The New Wars Presidency

A story of fear, delusion, and the quiet march toward another manufactured conflict

By Dr. John Petrone

There is something revealing about the people you meet in moments of political fever. Two older voters in Pennsylvania spent their weekend convinced they were defending democracy by chasing shadows in voter rolls. Their voices were filled with fear. Fear of immigrants. Fear of rising local taxes they blamed on the wrong office. And fear that a young person they care about could be pulled into a war. Like so many others, they clung to the fantasy that Donald Trump was the one man who would prevent that nightmare.

THE REALITY I KNOW

Reading their story stirred the same anger I have carried since the Iraq War years. I have lived through leaders who bent truth until it snapped. I watched young Americans shipped into desert battles for rationales that evaporated under scrutiny. I served long enough to see how quickly politicians treat war as a stage cue. And I have seen how easily the public embraces slogans while service members bear the cost.

THE NEW FLASHPOINT

That cost is not theoretical anymore. Washington is openly preparing for military action inside Venezuela.

Recent reporting paints a grim picture. A long-awaited call between U.S. officials and Nicolás Maduro was meant to be a final chance to defuse the crisis. Instead, it collapsed within minutes. The United States delivered an ultimatum that could not have been clearer. Maduro could leave Venezuela with safe passage for himself and his family, but only if he resigned immediately. Maduro’s regime countered by offering elections while insisting they retain control over the armed forces. Washington rejected the idea outright, and the call ended without progress.

This was not a diplomatic exercise. It was a warning shot.

And everything that has happened since confirms it.

Trump told service members on Thanksgiving that land-based operations inside Venezuela would begin very soon. Until now, the administration has focused on sinking speedboats in the Caribbean. Now they are preparing for ground operations, framed under the banner of fighting the so-called Cartel de los Soles, an organization U.S. officials say is run by Maduro and his top allies. Maduro and several senior officials have already been indicted as part of what the Justice Department has described as a narco-terrorist structure.

Then the escalation became unmistakable. Trump declared Venezuelan airspace closed in its entirety. A message blasted across social media and interpreted throughout the region as preparation for an imminent strike. Caracas attempted to reestablish communication afterward, but Washington did not respond.

At the same time, the State Department formally labeled the Cartel de los Soles a Foreign Terrorist Organization. This was not symbolic. It placed Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, and the regime’s defense minister in the same legal category as leaders of al-Qaeda and ISIS. That designation dramatically expands presidential authority. It allows the administration to operate militarily without new authorization from Congress, and it potentially opens the door to invoking the post 9-11 Authorization for the Use of Military Force.

While this legal groundwork is laid, the military buildup has accelerated. In the Caribbean, warships and strike aircraft have surged into position. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier on the planet, is now stationed near Venezuela’s coastline. A nuclear submarine. F-35 fighters. At least ten additional naval vessels. The scale is far beyond anything associated with drug interdiction. Regional observers know exactly what this looks like.

It looks like a country preparing for war while telling its citizens it does not start them.

THE MYTH AND THE MAN

Trump’s supporters relentlessly repeat the phrase no new wars. Yet the man they defend never made that commitment. He played with the phrase. He illuminated it when it helped him. He vanished it when it did not. His base absorbed it anyway because the myth feels safer than the truth.

And now we are seeing the truth.

A president who claims to hate war is building the foundation for a new one. A base that swore it valued peace now supports action against Venezuela despite openly admitting they have no idea why it is happening. A party that once accused Democrats of warmongering is applauding a military buildup that looks like the opening chapter of a prolonged conflict.

This is not hypocrisy. This is conditioning.

THE PATTERN

The same pattern I have written about for months is alive again.

A myth the base repeats louder than the man who inspired it
A crisis manufactured to trigger fear
A legal structure crafted to bypass scrutiny
A military buildup justified by slogans
A public numbed by years of disinformation
A leader who wants the appearance of strength more than the obligations of restraint

This playbook is not new. We have seen versions of it in Iraq, in countless covert operations, in every war where the public was softened with fear and stripped of clarity before the first shot fired.

THE COST THAT IS COMING

And once again, real lives are the collateral. Young Americans. The same age as the person that couple in Pennsylvania was worried about. They will carry the consequences while the people who cheered this march toward conflict will go right back to their routines.

I have lived long enough, and worn enough uniforms, to know how this ends when truth is discarded.

It ends with families grieving. It ends with promises broken. It ends with a country wondering how it was fooled again.

HOW WE FIGHT BACK

We fight back by refusing to let war be normalized.
We fight back by calling out propaganda for what it is.
We fight back by demanding justification instead of slogans.
We fight back by challenging a public that has grown too comfortable believing myths.
We fight back by standing with the service members and families who will bear the consequences of decisions made by men who never served.
We fight back by telling the truth without hesitation.

A nation that wants to remain a democracy must never hand blank checks to leaders who treat conflict as a political tool.

It is time to confront what is happening before it becomes irreversible.

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