Morning Note

Donald Trump hosted Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. It went nearly as well as the prime minister could have hoped.

Seven months after risking a long-term war with Iran on Israel’s behalf, the president vowed to support further strikes on the Islamic Republic if it moves forward with ballistic missile and nuclear weapon development. Netanyahu looked giddy as Trump issued his decree. 

"The missiles, yes. The nuclear, fast. Okay. One will be, yes, absolutely. The other was, we'll do it immediately," the commander in chief said of potential attacks if Iran tries to rearm. “We'll knock them down. We'll knock the hell out of them," he added.

See what’s happening here? The goalposts are being moved. Earlier this year, Israel used nuclear weapons as its excuse to pursue a regime change war. Now, the bar is being lowered to ballistic missiles, which every modern country possesses. 

Would a war with Iran advance Israel’s interests? Definitely. But the United States’s? Absolutely not. Our country should take no part. We’re supposed to be America First.

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