Jonathan P. Baird

As someone who lived through the Vietnam War era, I always thought that war was exceptionally wrong-headed and pointless. Since Vietnam there has been a succession of American wars including the intervention in Panama, the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. I did not think there could be a stupider war than the Iraq War as that war was fought on entirely false pretenses but the Iran War is a new low. No war has had less rationale, justification or clear objective. They don’t know how to end the war either.

The Trump regime has failed to present any coherent narrative for why the Iran War is necessary. There are a laundry list of possible explanations but no one knows why this war must be fought. The war has demonstrated a disregard for civilian lives and has caused tremendous civilian casualties in Iran. Unlike George W. Bush, who at least tried to sell the Iraq War, the Trump regime doesn’t bother. This is after Trump ran for the presidency as opposing forever wars in the Middle East.

Murdering at least 170 innocent children at the Iranian girls’ elementary school is a war crime. It may have been a double tap attack. The New York Times has reported that the Tomahawk missile attack on the school was the result of a targeting mistake. Our god of war, Pete Hegseth, blesses maximum lethality. I don’t see it as different from the earlier lawless boat strikes except in Iran our military killed children. No sanitizing of this war can ever erase the sickening shame of these senseless murders.

The Trump regime is not normal. The crimes have piled up. Besides the Iran war, the January 6 insurrection, holding and deporting immigrants without due process, building gulags, killing Renee Good and Alex Pretti, wrecking our scientific/medical system, extorting universities and Big Law, using government office for personal financial gain, cash for clemency pardons and covering up the Epstein files are a start. The corruption is unprecedented. No president has cashed in on the presidency like the present occupant of the office.

In spite of that record of venality, criminality and imperialism, fight back by American elites has largely been weak and cowardly. Elites’ main goal has been protection of their money, power and status. They don’t want to rock the boat.

Right from the start of Trump 2.0, the billionaires threw in with the regime. This was a marked difference from the first Trump term when he was less embraced. Elon Musk led the way with his $277 million campaign contribution to back Trump and Republican candidates but Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg were on board too. They have been “pay to play”. And that is the stance of much of Big Business. They don’t want to lose government contracts, endanger money flow or get on Trump’s bad side. Corporate resisters are rare birds. You don’t hear criticism from the business community. They like the tax cuts.

Congress has played dead. Giving up any sense of independence, Senate leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson act like they are part of the Executive Branch. Republican leaders must be antsy about the coming deluge their Party will face in November but they are not scared or nervous enough to break from Dear Leader.

To me, the real disappointment is Democratic Party leadership, particularly Sen Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. They don’t know how to fight. They don’t call out the fascism. Loyal to their corporate funders, they want business as usual. Where is the anti-war message they should be screaming?

There are some Democrats like Bernie Sanders, AOC, Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen Chris Vab Hollen and Zohran Mamdani who have stood up but so many in the Party remain silent.

The legal world has hardly distinguished itself. I would acknowledge the federal court judges who have bravely remained faithful to the rule of law but the Supreme Court is an embarrassment. John Roberts’ immunity decision will live in infamy. That was a blessing to fascism, American-style. Lawyers could be so much more forceful against the regime. Much of Big Law collaborated out of fear of losing business. When I read the NH Bar News, I look for recognition of the threat to democracy but, to date, I haven’t seen much. They too pretend normalcy.

Corporate media consolidates and threatens to eliminate dissenting voices. Stephen Colbert will be off CBS on May 21, his last show on that network. It looks like CNN will follow the example of CBS as that network looks doomed to become more Trump-friendly. The Paramount deal is an anti-trust travesty but the Trump regime doesn’t protect a competitive, diverse marketplace. They want to strangle free speech and silence voices critical of fascism and authoritarianism.

Similarly, universities like Columbia, Northwestern and Cornell caved and made deals to pay the government millions in exchange for stopping harassing investigations into DEI, admissions decisions and curriculum. There has never been a greater threat to academic freedom in the U.S. than the Trump regime. The leadership of universities made a calculation that the cost of opposition and fighting back was too great.

What has been shocking is the willingness of our elites to bend the knee to a fundamentally anti-democratic regime. They choose to accommodate in the interests of money, financial viability and continued privilege. With the creation of gulags by ICE and Border Patrol, I see no resistance or even criticism from our ruling class. They go along. In Nazi Germany, a significant segment of Big Business and conservatives thought they could control Hitler. There is no effort among elites in America to control Trump. As I write, there is speculation he may put boots on the ground in Iran, an absolutely frightening prospect.

March 28 is the next No Kings demonstrations. Organizers have said:

“The Trump Administration is trying to shred the Constitution. The No Kings movement is an unequivocal statement that we, the people, will not let that happen.”

However we can, in whatever ways we are able, American people must put a stop to this war and try and stop its funding. We also must fight the regime’s other depredations. Getting out in the street in massive numbers everywhere makes a powerful statement. This regime must be relentlessly criticized, voted out and overwhelmingly repudiated. We don’t want to see how much further down the fascist road they are willing to go.