Alex Explains the News: The Wrath Not Taken

In which Alex Howe opines on headlines.

What, in AETN’s view, is the biggest silver lining amongst all the recent horrific news? The headline that didn’t happen.

We didn’t bomb Iran.

Iran shot down one of our drones. They say it was intruding in their territory; we disagree. A significant, mostly overlooked detail: their military claims to have warned us “several times” before shooting down our drone. Do we know for sure that that claim is true? No. But we do know that our media is much more interested in provocatively focusing on Iranian celebrations after the fact.

Ask yourself how the media would have reacted if Trump had gone ahead with the bombing. Remember how they reacted when he bombed Syria in 2017? Talking heads stumbled over each other to praise him.

There is something intrinsically compelling about conflict. As a kid at recess, didn’t your heart race when you heard other kids were fighting? Let this be said about Trump: for everything he does that peace-loving people rightfully abhor, the man appears genuinely averse to war. It’s possible his true American antecedent is Charles Lindbergh: a global celebrity who parlayed his fame into a political career—a career mostly remembered today for his vociferous opposition to World War II. (And malignant racism.)

Instead of bombing them, Trump is sanctioning and cyberattacking Iran. While this strategy could still lead to open conflict, Trump has now blocked the more aggressive instincts of his military advisors far more often than he’s acted on them; this is a president who prefers the humiliation of exchanging letters with Kim Jong-un to the destructiveness of other approaches to North Korea.

It’s a strange time to be alive. For those who believe that less bombing is better, let these strange blessings be counted—and join Big Frank himself in praying for peace.