My friend and I have been respectfully debating the War in Iran. I want to start this blog with a direct assessment: it is a war, plain and simple. He backs the war, arguing President Trump is reshaping America’s role and may become the most consequential president of our lifetime. While admitting he could be wrong, he insists that commentators like Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson misjudge the situation. In my opinion, his view assumes a best-case scenario as a certainty. I hope he is right, and I am wrong, because peaceful stability would benefit everyone, but I remain cautious. Being hopeful is not the same as being certain, and some of my progressive friends are just as sure the war will be a disaster. That is the same certainty in the opposite direction, with different emotions driving it. No one really knows what will happen, including President Trump.

We have heard confidence like my friend’s before. George W. Bush made bold promises to transform the Middle East and achieve lasting stability. Instead, it became a drawn-out conflict with immense........

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