Daniel Warner

Why is the United States bombing Iran? The justifications presented for the jus ad bellum of Operation Epic Fury keep shifting: an imminent nuclear

The echoes of 1960s Harlem—free breakfasts, Black Panther patrols, school protests and strikes—returned as I watched modern Black Panthers confront ICE outside Philadelphia City Hall.

Donald Trump continues to undermine the U.S. Constitution, reject democratic culture, violate international law, strain relationships with allies, and threaten adversaries with bombing them back to the Stone Age. The obvious question is: When will this end? Even as immediate issues are being raised about the reasons behind the U.S.–Israeli war against Iran and the exact nature of the ceasefire, we should keep asking: When will Trump’s nightmarish influence stop?

Comparisons are always risky. Even identical twins are not exactly alike. But some phrases echo across decades with unsettling familiarity. For those of a certain generation, hearing Donald Trump threaten Iran—“We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Age where they belong”—brought back memories of General Curtis LeMay’s infamous remark: “We’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age,” attributed to U.S. air war strategy in North Vietnam.

“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you bunch of crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell,” the President of the United States wrote on Truth Social on Easter

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair Donald Trump as an individual will not define American politics forever. But MAGA may outlast him.

The expression “coalition of the willing” was first coined by an American political scientist in the 1970s and used by George W. Bush during the Iraq war. It was an American attempt to circumvent the United Nations to carry out peacekeeping or stabilization missions. Now that logic is being turned on its head. Coalitions of the willing are no longer imagined as supporting U.S. action, but as a hedge against U.S. uncertainty. What began as a tool of American leadership is now being reimagined. Ad hoc coalitions are forming to distance themselves from Washington rather than follow it.

Photograph Source: Edward Ardizzone – Public Domain “Journalism is an essential pillar of democracy,” observed Irene Khan, the U.N.

Great powers decline twice: first in reality, then in imagination. The deeper question is not whether China will surpass the United States economically or militarily, but whether anyone under the age of thirty still identifies with the American archetype of Marlboro cigarettes, vintage denim, and all. When that desire fades, the empire is already halfway gone.

Michael Jackson’s biopic Michael is a box-office phenomenon. It earned $217 million worldwide on opening weekend, the biggest debut ever for a biographical film. But the movie has almost nothing to say about multiple allegations of Jackson’s child sexual abuse. Donald Trump commands a similar public fascination. The civil finding that he sexually abused E. Jean Carroll, along with controversies such as Todd Blanche’s approval of Trump’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” are part of a broader swirl of legal and ethical questions surrounding his presidency. Even so, they barely interrupt the spectacle around him.