walked away, not the Iranians. Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to blame it on Israel, saying they forced our hand by planning on bombing Iran first. Then, without any evidence, Trump said Iran was about to bomb us, so we had to bomb them.

How long will the war last? Again, that depends on the last reporter Trump talked to. It could be a week, two weeks, four or five months, or forever.

From all of this it's made clear: Donald Trump doesn't know what the hell he's doing. He started this war only because he could, and it makes him feel strong.

Hopefully, Trump's war will be over soon and lead to no wider war, no serious economic consequences, and no more Americans killed. Then, in November, will come the final reckoning: the midterm elections, a referendum on the first half of Trump's second term.

In 2024, Trump called himself the "peace candidate" and promised "I will not start another war." Yet in the last year, he's bombed seven countries, kidnapped one foreign leader, assassinated another and started the war in Iran. November's time for the American people, including Trump's MAGA followers, to stand up and say: This is not what we voted for.

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.   

At the risk of showing my age, I confess that, as a political talking head, I've watched and commented on every State of the Union address since 1980. Donald Trump's sick imitation of a State of the Union was, by far, the worst.

For any president, a State of the Union is a unique opportunity to make his case to the Congress and the country in a prime-time speech that networks are forced to cover.

For Donald Trump the timing of this year's SOTU was especially important because it came at a time when, after a hard-charging first year, his administration was losing its focus, his tariffs had been shot down by the Supreme Court, his aggressive anti-immigration raids had been blocked by lower courts, his polls were hitting rock bottom, and many Republicans were openly complaining that he was hurting, not helping, their prospects in the midterms.

This was his chance to reset the agenda, rally the troops and unite the country moving forward. Instead, Trump did just the opposite. He didn't seize the moment, he blew it - with a boring, blowhard, aimless, hate-filled display of self-puffery that resembled the cheesy TV "Gong Show," where you never knew what surprise guest might pop out from behind the curtains next, be handed a prize and summarily dismissed.

Donald Trump's State of the Union was an insult to the American people and a disgrace on the office of president.

For starters, it was too long. Studies show that the average adult audience attention span is 8 to 10 minutes. Donald Trump clocked out at 1 hour and 47 minutes, the longest State of the Union ever. He's channeling Fidel Castro. Nobody wants to sit through a speech that long, certainly not from a politician, and especially not from a politician who's a proven, pathological liar.

As is true of any Trump speech, this one was packed, from beginning to end, with what CNN described as a "cascade of falsehoods." He bragged about ending eight wars. In fact, he hasn't ended one - certainly not the war in Ukraine, which he promised to end on "Day One." He repeated, with no evidence, his claim of "massive fraud" in the 2020 election, which has been investigated and proven false many times. Out of 49.5 million voter registrations checked by Trump's own Department of Homeland Security, only 10,000 cases - roughly 0.02%- were referred for additional investigation.

Every time his lips moved, another lie. He claimed to have attracted $18 trillion in new investments. But the White House website cites only $9.7 trillion, most of which are "promised" investments that may never be delivered. He bragged about "more people working today than ever before in the history of our country." Which is true, but only because there are more Americans today than ever before. President Joe Biden could make the same claim for every year he was president.

It was on the economy, where polls show Trump's in most trouble, that he told the most lies. He simply dismissed the question of "affordability." It's no problem anymore, he insisted, because he's fixed it with lower prices for everything from eggs to prescription drugs. False! Try telling that to people trying to buy their first home or simply trying to feed their family. Overall, according to Trump's own Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for all groceries are 2.9% higher than in February 2025, and they're still going up.

Trump even asserted that the partial government shutdown prevented cities from responding to last week's blizzard, when the Department of Homeland Security has nothing to do with plowing streets.

And, of course, he wallowed in his old signature issue, stirring up fears of "illegal aliens" and bragging about mass deportation of murderers, rapists, drug dealers and violent criminals. False! A New York Times report found that only 7% of immigrants arrested last year had any record of violence. Thirty-seven percent were guilty of nothing more than a traffic violation. Trump's the same outright racist he was when he came down the golden elevator in June 2015.

Here's the best take on this year's State of the Union. As some enterprising reporter at CQ Roll Call figured out, it was almost exactly the same length as Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 horror film "Psycho." The same length and, in a sense, the same movie: the freaky story of confronting an out-of-control nut case.

Donald Trump's State of the Union was "Psycho" without the shower scene.
(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.