As we were putting this newsletter to bed this morning, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth took to a Pentagon podium to brief the media on the ongoing state of the conflict in Iran. TL;DR: Mission Accomplished.

Iran’s regime, he said, has waged a “savage, one-sided war against America” for decades. “We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it.” Apparently, this war will go better than Iraq and Afghanistan because we have no long-term objectives: Trump “called the last twenty years of nation-building wars dumb, and he’s right. This is the opposite,” Hegseth said. “No stupid rules of engagement. No nation-building quagmire. No democracy-building exercise. No politically correct wars.”

Guess we’ll see. Happy Monday.

It’s Not Too Late for Congress to Act

by William Kristol

Over the past year, the Trump administration has done great damage both to our free government at home and to the cause of freedom abroad. Now it has sadly—even tragically—put the admirable cause of freedom for the people of Iran at odds with upholding the Constitution of the United States.

In June of last year, when the United States acted to help Israel damage Iran’s nuclear program, President Trump drew the line short of seeking regime change. But at some point since then, the Trump administration seems to have decided that in fact regime change was the only real solution to the dangers posed by the Iranian regime, and that now was the time to finally help the people of Iran liberate themselves from their dictatorship.

I don’t quarrel with this judgment. Indeed, there were many occasions over the last two decades that we could have done more to help the people of Iran move towards freedom. Now, two days into the war, one can’t help but be moved by the scenes of citizens of Iran taking to the streets to welcome the prospect of liberation from their cruel and despotic regime.

Could their belated liberation be at hand? One hopes so.

There were indications—most obviously the massive deployment of military forces to the region in recent months—that the administration was planning on a major war aimed at regime change in Iran. Given the lack of evidence of serious reconstruction of Iran’s nuclear program, and given that there was no reason to fear any kind of imminent danger from Iran’s missiles, the aims of that war were clearly going to go beyond simply further degrading those programs. And it’s now obvious that the administration has been working with Israel for quite a while on an attack whose scope and scale is consistent with the goal of regime change.

So, in announcing the attack early Saturday morning, President Trump said,

Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. . . . When we are finished, take over your government. . . . For many years, you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it. No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight.

But the president’s action was his alone. He had plenty of time over the last couple of months to make the argument to the American people for regime change in Iran. He didn’t. Even more important, he had plenty of time to go to Congress for authorization for such a war. He didn’t. He probably would have prevailed in such a vote. If he hadn’t, then he could and should have held off on going to war.

But Trump didn’t go to Congress. So now we are in both a major war and a constitutional crisis.

Congress may now have a limited ability to affect the course of the war. But it can respond to the constitutional crisis. Congress will have a chance this week to assert its role, even if belatedly, with some form of War Powers resolution. It can show it is unwilling to leave crucial questions of war and peace to the full and unlimited discretion of the executive. It can refuse to acquiesce in the shredding of our Constitution.

Meanwhile, Trump is unfortunately spreading confusion about rather than clarifying our war aims. Over the last two days, President Trump made such contradictory remarks that one can have no confidence that he really knows what he’s doing. The Economist’s Gregg Carlstrom summarized the situation well early this morning:

I very much hope that this war doesn’t end with the region in “an absolute mess.” I very much hope it results in a better Middle East, and in freedom for the people of Iran. Congress may not be able to do much to get the president to focus seriously and consistently on this objective. But Congress can at least uphold and strengthen our constitutional order. Congress can act to prevent Donald Trump from leaving our own Constitution “an absolute mess.”