President Airstrike

The peace president in action.

Source: Official White House photo.

Axios notes “Trump’s lethal presidency” and his propensity to use airstrikes.

He’s attacked seven nations, three of which — IranNigeria and Venezuela — had never been targeted by U.S. military strikes. He authorized more individual air strikes in 2025 than President Biden did in four years.

Here’s a chart.

It all fits a pattern: He is able to engage in unilateral action that has an immediate payoff, pretending that whatever his amorphous goal is, it is met, while all the while avoiding the complexities of ongoing operations. Further, it all happens at a distance with relatively small risks to US forces (although, as we are now seeing, not zero risk).

I recognize that the chart does not include Obama’s drone strikes, nor the prodigious list that would be on a Bush chart. But the contrast with Biden is especially striking, given the campaign rhetoric in the last electoral cycle.

FILED UNDER: National Security, The Presidency, US Politics, , , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.

Comments

  1. Scott says:

    It all fits a pattern: He is able to engage in unilateral action that has an immediate payoff, pretending that whatever his amorphous goal is, it is met, while all the while avoiding the complexities of ongoing operations. Further, it all happens at a distance with relatively small risks to US forces (although, as we are now seeing, not zero risk).

    It also fits the profile of a bully. Punch down on those weaker, suck up to those stronger.

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  2. Michael Reynolds says:

    If only those darned Norwegians had given him the Nobel Peace Prize.

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  3. Sleeping Dog says:

    He’s probably upset that there is nothing in Greenland worth bombing.

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  4. Charley in Cleveland says:

    He authorized more individual air strikes in 2025 than President Biden did in four years.

    When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

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  5. DK says:

    But the contrast with Biden is especially striking, given the campaign rhetoric in the last electoral cycle.

    Hence why there are many Trumpers unhappy with this warmongering, particularly non-traditional Republican voters who gambled on him. That’s why the polling on this is really ugly for Trump. Big political loser. Bush started the Iraq campaign with over supermajority support, President Trumpstein is facing the exact opposite. And war weariness tends not to move in reverse.

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