World War 3: Where Trump Has Led Us
On the evening of January 3rd, 2020, Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed by a missile that was sent out at the direction of United States President, Donald Trump. In the aftermath of this event, Americans expressed a lot of emotions, including pride, fear, doubt, horror, and uncertainty. I, for one, am terrified of the implications of this assasination, especially because the president, the man who is going to be leading most decisions in regards to this situation, has not hesitated to put his mental instability and temperance issues on a pedestal for all the world to see.
Before the killing of Qassem Soleimani, I would consider myself someone who was certainly anti-Trump, but not extremely vocal about my opinions regarding the things he would say and do. Obviously I would stumble across the occasional Twitter headline that would make me upset, or I would overhear a conversation while eating out that would make me feel very uncomfortable, but if I’m being completely honest, I never really felt afraid due to the fact that Trump was the president, only disturbed or disheartened at times. When I was scrolling through my phone, bored on a Friday night, and I saw WW3 trending, I originally thought that it was a silly joke or an overreaction by the press to something that was going on in the political world; however, when I looked deeper and found that the US had killed a top Iranian general, chills went up my spine. It was at this moment that I truly realized how alarming and disturbing it is to not feel like you can trust your leader to not only make the right decision, but to make a decision than is in the interest of the country, and not himself.
There are many reasons that I don’t trust Donald Trump when it comes to a war, but the main one is that he is someone who historically has not thought twice about lying to and verbally attacking other American citizens in the interest of his own personal gain. He is someone who has consistently resorted to berating his critics on social media instead of attempting to have discussions with them or present any evidence in his favor. This is someone who, in my opinion, has tried to influence the population to only recognize a part of the press that represents one half of the political spectrum. I say all this to attempt to not only prove that he is someone who has a tendency to make very impulsive decisions as shown by his outbursts on social media, but also to show that he has successfully influenced a group of people to always agree with whatever he says because he has now devalued the word of the press to cover up his own lies and flaws. Historically speaking, when the press has been largely one-sided in a country, that country becomes unable to think for themselves, leading to many bad decisions that have consequently led to harm coming to the freedoms of the people in that country. Someone who has attacked and devalued the word of the press and has been proven to have lied to the people to simply boost his own personal image is not someone that I believe can make crucial decisions when it comes to a potential war.
Another reason that I believe that Trump may have initiated this attack is simply because he has a lot to personally gain from starting a war. Historically, wars have caused people to rally behind a president, thus getting them re-elected. It happened in 1941 with Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War 2 and in 2003 with George W. Bush during the Iraq War. My point is not to try to prove that these presidents started these wars only to try to get re-elected, but simply to state that during wartime, Americans have a tendency to rally behind the president, usually resulting in a re-election. I recognize that the President may have had good intentions when it comes to starting this war; unfortunately, Trump has given me more reason to distrust him than trust him.
Even though Trump says that he launched the attack because Soleimani was planning an attack on the US, the details given from said planned attack were very vague, and the fact that this president has lied before and did not consult Congress before initiating the killing is extremely disturbing and frankly terrifying. It is truly disheartening that we are now in an age where young people are questioning the morals of a majority of the politicians that lead our country in both dominant political parties. I truly believe that the divide between the country, largely caused by President Trump, is going to cost us in regards to Iran. Our politicians are very dysfunctional, and you can’t win a war when you have a president and Congress that can’t seem to stop bickering with each other and the press. As a country, maybe now more than ever before, we should be terrified.