Trump's quasi-dove' era is over. Iran strikes expose his hawkish turn

"The winner of the Fifa peace prize, the chair of the Board of Peace and the self-declared president of PEACE just bypassed Congress to start a war on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and is spreading across the Middle East. It is the most severe test yet of the oft-articulated theory that Trump, who as a young man received five deferments from the Vietnam draft has a deep-seated allergy to war."

"In a New York Times column about the 2016 election, Maureen Dowd wrote that on foreign policy it's Hillary the Hawk against Donald the Quasi-Dove, arguing that like Obama, he thought the invasion of Iraq was a stupid idea. She observed that Trump says that in most cases he would rather do the art of the deal than shock and awe."

"When he entered politics, Trump was supposed to be the disrupter, the swamp-drainer, the repudiation of an establishment that had cost the US so much blood and treasure. In 2011 he wrote on social media: In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran. In 2016 he called George W Bush's invasion of Iraq a big, fat mistake."

Trump repeatedly claimed during his 2024 campaign that he was the only president in 72 years who didn't start a war, though fact-checkers noted Jimmy Carter also avoided starting wars. Despite winning the election, Trump subsequently bypassed Congress to initiate military action against Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and spread across the Middle East. This contradicts the widespread perception that Trump, who received five Vietnam draft deferments, represents a break from hawkish predecessors. Observers previously characterized him as preferring dealmaking over military intervention, contrasting him with establishment foreign policy. His "America First" ideology promised an end to imperialist ambitions and forever wars, positioning him as a disruptor of the military-industrial establishment.

Read at www.theguardian.com