Trump Was Right to Attack Iran -- Wait, What Did I Just Say?

Ruben Navarrette
Tue, 03 Mar 2026 15:31:34 -0800
Opinion

SAN DIEGO — Even a broken president can be right once or twice.

As a result of the United States attacking Iran — with help from Israel — these are scary times. But they're also complicated times. Discount anyone who claims to have it all figured out.

In politics, there are two things that are difficult to do. One is to take someone whom you normally support and criticize them when they do something wrong. The other is to take someone whom you normally oppose and give them credit when they do something right.
Updated: Tue Mar 03, 2026

SAN DIEGO — Even a broken president can be right once or twice.

As a result of the United States attacking Iran — with help from Israel — these are scary times. But they're also complicated times. Discount anyone who claims to have it all figured out.

In politics, there are two things that are difficult to do. One is to take someone whom you normally support and criticize them when they do something wrong. The other is to take someone whom you normally oppose and give them credit when they do something right.

As an unrepentant Never Trump'er, I'm surprised to find myself in the second group. For all his flaws and defects, President Donald Trump was right to strike Iran — before it obtained a nuclear weapon and not after.

There is little doubt that Iran would like to have two weapons. One would be aimed at Israel, its longtime foe. Take a wild guess where the other one would be headed.

The radical Islamic world likes to give its enemies nicknames. First you destroy the Little Satan, then you go after the Big Satan.

Trump was decisive, and he did the messy thing that needed to be done. How messy? According to a poll by the New York Times, only 21% of Americans support the strike against Iran.

My compadres need a history lesson. Iran has been at war with the United States since Nov. 4, 1979 when student militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took hostage 66 Americans. Americans have short memories, and so many of us probably thought the conflict with Iran ended when the last of the hostages were released on Jan 20, 198I — which also happens to be the day that Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president of the United States for the first time.

But if the war was over, Iran didn't get the memo. It's been attacking, needling and messing with the United States — both directly and through proxies — for nearly half a century.

None of the eight presidents — Republicans and Democrats — who served as commander in chief during the last 47 years had the stomach to tackle Iran. By the way, that includes Trump in his first term. They all just kicked the can down the road. By carrying out Operation Epic Fury, Trump 2.0 stopped kicking.

I admit this is a strange place for me to stand. Over the decades, I've been mislabeled as a conservative and mistaken for a Republican. That happens when you're part of Generation X (which cast its first votes for Reagan) and a Mexican American who grew up in the conservative farm country of Central California.

But no one has ever — ever — accused me of being a Trump supporter. The Mad King and I have been on the outs ever since June 15, 2015, when the real estate mogul — in declaring that he was running for president the first time — promised to protect the good white people from the bad brown people.

Maybe I'm overly sensitive. But there was just something about Trump labeling my grandfather — who came to the United States legally as a child during the Mexican revolution about 113 years ago — a criminal, rapist and drug trafficker that rubbed me the wrong way.

During the four years of Trump I, and the first year of Trump II, I've called the dime store dictator every nasty name in the book — and a few that aren't in the book.

Let me be clear. I think Trump is a deeply flawed person, and that he has been a cruel, narcissistic and terrible president. I believe that, in his second term, he has failed spectacularly on no less than a dozen major issues, including tariffs, immigration, wealth disparity, homelessness, inflation, federalism, states' rights, race relations, etc. And, overall, I think Trump has damaged the country I love in such profound ways that it will take generations to repair it. For example, does anyone remember a quaint little concept known as due process?

But my podcast is called "Ruben In The Center" for a reason. I despise both the red team and the blue team. Neither wants me as a member because I'm not 100% obedient. I call balls and strikes.

So unlike many of my friends on the left, the fact that I recognize all that this president has gotten wrong doesn't prevent me from giving him credit on the rare occasion when he gets something right.

Whether Trump's critics are ready to accept it or not, striking Iran is one of those times.