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.

Dear Friends: Before we begin, I owe you an explanation. Why am I writing about a Democratic Senate primary in America's largest red state, where no Democrat's won statewide office since 1994? And why focus on James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and member of the Texas House of Representatives, now trying to catapult himself into the U.S. Senate?

Maybe it's because I've never lost faith in what Jesse Jackson, one of my all-time heroes, preached: "Keep Hope Alive!" Yes, "even in Texas," he might have added. But there are three other practical reasons.

One, unlike Florida or South Carolina, I've never considered Texas a lost cause. After all, this is the state that gave us some of our greatest Democrats: Sam Rayburn, LBJ, Lloyd Bentsen, Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, Molly Ivins, Jim Hightower and Kinky Friedman. Texas can't be all bad. Remember, Beto O'Rourke came within three points of defeating Ted Cruz in 2018.

Two, I must admit, I have a weakness for former seminarians running for office. It started in 1968 with Eugene McCarthy, where I got my start in politics. It continued with Father Robert Drinan, who defied Pope Paul II by running for, winning and serving in Congress for 10 years. Without trying to force their own religious beliefs on anybody, people of faith can bring a necessary moral perspective to issues we're dealing with today.

Three, because - whether he ends up running against boring incumbent John Cornyn or, better yet, against disgraced, impeached attorney general Ken Paxton - I think Talarico is the Democrats' best hope. I like his primary opponent, Representative Jasmine Crockett. She's a dynamite member of Congress. I'd vote for her against Cornyn or Paxton in a heartbeat. But, given Texas politics, it looks like Talarico has a better shot at winning statewide.

If, like most Americans outside of Texas, you're not familiar with James Talarico, I encourage you to watch his interview on February 16, with Stephen Colbert. Here's the link: https://x.com/MajorityDems/status/2023776310699725205?s=20. It's only 14 minutes long. Watch the whole thing.

But, first, a little background. Colbert had lined up this interview long ahead of time, but at the last minute, his CBS bosses ordered him to cancel it because they feared Trump's FCC Chair Brendan Carr, who's been waging war against late-night hosts, would force them to offer equal time to all other candidates in the Senate race. Which is in itself ironic since the "Fairness Doctrine," which did require equal time for all candidates, was canceled by President Ronald Reagan in 1987.

That's when Colbert "trumped" them all. Banned from talking to Talarico on CBS, he interviewed him, instead, on YouTube, where it immediately went "viral." In 24 hours, the Talarico campaign pulled in $2.5 million in campaign contributions. And, as of this writing, Talarico's YouTube interview has garnered 7.3 million views - far, far more than watch "The Late Show." As Colbert needled his cowardly CBS bosses, "I wish we could have put it on the show where no one would have watched it."

If Talarico hadn't already captured my attention, he clearly did so when asked by Colbert about the influence of the so-called "religious right," extreme conservatives who are the core of Donald Trump's supporters. Talarico exposed them for the hypocrites they are.

"Well, for 50 years, the religious right, a political movement - that is the perfect description for it," he told Colbert. "They convinced a lot of our fellow Christians that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage. Two issues that aren't mentioned in the Bible. Two issues that Jesus never talked about."

What is Christianity all about? Talarico's got it right. "Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I and every one of our fellow believers, how we're gonna be judged and how we're gonna be saved," he continued: "by feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It was all about how you treat other people."

And he challenged those phony pious preachers who wrap themselves in the cloak of religion in order to support a foul-mouthed, twice-divorced, convicted sexual abuser, and his inhumane treatment of immigrants. "Don't tell me what you believe," Talarico said, "Show me how you treat other people, and I'll tell you what you believe."

Amen! It's now up to the good people of Texas to redeem themselves. All the rest of us can do is say a prayer. Keep hope alive!

(C)2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.