Remember when Trump ran on ending “forever wars” and keeping America out of Middle East conflicts? Remember “America First”? Yeah, about that.

WHAT’S GOING ON: Trump has launched the United States into a full-scale war with Iran—Operation Epic Fury, because of course that’s what they called it—despite spending literal decades railing against exactly this kind of military intervention.

According to the AP, U.S. and Israeli forces have killed top Iranian leadership, including Supreme Leader Khamenei, and are attacking the country’s military and critical infrastructure. Three U.S. troops are already dead, with five more seriously wounded.

BUT BUT BUT: The administration claims Iran posed “unacceptable and imminent risks” to U.S. interests.

Here’s the thing: even Trump’s own advisers can’t point to a specific threat that required this action. The Defense Intelligence Agency said just last year that Iran was probably a decade away from having a missile capable of reaching the U.S.

Trump himself claimed a previous strike had already “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capability. So which is it?

OF COURSE: The usual suspects are falling in line. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has never met a Middle Eastern country he didn’t want to bomb, is now arguing that “America First is not isolationism.” Cotton predicts Republicans will back Trump no matter what. They’re already workshopping the talking points: this is quick, surgical, no boots on the ground. Sound familiar?

WHY IT MATTERS: This comes just weeks after Trump launched a military strike to remove Venezuela’s Maduro from power. The man who campaigned on ending foreign entanglements is now running two regime-change operations simultaneously. One Middle Eastern diplomat told the AP this is “precisely what we did not want,” warning that prolonged strikes will have consequences “not only for the region but…felt around the world.” Oil prices are already spiking.

ZOOM OUT: Trump launched this war without congressional approval. Democrats are calling it illegal. Senator Tim Kaine asked the obvious question: “Haven’t we learned something from 25 years of war in the Middle East?” Meanwhile, with Iran’s leadership decimated and no clear succession plan, the U.S. may have just signed up for exactly the kind of prolonged conflict Trump voters thought they were voting against.

BOTTOM LINE: Every campaign promise has an expiration date, but “I’ll keep you out of Middle East wars” lasting barely a year into his second term is something. The people who voted for “America First” got another forever war instead.

Trump just admitted the U.S. killed the very people his administration had picked to lead Iran after assassinating Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—calling the strike “so successful it knocked out most of the candidates.” When asked what happens next, Trump offered “several seemingly contradictory visions,” praised Venezuela (where the U.S. abducted the president) as “the perfect scenario,” and vowed bombing would continue “uninterrupted throughout the week” to achieve “PEACE.” Read the full story.

Three U.S. Army soldiers were killed and five seriously wounded during Trump’s joint assault with Israel on Iran, marking the first American casualties in what the president himself warned would likely be a deadly operation. The troops—deployed to Kuwait for logistics—died as Iran retaliated against U.S. bases in Bahrain and the UAE following the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei. Trump said he “expects that to happen” and predicts the conflict lasting “four weeks or so.” Let’s hope. Read the full story.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, directly contradicted Trump’s justification for bombing Iran, stating he “saw no intelligence that Iran was on the verge of launching any kind of preemptive strike against the United States of America.” (SURPRISE—another Trump “preemptive” war launched on lies.) Warner called it “a war of choice” and demanded Trump seek a congressional declaration of war, while Democrats prepare to vote against authorization for what looks disturbingly like Iraq 2.0: Republican President Needs a War Edition. Read the full story.

On Friday we asked, Should Trump be questioned by Congress for his Epstein ties next? 98% of you said YES.

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Oil prices jumped more than 10 percent Sunday night after Trump’s strikes on Iran killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered retaliatory attacks on oil tankers. The main U.S. crude market opened at $75 per barrel—and analysts warn it could hit…

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