Well, someone with his tiny fingers on the buttons of power unilaterally put us at war with Iran. Now, let me be clear: I’ve not fired up the keyboard to write a defense of the Iranian regime.

But as a parent who has had to explain numerous times, “Just because they did [bad thing] doesn’t make [your bad thing] ok to do…”, I have to note that the news we woke up to goes against just about everything our nation stands for.

To begin with, this was the self-declared “President of peace.” I guess this is his tantrum for not getting the Nobel Peace Prize?

Side note: today, February 28, is Linus Pauling’s birthday. He’s a big deal hereabouts as he attended our (then) college, and donated his papers and memorabilia to his alma mater. He’s also a big deal elsewhere as the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes – one of them being the Peace Prize. I’ve actually held his Peace Prize up in Special Collections. He’s the kind of guy you expect them to give one to…not our current president.

At any rate, this is just a further, despicable escalation of his acts as a malefactor on the world stage. What he has set into motion is what is explicitly proscribed by our Constitution. Only Congress can declare war, and the flimsy excuses he’s used to paper over his actions of legality don’t cut it.

On the one hand, folks in Iran are reported to be on the street celebrating the death of Khamenei. On the other hand, our president failed to notify Congress before the strikes – there is a protocol to be followed, and he did not. (And it’s worth noting this is exactly the kind of action he campaigned against...but that’s politics, not law.)

Today was not the first time he’s abrogated his duty to faithfully execute the Office of President and preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. We know is not going to be the last. He has acted increasingly unlike a POTUS and more like a DESPOTus; blurring the line between that against which he rages and his own actions.

I am not unhappy that Khamenei has, apparently, been toppled. I am beyond disappointed, however, that in doing so, our nation has stepped further from the rule of law, and I am very concerned that very quickly we will hear that the ends somehow justify the means.

They don’t.

People who love our nation must undertake “…a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.”