Mr. Trump has boldly gone where no previous president has dared to go. For almost 50 years, the Iranian regime has engaged in low-level warfare against both the U.S. and its allies. Over 2000 Americans have been killed by Iranian proxies, and our response has been typically, at best, tit for tat. Given the ideological and theological nature of the regime’s leaders, our response only emboldened further confrontation. Iran is the source of almost all conflict in the middle east, ruining not only their own country but also others that they “help” such as Syria and Lebanon. A nuclear Iran with a strong ballistic missile program would be the world’s worst nightmare. The case for action against Iran is strong; Mr. Trump did not start the war with Iran but he could end it. A common aphorism in finance is “risk equals return.” And there is perhaps no one bolder in willing to take big risks for a big return than Donald Trump. We don’t know what the ultimate outcome of this will be, but if Mr. Trump allows the full course of the current stated plan to occur, there is at least the result that it will be many, many years before Iran can threaten the U.S. and its interests. And there is the glorious hope that you might actually end up with an Iran that has no interest in threatening its neighbors.* Iran’s citizens have greatly desired another path for decades, and as Mr. Trump has said, they will never get a better time to take back their country. And with Venezuela and Iran off the table, and Cuba almost certain to follow, and BFF Russia completely bogged down in Ukraine (which was supposed to take a few days and is now in year 5) what do you think China is thinking? Especially with the awesome display of the U.S. military, the Chinese may need to rethink it’s planned aggression on Taiwan.

Yet tragically we have already had some casualties, and as Mr. Trump has said, there will likely be more. War is ugly and not to be taken lightly, yet we must ask the question: how has the American policy of the last 50 years worked? How many Americans would die over the next 50 year years? At this point, one of our duties as Christian citizens is to pray for our Armed Forces and our leaders. May God give them protection and wisdom, and may He free the Iranian people from their brutal leadership. May the gospel be free to be shared in Iran soon. May this lead to peace in the middle east. Those are at least some of my prayers in this situation.

At this point, I’ll offer a few other political observations. First, whatever the isolationists thought would happen with Donald Trump’s election, they are now clearly on the outside. Tucker Carlson is increasingly unhinged from the President’s position, and outside his devotees is a source of mockery.

J.D. Vance is reportedly on the outside of ongoing warfighting mission**, and it remains to be seen how this will play out for him. The Democrats, however, outside Mr. Fettermen, are almost completely under bondage of their progressive base which both hates America and especially Donald Trump. They seem incapable of being circumspect at this time. I would not expect them to applaud Mr. Trump, but seemingly siding with the Iranian regime during a time of conflict is…I’ll let you come up with the name. When the Democrats are silent for all of the attacks that Mr. Obama or Mr. Clinton did and yet immediately claim that Mr. Trump has violated the constitution, since only Congress can declare war, they show their hyper partisanship and are not serious to most Americans. The Democrats are seemingly so afraid of their base that are incapable of presenting an image that will appeal to the middle section of the voting population. The videos showing Iranian women cheering the death of regime leaders while contrasting videos of progressive women lamenting the attack are striking and burn images that are difficult to forget. It’s hard to see how this helps Democrats expand their base.

A final note. If you don’t like Mr. Trump’s plan, this was the alternative. A totally naive approach that did not change behavior of the mullahs. Instead, Mr. Obama gave them $56B to fund more terrorism. I for one am grateful for Mr. Trump’s more steely-eyed approach.

* To be sure, the path to a stable peaceful country is…daunting.

** While I’m not a fan of Mr. Vance, especially his isolationism, it is highly appropriate for someone in the room to be asking tough questions. So it’s good to have his perspective, even if (as I believe) he is incorrect.