Donald Trump may be a world-upending political force, but in the end, even he could not resist the gravitational pull of American militarism. The lure of legacy, regime change and perhaps political distraction proved too strong when it came to Iran, which the president, in partnership with Israel, attacked with a brutal series of air strikes on Saturday. The campaign, which has continued, is already engulfing the entire Middle East.
There is a ritual in American war-making that predates the particular pathology of Trumpism. The targets shift and the platforms move from broadcast television to social media, but the punditry lusting for regime change fantasies feels eerily familiar.
