Will God Forgive America?

I once worked for a marketing firm that prided itself on creating exciting brand messages for corporate clients. The firm believed its marketing slogans were clever enough to be reused when pitching potential new clients. The belief was that if the slogan worked before, it would work again regardless of a client's brand identity. After all, it's not about what a company sells, it's about what motivates Americans to buy.

Branding is expensive business. It's especially critical in politics where voters determine the outcome of an election. So, when Trump ran for president, his brand team also took a convenient, pre-existing branding strategy right off the shelf.

Ronald Reagan's mantra was "Let's make America Great Again." So was Trump's—if it worked in 1980, why not in 2016?  Except "Let's" was dropped to signal he would singlehandedly restore America's virtue and greatness.

In 1980, Iran was holding 66 Americans hostage, and Americans were fed up. So Reagan's rugged image of strength was particularly appealing. By contrast, President Carter was perceived as a sour impediment to America's greatness, a weakling unable to resolve the hostage crisis.

Reagan promised to upend the malaise blistering the nation's ego. He vowed to free the hostages and never make concessions to terrorists. In a presidential election year, Iran stood as a clear and present danger. Americans had their dukes up, and they wanted front row seats to their fellow countrymen coming home. They believed if Reagan was elected, their dream would come true. But, to pull that off, Reagan would need a dirty trick up his sleeve.

Fast forward to 2026. With midterm elections fast approaching, and no genuine clear and present danger facing Americans, Trump also needed a trick up his sleeve to electrify the nation and boost his sagging popularity.

His team offered plausible options: Strike 40 fishing boats off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Send in the National Guard to occupy cities across America. Seize Greenland. Bomb Venezuela and arrest President Maduro and his wife. Launch military operations in Ecuador, and say Cuba is next.

Of all those actions he did take, none boosted his popularity. On the contrary, killing protesters and flying Latino males to El Salvador without due process seemed cruel and un-American. Voters disapproved. Worse, the Epstein files were being released in mere dribs and drabs. His fanbase, smelling a rat, began to turn on him. Now, with his Congressional majority at risk, his brand strategists wondered, what would Reagan do? And that takes us back to 1980.

Reagan, who swore he'd never negotiate with terrorists, was busy doing just that behind the scenes before his 1980 election.

Those negotiations were conducted in secret because they were illegal. Reagan was striking a deal with the Ayatollah Khomeini himself—a man deemed a terrorist by our country. Never mind the clear and present danger he posed.

In exchange for releasing the hostages, Iran would be the beneficiary of a huge arsenal of American weapons—but only on the condition hostages would remain detained until after Reagan's inauguration in January. This way, the new president could take a victory lap and look heroic, despite keeping the sick, depressed hostages tied up a little longer. But who would know such a deal ever happened?

Years later, in 1986, the story broke. The illegalities came to light. There were Congressional hearings. There was lying and denials, but there were also admissions from those who were present. Israel, of course, was a key player in the deal. Beyond the illegality of the arms sales to known terrorists, so was diverting their profits into the bloody hands of Nicaragua's "freedom fighters" to support America's regime change in that country—now known as the Iran-Contra Scandal.

Understanding history sheds light on why Trump chose to blow up Iran at this time, but no one expected the surprising repercussions. Iran has met fire with fire as it vowed to do. Meanwhile, no one knows what's yet to come or how or when it might end. But we can be sure that secret deals are being made with Israel, Russia, and all other nations caught in the crossfire. It's how our government operates behind a facade of constitutional rectitude. Like clever marketing slogans, if they worked once, they will work again and again.

May God forgive America.