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In a wide-ranging and urgent discussion with former Obama National Security Council spokesperson and Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor, the current trajectory of U.S. involvement in the Middle East under President Donald Trump came into sharp focus. Despite Trump’s long-standing promises to end endless wars and avoid new conflicts, his administration now appears to be drawing the U.S. into a direct confrontation with Iran—an outcome that starkly contradicts the very foundation of his “America First” foreign policy rhetoric.
At the heart of the escalation is a growing alignment between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Vietor, Israel appears to have launched a significant military operation targeting Iran with at least tacit approval from the White House. “Trump is slowly and steadily getting the U.S. drawn into war,” Vietor warned, pointing out that U.S. forces are already engaged in defensive military actions, including helping Israel shoot down incoming Iranian drones and missiles.
The stakes are dangerously high. Netanyahu is reportedly lobbying Trump to authorize the use of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)—a 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bomb—against deeply fortified Iranian nuclear sites, such as the Fordow facility built into a mountain. If such attacks are carried out, Vietor cautions, “all bets are off,” as Iran could retaliate by targeting the roughly 40,000 American troops stationed in the Middle East, including in Iraq, Bahrain, and Kuwait.
This is a far cry from the image Trump sold to voters in 2016. Back then, he differentiated himself from the Republican establishment by loudly criticizing the Iraq War and accusing then-President Obama of potentially launching a war with Iran for political gain. Ironically, it is now Trump who appears to be on the verge of doing exactly that—possibly for similar reasons.
Critics, including Vietor, highlight the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the Iran nuclear deal brokered under President Obama—as a critical turning point. “When Trump pulled us out of that deal, Iran started enriching uranium again and ramped up support for its regional proxies,” Vietor said. “He’s an arsonist who now wants credit for being the firefighter.”
The JCPOA had been designed to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon by placing strict limits on uranium enrichment and granting extensive inspection rights to international monitors. While no diplomatic deal is perfect, Vietor emphasized that the alternative—what we are seeing now—is clearly worse. “You have a full-scale war erupting. Civilians are dying. Ballistic missiles are landing in Tel Aviv. This is the exact scenario the Obama administration worked so hard to avoid.”
There are signs that even within the Trump coalition, cracks are forming. High-profile conservative figures such as Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, and Steve Bannon have all voiced opposition to deepening U.S. involvement in another Middle Eastern conflict. Some are even publicly reconsidering their support for Trump, including libertarian-leaning commentator Dave Smith, who recently expressed regret over voting for him.
Still, the majority of Trump’s base appears to be sticking with him, often following his rhetorical pivots in lockstep. Vietor attributes part of this to right-wing media ecosystems, which have largely embraced the conflict narrative. “If you turn on Fox News right now, it’s indistinguishable from a 2003 Iraq War broadcast,” he said. “The same neoconservative voices are beating the war drums.”
There’s also speculation that Trump’s increasing aggression abroad may be, at least partially, a distraction from political turmoil at home. Recent weeks have seen the Trump administration plagued by a collapsing budget bill, public fallout with Elon Musk, and disturbing reports of military deployments to U.S. cities. Whether intentional or not, the shift in media attention away from domestic crises has been conspicuous.
Yet, Vietor is skeptical that this escalation is purely a Trump-driven maneuver. “I think this is Netanyahu’s war, and Trump just couldn’t resist the Fox News glory when it started going well for Israel,” he noted, pointing out that Trump initially opposed deeper involvement—until the TV coverage began to portray it as a strategic victory.
In closing, Vietor underscored the importance of media literacy and alternative news sources in the current moment. “This is a full audience-capture presidency,” he said. “The more we can support progressive media, the better chance we have at informing the public before we’re sleepwalking into another disastrous war.”
As tensions continue to rise, the American public faces a crucial question: Will they hold Trump accountable for violating his peace-first promises, or will they once again follow him into another destabilizing and deadly Middle Eastern conflict?
