Trump’s ‘quasi-dove’ era is over. Iran strikes expose his hawkish turn

<p>Deploying the world’s most powerful military seems to exert an almost erotic fascination for Donald Trump</p><ul><li><p><strong>This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; </strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/25/election-newsletter-sign-up-stakes"><strong>sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday</strong></a></p></li></ul><p>It was a claim uttered repeatedly on the 2024 campaign trail: “I’m the only president in 72 years that didn’t start a war,” Donald Trump <a href="https://x.com/RSBNetwork/status/1718726023859024339?s=20">said in Sioux City, Iowa</a>.</p><p>Fact checkers cried foul and pointed out that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/18/jonathan-alter-jimmy-carter-donald-trump-reagan-bush-clinton-obama">Jimmy Carter</a>, president from 1977 to 1981, did not start any wars either. But Trump won the election anyway.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/04/trump-military-us-quasi-dove-era">Continue reading...</a>