War is ugly.
So is hubris.
The next time President Donald Trump tells you how well the war is going, remember that U.S. missile strikes have killed more than 1,400 people in Iran, including 168 children who perished at an elementary school.
Remember, too, that the average price of gas in America has surged more than 65 cents a gallon in the two weeks since the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran, a costly consequence that affects every family across the country, whether they have a car or not.
But economic setbacks pale in comparison to tragic loss of life.
Just ask the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the budding war, some of whose bodies were greeted by a commander in chief in a cheesy baseball cap.
The dead in Iran, ranging in age from 8 months old to 88 years old, include 200 women and 11 health care workers.
Other casualties in the region include at least 770 dead in Lebanon, 15 dead in Israel, 27 dead in Iraq and six dead in Kuwait.
But one of the worst casualties of this war is compassion.
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!” Trump said Friday in a social media post.
“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time — Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.”
About a week before Trump’s “great honor” declaration, a White House post promoting the war mixed “Call of Duty” video game footage with actual video of deadly missile strikes in Iran.
The post was quickly repudiated.
“They think war is a video game,” said Paul Rieckhoff, a U.S. Army veteran and the founder of the Independent Veterans of America,
Rieckhoff called the mashup “inappropriate, juvenile and unacceptable.”
Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, also slammed the video, writing on X that “war is not a meme, a video game, or a TikTok reel.”
