A War to Distract from Our Problems

President Trump launched a war in Iran while problems fester closer to home

We have so many problems here at home. I keep coming back to that. I truly believe that if we worked together we could solve them.

So just a week ago, headed into the State of the Union, I challenged myself to find the places where I could agree with President Trump. His speech was long, often unnecessarily partisan, but I found a couple—particularly when he spoke about peace and freedom, and the people who sacrifice for those values. I can stand for that.

In a matter of days, though, President Trump reverted to type. A week later, the notion of standing for peace seems like a distant memory as President Trump launched a war in Iran.

And I’m left wondering: what happened to fixing things here first? The saying was America First.

I know what that means to plenty of my friends who supported President Trump. It does not mean kicking off even a medium-term regional war and bombing campaign. It means—let’s solve our problems. We all know them. An education system that’s lagging. Infrastructure that’s crumbling. Manufacturing that’s leaving. That was what they trusted President Trump to focus on.

Instead, we have another war in the Middle East.

Official White House photo of President Trump and key advisors monitoring the strikes on Iran

A war no one voted for

On Saturday, President Trump joined Israel to launch joint military strikes against Iran. Iran retaliated across the Gulf, hitting U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, and beyond. At least six American service members have been killed. Trade routes are threatened, oil prices are likely to jump. On Monday, Trump said it would take four to five weeks, maybe longer, and even offered he might put boots on the ground.

Former Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, now serving as “Secretary of War,” declared: “We didn’t start this war, but under President Trump we’re finishing it.”

Just to be clear: The Iranian regime has long been awful, a country led by those who chant: “Death to America.”

But starting this war, that was definitely this administration. No one in Congress voted for military action. The President said last week they were going to try to talk. I guess talking got too hard.

I remember those who beat the drums of war when we went into Iraq. It stung an entire generation. A friend predicted war the minute Bush was elected. In the grief and fear after 9/11, a lot of people went along, and without a clear target, Iraq’s supposed “weapons of mass destruction” led to a war that my generation would pay for.

President Obama was against the war in Iraq, which is part of why I worked for him. He still stumbled into the same theory in Libya. Brutal dictator falls, freedom will rise. I met Gaddafi once, a strange, awful man. He was terrible but his absence post military action didn’t build democracy. Libya is still a mess.

What strikes me most is that many of the people cheering this operation are largely the same ones who said Obama needed a plan for Libya. And some of those in leadership positions now, I’m thinking of Tulsi Gabbard, said their politics were shaped by the Middle East misadventures of the Bush years.

Now they just trust Trump?

Messes in our own backyards

The problems festering at home aren’t just problems of Trump’s inattention. They reflect an internal rot, an inattention to things affecting Americans’ day-to-day lives.

Last week the FBI raided the home and office of Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest, serving more than 500,000 students. On Friday, the school board voted unanimously to place him on paid administrative leave. At $440,000 a year, he keeps collecting paychecks while the investigation proceeds. Money that’s not going to teachers, as the district debates layoffs.

The probe appears tied to LAUSD’s contract with AllHere, a startup hired to build an AI chatbot called “Ed,” pitched as a solution to chronic absenteeism. The contract was worth up to $6 million. LAUSD paid roughly $3 million before the company collapsed; its founder later charged with fraud, allegedly using investor money to pay for her wedding and purchase of her own home.

Beyond the clear fraud: who thought a chatbot was going to keep kids in school? In my experience, it’s amazing teachers who go above and beyond. Real people keep kids in school.

Carvalho, who proudly states he’s been in public education for three decades, somehow amassed $6.3 million in real estate across California and Florida—two luxury condos in a Miami high-rise, a $2.4 million home in Miami Shores, and properties in Fort Lauderdale. His California home he bought directly from State Senator Laura Richardson when he arrived in Los Angeles. And before he left Miami, the local inspector general found his foundation had accepted $1.57 million from a company seeking district contracts—it was called an “appearance of impropriety.” Rather than return the money, the foundation distributed it as $100 gift cards to teachers. Why did LAUSD hire him? I can’t shake the feeling that something doesn’t smell right.

I’m a public school kid and a public school mom. Many of the teachers in public education are some of the most devoted people I’ve ever met. So however this shakes out, if people were stealing from the system, they’re stealing from our kids’ future. That kind of rot, regardless of party, makes me furious.

It’s also harder to address when our collective attention and oxygen is consumed by another war in the Middle East.

I can’t help but think we’re failing our kids—right when they need us to prioritize their future.

I had a hard time shaking that feeling as I drove my son to school yesterday. He knew about the war, the news had been on all weekend. “I’m just trying to ignore it,” he said. He’s thirteen. Sadly, I don’t think he’s the only one.

That numbness worries me as much as the war itself.

Vice President JD Vance promises this war in Iran is not Iraq. But who knows what you’re getting into when it all starts? Are we at war with an ideology? A regime? An ally’s enemy? And why are we only willing to trust a war when it’s started by our own political side?

I heard Dana Perino yesterday say she was proud we were freeing the women of Iran. When we launch bombs into a country, create chaos and instability, does it ever immediately lead to more freedom for women? That’s not my experience.

Peace through strength, President Trump always says. If we want strength, I’ve got to believe the only way is to start at home.