Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.
In today’s edition, we examine how President Donald Trump’s past opposition to “forever wars” is clashing with his operation in Iran. Plus, Sahil Kapur notes that Democratic military veterans have emerged as the most vocal critics of the Iran war.
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— Adam Wollner
Trump, who campaigned against ‘endless’ wars, enters Iran with no end date
By Henry J. Gomez, Allan Smith and Tara Prindiville
To win the White House in 2016, Donald Trump first had to get by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the son and brother of two past presidents inextricably linked with U.S. wars in the Middle East.
Attacking the Bush family dynasty — and its legacy — became a feature of Trump’s campaign. And that meant doubling down on criticism of the Iraq War that President George W. Bush had led the U.S. into under the premise of finding weapons of mass destruction that never materialized.
“The war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake,” Trump responded when he was asked at a Republican presidential debate in February 2016 whether he still believed, as he said he did in 2008, that Bush should have been impeached for it.
“We can make mistakes,” Trump added. “But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq.”
The moment was one of many in Trump’s long history of denouncing “forever wars” and promising, as president himself, to keep the U.S. out of the sorts of foreign entanglements that could lead to them.
But one year into his second term, Trump has ordered military action in multiple countries, including the January strike on Venezuela to capture Nicolás Maduro. And now with the war in Iran, Trump has plunged America into its most significant conflict since the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — without any congressional approval.
Trump’s successful 2024 campaign to return to power was predicated in large part on how he hadn’t started any wars in his first term.
“My entire adult lifetime has been shaped by presidents who threw America into unwise wars and failed to win them,” Trump’s future vice president, JD Vance, wrote for The Wall Street Journal in a January 2023 column endorsing Trump’s 2024 bid.
At a briefing today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected suggestions that Iran could become Trump’s Iraq, pledging that the conflict wouldn’t spiral into an “endless” war. But Trump himself indicated the U.S. could be engaged for longer than he bargained.
“Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks,” Trump said at a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House. “But we have capability to go far longer than that. ... Somebody said today, they said, ‘Oh, well, the president wants to do it really quickly; after that, he’ll get bored.’ I don’t get bored. There’s nothing boring about this.”
➡️ Related: How Trump decided to strike Iran, by Peter Nicholas, Dan De Luce, Katherine Doyle and Julie Tsirkin
Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the Iran war →
Democratic veterans of the Iraq war come out swinging against Trump on Iran
Analysis by Sahil Kapur
The earliest and most aggressive critics of President Donald Trump’s newly launched war in Iran include Democratic veterans who fought in Iraq, citing their harrowing experiences and warning against another “forever” war.
The lawmakers are part of a wave of Democrats who have gotten elected to Congress in recent years in what began as a concerted effort within the party to recruit more veterans to run for office. It gives them — and the party — an added heft on foreign policy matters.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a Marine veteran who was deployed to Iraq, labeled Trump “cadet bone spurs,” a mocking reference to his explanation for avoiding the draft when he was younger, adding that he “lost friends in Iraq.”
“Showhorse leaders like Donald Trump have never had to put their lives on the line. It should terrify everyone that they’re so willing to jump into war without considering the consequences,” said Gallego, who has kept the door open to a 2028 presidential bid.
Responding to a video of people celebrating outside the White House, some waving Lion and Sun Iranian flags, after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Gallego said on X: “This happened after Saddam was toppled. It didn’t stop many Iraqi insurgents shooting rpgs at me years later.”
The same day, Gallego endorsed a fellow Marine, Graham Platner, for a Senate seat in Maine. Platner, who has spoken about his postwar struggles and disillusionment after he deployed, warned that the bombing of Iran puts the U.S. on the cusp of “another stupid war.”
“Young American men and women will die because Donald Trump is flailing politically. Let that sink in. I know the cost of war. I’ve watched friends die in war. This must end. If there ever was a time to use your power, it’s now @SenSusanCollins,” he wrote on X.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., who was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Iraq and Afghanistan, criticized Trump’s announcement that the U.S. had struck Iran.
“How brave,” Crow posted on X. “Donald Trump’s not sending his family or the kids of his billionaire donors off to fight. He’s sending working class folks off to war.”
Criticizing “more endless wars,” Crow demanded that Congress immediately return to vote on a war powers resolution to block Trump from attacking Iran without approval, a measure backed by Democratic leaders.
Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., another veteran, said the U.S. “cannot repeat our approach from 2001 and 2002” and urged a vote by Congress to “stop yet another forever war.”
“I served two combat tours in Iraq,” he wrote on X. “I’ve seen what happens when a lying, chicken-hawk President beats the war drums. I ran for Congress and serve on the Armed Services Committee because I refuse to let the country I love repeat those mistakes.”
When Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., responded with a graphic reading “make Persia great again,” Ryan replied: “If you feel so strongly I [recommend] you sign up to serve. Happy to help get you ready for the fitness exam.”
🗞️ Today's other top stories
- 🗳️ Final countdown: Bridget Bowman reports from the campaign trail in Texas on how the prospect of a competitive general election looms over both parties’ Senate primaries. Read more →
- 📹 Clinton depositions: The House Oversight Committee released videos of its interviews last week with former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of its probe into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Read more →
- 🩺 Medical timeout: Trump’s doctor addressed what appeared to be red markings on his neck by saying he was undergoing a “preventative skin treatment” using a “very common cream.” Read more →
- ➡️ 2A split: Soon after Trump took office, he issued an executive order proclaiming his steadfast support for the right to bear arms. But a year later, gun rights advocates say the administration has failed to live up to his promises. Read more →
- ⚖️ SCOTUS watch: The Supreme Court appeared sympathetic to a marijuana user’s challenge to a federal law that bars people who consume illegal drugs from having firearms. Read more →
- 🍾 Party foul: Trump was disappointed in FBI Director Kash Patel‘s behavior at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and conveyed his displeasure in a conversation with him, according to a person familiar with the matter. Read more →
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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