Three Strikes—And One Giant Mistake

SPECIAL [AND ADMITTEDLY UNSOLICITED] COMMENTARY ON UNITED STATES AGGRESSION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

By LONNIE KING

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EDITORIAL NOTE: This blog usually features new posts each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. However, following Donald Trump’s weekend decision to launch missile strikes on Iran, I couldn’t help but put some thoughts and reactions in writing. And instead of rearranging the posting schedule in the days ahead, I felt the urgency of posting these thoughts as soon as possible. I know you didn’t ask for it, but you get them for free.

The Fog of War—and the Smog of Ego

On Saturday night, Donald Trump did what Donald Trump does best: act on impulse, dressed in bluster, backed by a chorus of yes-men who confuse volume for conviction.

By ordering three military strikes on Iran, he didn’t just light a match—he tossed it into a powder keg.

He endangered lives, stability, and the very ideals he claims to defend.

As he disingenuously thanked God in his White House announcement, he was flanked by gutless imbeciles who are only within his orbit because they lick his boots in order to continue to get a whiff of political power that they equate with respect.

Instead, Trump and his vice-president, secretary of state and secretary of defense are already being dubbed the “Four Assholes of the Apocalypse” on social media.

Not without reason, either. They have destabilized an entire region of the world and put countless lives in harm’s way. And I’m not just talking about Iranian lives.

I’m talking about thousands of American troops now stationed throughout the Middle East and Europe—young men and women who may now pay the price for one man’s ego trip. I’m talking about families back home who have to wonder what kind of retaliation might come, and when.

(FULL DISCLOSURE: I have family in the military currently stationed in that part of the world. This is personal to me.)

This wasn’t strategy. It was theater. And no matter how loudly his defenders cheer, they can’t change the fact that this move was reckless, not righteous.

This wasn’t protection. It wasn’t justice. And it damn sure wasn’t leadership.

Dangerous Theology Dressed Up as Strategy

Part of what makes this so alarming isn’t just the act itself, but the warped belief system that gave it cover.

In some quarters, evangelical leaders are already celebrating this as a prophetic victory—as if lobbing missiles at a sovereign nation somehow aligns with the teachings of Jesus.  

You’ve probably seen it: people invoking scripture, claiming that America is uniquely blessed for “standing with Israel,” as if blessing now comes by proxy through foreign policy.

People like Ted Cruz—who just last week suggested that our prosperity as a nation is directly tied to our support for a modern nation-state created in 1948—as if God rubber-stamped the foreign policy of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Let’s be clear: There is a difference between caring for an ethnic people group and blindly endorsing the behavior of a nation-state—especially one whose current leadership has shown hostility, discrimination, and injustice toward neighboring nations and people groups.

Supporting a state’s unchecked aggression is not Christian. And neither is using scripture like a political weapon. If your theology conveniently endorses power, war, and dominance, it’s not theology—it’s propaganda with a halo.

Don’t pretend every political action taken by a government is sacred just because it happens in the Middle East.  When religious delusion combines with political recklessness, people die.

And Trump just handed two (maybe three) religious camps a loaded weapon.

This Isn’t Leadership. It’s Reckless Endangerment.

The United States didn’t need to fire those missiles. We weren’t under attack. Trump’s decision didn’t protect Americans—it endangered them. He has endangered every American service member stationed in the Middle East and Europe. He risked retaliation not because we were attacked—but because he wanted to look strong.

If he truly believes Iran will respond with quiet compliance, he is either naïve beyond belief or so detached from reality that he can no longer tell the difference between fear and faith, applause and strategy.

Iran won’t sit quietly. They’ve already vowed to respond. And when they do, it won’t be Trump’s kids in harm’s way. It’ll be someone else’s son, someone else’s daughter. The ones who signed up to serve a country—not an ego.

This isn’t leadership. It’s endangerment masquerading as control. It’s not strategy. It’s stupidity with a megaphone.

You Don’t Need Faith to Be Outraged

This moment doesn’t require a theological lens to be seen clearly.

You don’t have to be religious to be outraged that a man this reckless has access to our military, commands a cult-like following, and listens more to TV false prophets than to seasoned diplomats.

You don’t need to read the Bible to understand that bombing another nation without provocation is a failure of morality, judgment, and humanity.  And if you do read the Bible and still cheer what just happened over the weekend, I don’t think you understand the Bible at all.

It’s not good politically.
It’s not good economically.
It’s not good geopolitically.
And it’s certainly not good for anyone who wears a uniform and now faces the blowback.

This was a bad decision made by a dangerous man surrounded by fools.

And if you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.

Grace and grit (heavy on the grit right now) to you!  — LK