President Donald Trump, who called himself a "president of peace" and criticized foreign military intervention, has taken the opposite path in practice, the New York Times and CNN reported Sunday.
The assessment comes after Trump announced the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei following a massive airstrike on Iran, urging Iranian citizens to "seize control of the government once our operation ends."
The strike marked Trump's eighth military action in his second term alone, directly contradicting his "America First" pledge to withdraw from unnecessary foreign conflicts.
The move stands in stark contrast to his 2016 campaign rhetoric that "foreign regime change is a proven absolute failure" and his 2024 attacks labeling then-Vice President Kamala Harris a "warmonger."
Critics note the justification for this attack appears weak, given Trump claimed last June to have "completely destroyed Iran's nuclear program" when striking Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump's past statements are returning as boomerangs. In 2012, he mocked then-President Barack Obama, saying "his approval ratings are plummeting, so he'll attack Libya or Iran. He's desperate." Trump now faces declining approval ratings ahead of November's midterm elections.
Backlash extends beyond liberals to Trump's core MAGA supporters. Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson called the action "the worst betrayal—America Last."
Christopher Chivvis, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in The Guardian that Trump's Iran attack is a "ploy" to distract from domestic political scandals, including the Jeffrey Epstein file reinvestigation, ICE shootings of Americans in Minneapolis, and the Supreme Court ruling against reciprocal tariffs.