Trump’s war is over. Iran won

It's hard to believe anybody could spend $113 billion and get nothing for it. Donald Trump just did. But, of course, it wasn't his money. It was yours and mine.

Trump's war in Iran is probably the most expensive, ill-conceived, mismanaged, and least effective war in history. If, in fact, the war is over (and who really knows?), the results are stunning. Iran's brutal regime is still in power. Iran still has most of its missile and drone stockpile. And Iran still has its nuclear capacity.

In Trump's "memorandum of understanding" (MOU), Iran only agreed abandoning efforts to enrich uranium and thereby build a nuclear weapon would be "adequately addressed" in future talks. Even though - and here's the key point - they had already agreed to abandon their nuclear weapons program in a deal negotiated with President Obama in 2015 - an agreement canceled by Donald Trump in May 2018, for no apparent reason.

Bottom line. After 109 days of war, as of June 17, Iran is stronger and the United States is weaker. They won, we lost. Thank you, Donald.

Actually, the total cost of the war will be much higher than the Pentagon's estimated $113.3 billion. According to Harvard public finance expert Linda Bilmes, once you factor in additional expenses of winding down the war, repairing damaged military bases and restocking munitions, the total direct military cost will be more than $1 trillion. Not to mention an estimated $1.3 trillion cost to the global economy because of disruption of oil flow. Nor the human cost of 15 American troops killed, 538 wounded and more than 1,700 civilian Iranian deaths.

The Iran War has been a disaster from day one. It's something Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu had been begging American presidents to do for decades. He finally found one president dumb enough to do so. Even though he promised in his 2024 victory speech "I am not going to start a war," Trump launched war against Iran without consulting Congress or our allies, and without explaining to the American people why we were going to war, what we hoped to achieve, how long it would last or how we would get out of it.

If only Trump had taken time to do a little homework. Because of his support for the war in Iraq, I'm no fan of Secretary of State Colin Powell, but give him credit for this. After America's disastrous involvement in Vietnam, Powell laid down rules for any future military action in what became known as the "Powell Doctrine."

Before making a decision to go to war, Powell said, any president had to ask eight questions: Is a vital national security interest threatened? Do we have a clear attainable objective? Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed? Have all other nonviolent policy means been fully exhausted? Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement? Have the consequences of our action been fully considered? Is the action supported by the American people? And do we have genuine broad international support?

Military action was only justified, Powell asserted, if every one of those questions was asked - and answered in the affirmative. He also stressed that when America went to war, decisive force should be used in order to end the conflict quickly by forcing the enemy to capitulate.

Donald Trump did none of the above. The result is what Republican Senator Bill Cassidy acidly described as a "tremendous foreign policy blunder." Indeed, it's hard to see the MOU signed by Trump as anything but a gift to Iran's repressive religious regime. All sanctions against Iran are lifted. The U.S. will free some $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets. On top of that, Iran will be awarded a $300 billion reconstruction fund. And Iran will get control over the Strait of Hormuz, which it never had before. According to the agreement, Iran promises to charge no fees for ships entering or leaving the Strait, but only for 60 days - after which anything goes.

And what did Americans get out of Trump's war? Higher gas prices, higher grocery prices and higher airline fares, estimated at $2,000 for every American household.

Trump bristles at those who note, correctly, that Obama's initial deal was better than the one he signed after his silly war. "They said he's a stupid son of a bitch," Trump fumed. But after reviewing the terms of Trump's MOU with Iran, it's clear who the "stupid son of a bitch" is. And it's not Obama.
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It was a Texas-size blowout. In the Texas Republican runoff on May 26, scandal-plagued, Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton crushed longtime Republican incumbent John Cornyn, 63.8 to 36.2. Thank you, Donald Trump.

For anybody who doesn't worship Donald Trump - meaning the vast majority of Americans - it's been a long time since we've had any good political news. So, how sweet it is to see a Democrat's dream come true. As every poll showed, Democratic candidate James Talarico had a better shot at beating Paxton than Cornyn. Paxton's victory in the runoff increases Talarico's odds of winning in November from a possibility to a likelihood.

Talarico himself could not have picked a better opponent. He's young, articulate, a highly-respected state legislator with nary a scandal in his life, and a Presbyterian seminarian who knows Scripture and can talk Jesus better than any phony MAGA preacher.

Paxton's just the opposite. He was indicted for massive financial fraud and faced 99 years in prison until he agreed to a plea deal. He was caught on camera stealing a $1,000 Montblanc pen at the county courthouse. He was impeached by members of his own party. And his wife sued for divorce because of serial adultery or, as she colorfully put it, "on biblical grounds."

Financial fraud? Theft? Lying? Impeachment? Adultery? Sound familiar? Now you know why Trump endorsed him. Because Paxton's just like him. Paxton is Texas Trump!

Indeed, Talarico won't have to spend money making his own ads against Paxton. He can just borrow earlier ads posted by the National Republican Senate Campaign Committee, like this one: "A lot of people who trust Ken Paxton get lied to, so it isn't shocking to learn he is also cheating on his taxes and personal finances. Ken Paxton's betrayals of the public trust just keep coming." Or this one: "What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting."

Talarico could also replay a Cornyn TV commercial mocking Paxton's use of the alias "Dave P" to arrange trysts with his mistresses. An AI-generated video shows Paxton driving by a highway sign reading "15 miles to Ken's Love Shack," as the announcer says: "On May 26th, Texans will order 'Dave P' a one-way ride to his 'Love Shack' - far away from the nation's capital."

At the same time, no matter how badly Trump treated him, don't shed any tears for John Cornyn. For 10 years, even though he knew better, Cornyn was one of Trump's most fawning supporters. Lacking the guts to oppose him publicly, Cornyn just played along, believing he could trust Trump to reward his puppy-dog loyalty.

The worst was on Jan. 6, 2021, when - after Trump-inspired rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, attacked police officers and sent members of Congress, including Cornyn, running for their lives, the cowardly Cornyn voted with Mitch McConnell not to convict Trump and thereby get rid of him once and for all.

In the end, Cornyn became so desperate to get Trump's endorsement he released a video of himself reading Trump's book "Art of the Deal" and introduced legislation to rename several Texas highways after Trump. How pathetic. So how did Trump reward Cornyn for sucking up to him for 10 years? He stabbed him in the back. Cornyn got just what he deserved.

Now here's the good news. Thanks again to Donald Trump, Texas is in play. The outcome of this race could well determine control of the U.S. Senate. Though let's not kid ourselves. It's an uphill battle. Texas is still a red state. Texas hasn't elected a Democratic senator since Lloyd Bentsen won in 1988. And Paxton can count on Trump's MAGA base.

But MAGA alone won't elect Paxton. Only 1.3 million voted in the Republican primary, of whom Paxton won 887,435 votes. But there are 18.6 million total Texas voters, and now in November, they've been offered a clear choice: between the old and the young, the corrupt and the clean, the crook and the seminarian. That gives Talarico a great opportunity. This is now a winnable race. This could bring Texas back into Democratic ranks, where it belongs.

And it's about time. Texas is not about George Bush, Ted Cruz or John Cornyn. Texas is home to some of this country's greatest Democrats: Sam Rayburn, LBJ, Lloyd Bentsen, Ann Richards, Molly Ivers, Barbara Jordan, Jim Hightower, Kinky Friedman and Beto O'Rourke. James Talarico could be the one to turn Texas blue again.

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(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: "From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire." His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.)

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

They don't hate us, they feel sorry for us

In one of the most famous, and funniest, lines of English poetry, Robert Burns draws a powerful lesson about a woman sporting a fancy hat in church one morning, ignoring the laughter prompted among those behind her by the sight of a louse crawling around among its flowers.

"O, wad some Power the giftie gie us," Burns wrote, "To see oursels as others see us." Ah, yes. If only we could "see ourselves as others see us."

I was given that gift last month: one week in France and three weeks in Italy. Not a long time, but long enough to get a good glimpse of how Europeans view the United States these days under Donald Trump. Believe me, it ain't pretty.

Before I left for Europe, several friends warned me: Be prepared to take a lot of personal abuse. Because, after Trump destroyed the mutually beneficial relationships built up over the last 70 years, people hate Americans now.

That was not my experience at all. What I discovered was even worse. On one hand, they're confused. They don't understand how we could let this happen. On the other hand, they're sad. They realize how hard it is for most Americans under Trump. So, they don't hate us. They feel sorry for us.

And they know what's going on. Trump's latest outrages get front-page coverage in most newspapers and cable TV: from the war on Iran, to building a new ballroom, to comparing himself to Jesus, to plastering his face on new passports. I never heard one commentator defend Trump. Most just make fun of him. One day, after Trump had again flip-flopped on the Strait of Hormuz, il Domani featured a front-page political cartoon showing an embarrassed Trump, pants around his ankles, with the caption: "Caught with his pants down."

Of course, nothing stirred up the Italian press and politicians more than Trump's gratuitous attacks on Pope Leo. Conservative and liberals agreed that Leo was not elected, as Trump claims, only because he was an American and therefore close to Trump. He was elected because he'd spent more time in Peru than in the United States, and therefore had no ties to Trump. Elly Schlein, the new leader of Italy's Democratic Party, often called "Italy's AOC," got a standing ovation in Parliament after a fiery speech condemning Trump for his attacks on the pope. It was the only issue, she said, on which she and Prime Minister Georgia Meloni had ever agreed.

In a poll released by Italy's Channel 7, only 11 percent of Italians said they trusted Donald Trump. Vladimir Putin did better, at 16 percent. Meloni, who'd been suffering in the polls since her initial support of Trump, bounced up to 43 percent approval after joining other European leaders in opposition.

Not even tragic events at the White House Correspondents' Dinner brought Trump any sympathy. When I expressed dismay at yet another attempted assassination, Italians I talked to dismissed it as "fake" - just another effort, like the Iran War, to take attention off the Epstein files. Which is a disturbing but not surprising reaction, I guess. After Trump has spread so many lies and conspiracy theories for years, what is the truth? Nobody believes anything anymore.

Of many conversations about Trump, two really struck home. The first, with a university professor who very sincerely wanted to know: We understand how you might have elected this guy the first time, but how could you make the mistake of electing him again? The second, with an education expert who documented schools shut down for millions of impoverished children, especially in Africa, due to Trump's killing of USAID. Why would we destroy the one government program that generated the most goodwill for America around the world? I wish I had a ready answer for both.

The sad fact is that, for good reason, our once longtime friends and allies don't trust the United States anymore and may never trust us again unless we act soon to prove them wrong. Which brings us back to the lady in the hat. In his seldom quoted next line, Robert Burns wisely added that if we did see ourselves as others see us, "It wad frae monie a blunder free us."

"It would from many a blunder free us." How true. We have an opportunity to correct our big blunder and clip Donald Trump's wings in the November midterms. This time, we'd better get it right.

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.