War, What Is It Good For?

So, don’t think there’s anything new or particularly striking about Donald Trump’s visibly failing war against Iran. In fact, the present situation there couldn’t have been more predictable (not that anyone bothered to tell that to the president). Once upon a time, it seemed as if Donald Trump knew something about the dangers of imperial war-making. After all, in his first term in office, other than a brief military fling in Syria against Islamic State fighters, which he quickly pulled out of, declaring ISIS defeated (which, of course, it wasn’t), he stayed remarkably clear of war-making. And within months of returning to office in 2025, he was already claiming that he had ended eight wars. (He didn’t.) And yet today, from the Caribbean (with Cuba now seemingly in his gunsights) to the Middle East, King Trump seems to be a committed war-maker through and through.

And perhaps it’s not just the United States anymore that seems so capable of making but never winning a war. After all, Russia’s more than four-year-long war in Ukraine is by now a first-class disaster for Vladimir Putin with hundreds of thousands of dead Russian soldiers and increasing devastation delivered by Ukrainian drones to Russian oil facilities and the like. (Of course, it’s also a full-scale calamity for the Ukrainians!)

In that context, consider China the smartest imperial power on planet Earth today. Other than a few border clashes with India years ago, it has grown in power in every way without having to make war a significant part of its arsenal (so to speak). Yes, it has indeed built up that military arsenal (including its nuclear one) in a significant fashion, as any great power on this planet would undoubtedly do. But despite its threats against the island of Taiwan and those brief clashes with India, unlike so many imperial powers of the past (and present), it has generally stayed remarkably clear of war-making.

Its leaders, it seems, have learned the necessary lesson about such conflicts (at least in our present version of an imperial age). In an era when lesser powers can nonetheless arm themselves effectively with the most modern drones and missiles, among other things, war-making simply never seems to work out well. And, oddly enough, in his first round as president, Donald Trump indeed seemed to have learned just such a lesson. In those years, the U.S. engaged in no significant war-making, but explain it as you will, he came back to power in January 2024 in a different mood entirely (and moods are the Trumpian reality in a big-time fashion).

As “our” president took on Iran recently, I couldn’t help thinking about that antiwar song of the Vietnam era that began with the phrase “War, what is it good for?Absolutely nothin’.”

Someone should tell “our” president that before… well, who knows what, but nothing good happens, that’s for sure! In the context of his war with Iran, consider him, in fact, the president of decline and, of course, confusion. The only question really is what exactly he’s likely to take down with him.

This piece first appeared on Tom’s new Substack page.