Who Should Pay For Trump’s War On Iran?

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This week, the US government told Congress it will need $200 billion more to continue bombing Iran back to the Stone Age. Readers may recall that “bombing the Afghans back to the Stone Age” was a trope during the Bush Lite administration, and that worked out pretty well, didn’t it? It should work equally well with the Iranians. History may not repeat itself, but it definitely does rhyme.

The Department of Defense budget request for 2026 is at $848 billion, but that’s just for openers. When all is said and done, it is expected to exceed $1 trillion. You might think that should be enough to keep America safe, but if the new request for funds is approved, defense spending will soar to $1.2 trillion, a truly staggering amount, but freedom isn’t free.

But at least we have the comfort of knowing our money is being well spent, right? Actually, no. Before the fiscal year ended last September, the Pentagon went on a $93.4 billion spending spree, because unspent money goes back to the Treasury Department and we can’t let the happen now, can we?

According to Open The Books, last year, the Pentagon spent “more than $7.4 million on lobster tail in four separate months — March, May, June and October.” Lobster tails are apparently the newest thing among the hyper masculine bros populating the hallways at the Pentagon these days. In addition, $15.1 million worth of ribeye steaks were purchased, along with $124,000 worth of ice cream machines and a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home.

Demonizing The People

Meanwhile, Republicans are demonizing working families by slashing food assistance and access to medical care. The cruelty of the MAGA cult knows no boundaries, and yet the American people are expected to open their wallets to give the defense industry another record windfall. The supply of multi-million-dollar munitions must never be allowed to end. There are shareholders in those companies and they are entitled to their rewards, even if others cannot afford food or medical care.

On Substack today, historian Heather Cox Richardson quoted economist Justin Wolfers, who estimates the war on Iran is costing the US $1 billion a day. But that only includes bombs and airplanes and salaries. It does not include higher oil prices, geopolitical strife, business uncertainty, and slower growth — costs that will total hundreds of billions by the time the true extent of this extreme adventurism is known.

Aware that the war is historically unpopular, Republicans in Congress are refusing to exercise any oversight of the Pentagon and the White House, Richardson writes. Megan Mineiro of the New York Times reported today that Republicans don’t want to expose disapproval of the war, and so are simply cheering Trump on in public.

Rather than holding public hearings that would allow the American people to hear the administration’s justification for the war and plans for its execution, as Democrats demand, Republicans are permitting the administration to inform Congress as it wishes, behind closed doors.

“You don’t want to show that kind of division to your enemy when you’re in the midst of a war,” Senator Ron Johnson told Mineiro. “I don’t have a problem with the administration avoiding showing our enemy that they don’t have 100 percent support of the Congress.”

“They’re holding news conferences,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters last week, so there is no need for official hearings. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that operations were “very sensitive” and thus could not be discussed outside of classified settings “because it would adversely affect our mission.”

“This demand that Americans trust the government to go to war without public debate flies directly in the face of the reasoning of the Framers of the Constitution, who believed the American people must have the right to decide whether to invest their lives and fortunes in a war,” Richardson says.

A Missed Opportunity

It is now clear that this military adventure was a war of choice, driven in part by Israel with support from Saudi Arabia. But it is also an expression of the extent to which administration officials now view armed conflict as a form of video game. Politico reported this week that the White House is thrilled with the engagement garnered by the war videos made by White House communications staffers, in which footage of military strikes is intercut with football hits or bowling pins being blasted apart, and with clips from movies like Top Gun and Gladiator.

A White House official told the press, “We’re over here just grinding away on banger memes, dude. There’s an entertainment factor to what we do. But ultimately, it boils down to the fact that no one has ever attempted to communicate with the American public this way before.” Note that the alleged commander in chief continues to describe sinking ships as “fun.” We can’t help but wonder it that excuse would have helped the defendants escape punishment at the Nuremberg tribunals.

Progressive political strategist Max Burns notes that the White House messaging “is appealing directly to the base, especially to these young, very online, 4chan MAGA people who, just like Trump, treat war like a video game.” He added, “You don’t see service members sharing this content.”

Imagine if you will what $200 billion would do for renewable energy in the US. It might not be enough to finish the job, but it would provide an excellent start to transitioning away from thermal generation and making the US a beacon to the rest of the world on how to lower carbon and methane emissions while maintaining a robust economy. Now that opportunity is lost, just another casualty of the magical thinking that permeates this administration.

A Radical Proposal

I can see no reason why ten cents of my money should go to supporting this insanity, which has already resulted in war crimes on a massive scale. If the US needs more money for war, let the people who can most afford it pay for it. There are about 800 billionaires in America today, people who paid handsomely to get this disastrous president elected. If each one of them contributed $250 million (roughly what Elon Musk spent to get the Bozo in Chief elected), that would satisfy the dogs of war, at least for a little while.

In addition, the corporations that are profiting from this adventure should contribute as well. They are profiting handsomely and also spent lavishly to put this jackass in office. Shouldn’t they bear the burden of what they started? The fossil fuel companies are going to be massively enriched by the disruption in the global supply of oil and methane. Why should they profit when everyone else is getting hammered by rising costs of living?

We are all just a small piece of the conversation here at CleanTechnica, but if we tell ten people and they tell ten people about this idea, together we could build a better future, one in which wars over oil and gas are no longer necessary because the market for them no longer exists. Instead of bragging about Armageddon, we could be helping the US and the world eliminate a constant cause of armed conflict.

This is a corporate war if there ever was one. Let the corporations and their owners pay for it! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!