Given the enormous economic costs Americans have borne from Trump’s war on Iran and the political price Republicans paid in the 2026 Midterm Elections, Trump’s apparent willingness to reignite the conflict is puzzling.
No, More War!
Republican’s Decisive Loss
By midday November 6, 2026, the Republicans had lost seven Senate seats, 41 House seats, and 5 governorships, while Democrats had already secured control of both chambers of Congress, with two additional Senate seats potentially within reach. Over the course of the election, Trump appeared erratic, first suggesting he would become Mr. Veto before striking a conciliatory note and expressing willingness to work with the Democrats. Meanwhile, Vance, who was still bewildered by the extent of the loss, added that the rising cost of living and high gasoline prices also played a role in Republicans’ defeat. Surprisingly, both Trump and Vance seemed to agree that continuing the war was good because it would “prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons”. Notably, Iran has been and is still a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), while its late supreme leader had issued a religious edict barring the development of nuclear weapons despite the country possessing the necessary technology. Therefore, Trump’s and Vance’s justifications above are disingenuous and self-serving.
Costs to Citizens, Plunder to Elites
The war against Iran has significantly raised fuel prices for Americans. CNBC reported on October 9, 2026, that diesel prices had surged by 70% since late February. Later, on October 23, 2026, the Center for American Progress(CAP) reported that the fuel price contributed to inflation and increased average household costs by $2000. Since the US had 134.79 million households in 2025 (according to the latest Census Bureau data), it can be argued that the economy has incurred about $269.58 billion in losses due to the war, excluding costs associated with declining purchasing power to other industries. Despite these high costs, including the cost of military equipment replacement at about $87.6 billion and the political cost of losing the midterms, Trump seems unable to abandon the war because the US Empire and its elites in Washington need it. A clue to the empire’s thinking can be seen in a BBC report from September 4, 2026, in which the outlet, a mouthpiece of the defunct British Empire, reported that Trump wanted to lower fuel prices by bringing in more oil wrestled from Venezuela. The report misleads US citizens to believe that relief can only come if they allow the empire to invade and loot more resources from other countries. However, despite the administration’s use of taxpayers’ money to kidnap President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela in January 2026, citizens have continued to face high energy prices while some oil traders and bankers in Washington have already made their money.
Elites in Washington are not concerned about the elevated fuel prices and inflationary pressures. Instead, they have chosen to project diversionary priorities onto citizens to divert their nation’s resources towards imperialism abroad for personal gain. Therefore, American citizens are not sailing in the same boat as elites in Washington, as the cases of the invasion of Iraq and the abduction of Maduro demonstrate the disparity in returns between the two groups. For instance, while the taxpayers bore approximately $ 3.1 trillion in costs in the invasion, occupation, and destabilization of Iraq between 2003 and 2026, elites in Washington gained control of $1.6-1.7 trillion from the sale of Iraqi oil, an amount that has been channeled to an account at the New York Federal Reserve, and placed under the control of unelected financial elites close to Washington. Paltry amounts are transferred back to successive Iraqi governments, often with unreasonable conditions.
While sources in Washington have concluded that the invasion of Iraq was erroneous, the insistence on retaining control over the proceeds from the country’s oil sales more than two decades later reveals an important detail of the empire. The US may return to war against Iran only to admit later that the Persian country was not building nuclear weapons, while Washington’s elites enrich themselves with proceeds from oil and gas extracted from the country. Western oil companies that profited from trading in oil stolen from Iraq may be driving the Trump administration to seek a similarly profitable adventure in Iran, at whatever cost to American families and consumers. Notably, the US military’s abduction of Maduro enabled Trump to unilaterally appoint firms to sell Venezuelan oil and channel the proceeds through shadowy accounts in Qatar.
Struggling Citizens and Thriving Elites
As Trump sells a war under a false pretext, citizens should note that their role is to pay taxes and provide soldiers to wrestle oil and gas from Iranians so that oil companies and bankers can increase their cash flows in New York and Washington. All the citizens get are promises to make them feel as part of the empire. A joke is told that during colonialism and slavery, when poor white people complained about lack of jobs and livelihoods, rich white capitalists who owned black slaves and channeled all state resources to foreign wars, conquest and plunder would reassure the poor that they need not to worry because they were white. Later, the rich invented racism and established a semblance of a welfare state to buy the support of the poor white majority, instead of investing resources at home to build a thriving society. Trump administration seems to be following a similar path, by dramatizing patriotism and purporting to protect citizens’ jobs by restricting immigration and deporting immigrants, but still using large sums for wars of plunder. The best solution would be to invest the country’s resources at home to provide healthcare, education, and modern infrastructure for all. Instead, his administration is focused on using resources to drive imperialism abroad and leave citizens facing raising cost of living, truancy, homelessness and high medical bills.
Simon Chege Ndiritu is a political observer and research analyst from Africa
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