President Donald Trump has announced that he's given himself two weeks before he decides whether the United States should join Israel in its war on Iran. Over the past week, Trump has transitioned from a President who advocated for Iran to come to a new peace deal, to now one with a far more aggressive tone after Iran's reluctance and the country's entanglement with Israel.

That change has caused concern among the MAGA coalition who supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election and rejoiced in his promise to not to bring the US into any new foreign wars. The endless international conflicts that the US has been engaged in from Iraq to Afghanistan and beyond consume trillions of dollars, kill and maim US military personnel and annihilate millions of non-combatants in the Middle East. Sixty percent of American voters across party, gender and race lines oppose US intervention in Iran.

Tucker Carlson led the charge when he eviscerated Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and exposed the hypocrisy of those who claim that despite America's past regime-change sins, in Iran, it will be different. Steve Bannon spoke to Trump in the White House ahead of Trump's announcement that there would be a 2-week duration before he made a decision. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is staunchly opposed to war as evidenced by her discussion of her visit Hiroshima and how nuclear war is a poor substitute for diplomacy.

There is tremendous pressure on the president to support Israel’s “preemptive strike” with American might. But Trump is a man who really does put America first and ultimately will fight for both his own political survival and for the MAGA coalition, the United States and – shall we say it?– for the world itself.

Trump is enough of a politician to read the tea leaves. If you start a war with 60 percent of Americans against it, you haven’t much of a prayer of improving those numbers when the body bags start coming back. And that kind of opposition means defeat for the GOP in the midterms and possibly the next presidential election.

With China and Russia both indicating that they will not stand by and watch Israel and the US install another government in Iran, it is obvious to any sane person that this regional conflict in the Middle East could very easily expand into a global conflict and possibly the Third World War.  The First World War began over the assassination of an archduke and the consequent dispute between the declining Austro-Hungarian empire and Serbia. Within five weeks, the entire European continent had mobilized and the world was pushed into an unprecedented cataclysm.

If Iran seems a little reluctant to resume talks with the US over its nuclear program it might have something to do with all that talk about regime change and unconditional surrender from Iran. What do you have to talk about when those are the options available to you.

Hardening the lines of communication to this degree is completely unhelpful because when countries are faced with absolute destruction they are more inclined to pursue radical and extreme measures to avoid that consequence – or at least drag others into the abyss with them. Insisting on regime change can only encourage Iran to continue to develop nuclear weapons – if in fact they are likely doing so. 

Trump has a choice to make: betray the MAGA movement and ignore a majority of Americans or find the road to peace. At worst, a war with Iran could bring the world to Armageddon, destroy his presidency and allow the Democrats to masquerade as the party of peace. You can already see that happening as Dems who backed Biden’s warmongering strategy are now questioning Trump’s.

Trump was elected to restore sanity and peace America and to a lesser degree the world. He was also elected to cut government waste, eliminate the toxicity of DEI policies and to deport illegal immigrants. He needs all the political capital he can muster right now to push through on the deportation policy that is being violently opposed by Democrats and other leftists.

This needs to be his priority: not entering an extremely risky war with Iran and blowing his domestic policy agenda over another foreign war. If I could talk to Trump, I would say, “Remember Lyndon Johnson.” The Vietnam War consumed the Johnson presidency and ultimately prevented him from running for the presidency again.

Trump has the opportunity and has given himself, and the world, two weeks to get it done.