USS Arizona
By Julie A. Ryan
During a hearing with the Senate Committee on Intelligence, U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, refused to answer whether Iran posed an imminent threat to America. Since Gabbard refused to answer, I’ll take the liberty of answering for her regarding whether there is an imminent threat to America—yes, there is, and his name is Donald Trump.
Not only is Trump a complete embarrassment to the American people, he’s also managed to alienate every ally that might have had our nation’s back and has made our country the target of many countries’ ire. No longer a respected leader on the world stage, America is more vulnerable than it has ever been.
Trump has threatened or attacked more countries than any other president in America’s 250-year history. He’s targeted Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Cuba, Colombia, and Mexico, and he’s threatened to acquire Canada and Greenland—and he has almost three years left of his presidency to mess with the world. America is being mocked by other countries, and we deserve it for allowing such an incompetent leader to acquire so much unchecked power.
Our deserved mockery was clearly exemplified during Trump’s meeting with Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi—a meeting that should live in infamy. Gasps were heard from the audience when Trump responded to a Japanese reporter’s question about why Trump didn’t inform Japan and other allies in advance of America’s attack on Iran. Trump said, “We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor?” This insensitive reply was yet another in a long list of Trump’s demonstrations of his deficiencies in the realm of international diplomacy.
I wish I was the reporter who asked why Trump didn’t inform allies about his attack on Iran. I would have blurted out several responses to Trump’s offensive question about Pearl Harbor, starting with: “Um, you weren’t told about Pearl Harbor because you weren’t born, you weren’t president, and because Japan was not an ally to America in 1941, you clueless idiot.”
It’s so easy to mock Trump for his international relations mistakes. But Trump’s gaffes have crossed the threshold from comedy to tragedy. People have died as a result of Trump’s boneheaded decision to impulsively start a war with Iran. His misguided / unguided / self-guided decisions are currently hurting the world economy and security around the world.
The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 resulted in the United States joining the fight against imperialism and fascism. What will it take for Americans to rise up and stop our own fascist and imperialist leader? What will it take to remove the imminent threat that America is currently facing? The 25th amendment. If a majority of Trump’s supplicant-filled cabinet, including Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, John Ratcliffe, Pam Bondi, and J.D. Vance would declare Trump’s incompetency to Speaker Mike Johnson and Congress, then Trump could potentially be replaced by Vance. Vance would clearly bring other issues to the executive office, but we’re at a point where we have to consider choosing the lesser of two evils. At least Vance has historically been against war with Iran and is less likely than Trump give countries around the world reasons to destroy Americans.
Once Trump is finally removed from power—by his cabinet, by Congress, by act of God (Are you there, God?), or by other methods—Americans will have to begin the uphill task of repairing international relationships and restoring our country’s standing in the world. It will be a long road to regaining respect on the world stage. But Trump’s removal from leadership will no doubt result in America’s immediate increase in likability, and then we could start focusing on the problems in our own country—and return to focusing on what’s really in the Epstein files.
© 2026 by Julie A. Ryan. All rights reserved.
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WHEN LIFE WAS STILL . . . 