Axios: Trump Moves Closer To Major War With Iran

No guarantees, but usually the attacks occur:

-After the 4pm EST market close on Friday
-Pizza activity spikes around the Pentagon
-Gay bar activity plummets around the Pentagon https://t.co/Jbvh8DMF9C

— Battle Beagle (@HarmlessYardDog) February 18, 2026

We are inching closer to the point of no return.

Axios:

“The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.

Why it matters: A U.S. military operation in Iran would likely be a massive, weeks-long campaign that would look more like full-fledged war than last month’s pinpoint operation in Venezuela, sources say.

The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that’s much broader in scope — and more existential for the regime — than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.

Such a war would have a dramatic influence on the entire region and major implications for the remaining three years of the Trump presidency.

With the attention of Congress and the public otherwise occupied, there is little public debate about what could be the most consequential U.S. military intervention in the Middle East in at least a decade. …”

Granted, I didn’t think this would happen.

I thought the political fallout from launching a major war with Iran on the 2026 midterms, J.D. Vance’s prospects for running in 2028, Donald Trump’s legacy and the remainder of his presidency would be too great to risk in an election year. If the Trump administration was going to go full regime change, I thought they would at least wait until after the midterms when Trump is a lame duck.

Anyway, if Trump goes ahead with this, MAGA will become MIGA overnight and will be remembered as a giant scam. They will never live it down. Vance 2028 will be dead in the water. Democrats will take the House and the Senate in the midterms and the White House in 2028.

Note: I still think that it was better for Trump to win in 2024. I would rather get it over with now and shed illusions than potentially drag the Trump era into the 2030s.