U.S. President Donald Trump walks after a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 2, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Donald Trump doomed himself with just one "callous" sentence, with a new analysis from The i Paper's James Ball predicting that his MAGA base will "viciously" turn against him as a result.
On Saturday, the U.S. military joined with Israel in a joint operation against Iran, launching strikes initially focused on key leadership targets. This marked the largest overseas military operation yet launched by Trump in second term, despite consistently campaigning in the past against U.S. involvement in costly foreign wars.
Allies close to the president have expressed concern about the potential political backlash Trump could endure from his MAGA base over this reversal on that key pledge. However, some said that he might avoid that situation if the operation in Iran is quick and results in few casualties. As of Monday, four U.S. servicemembers have reportedly been killed as a result of Iran's counterattacks.
Writing for The i Paper on Monday, Ball argued that Trump's "callous" reaction to those casualties, in the form of a video shared to Truth Social on Sunday afternoon, had already doomed him.
"We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen," Trump said in the video. "And sadly, there will likely be more before it ends. That's the way it is. Likely be more, but we'll do everything possible where that won't be the case."
According to Ball, Trump's one sentence in that statement about casualties being "the way it is" showed him "trying to shrug something off as just the way of the world, when instead it’s the direct consequence of his own actions."
Ball noted that Trump has frequently denigrated the value of military service in the past, highlighting his mockery of the late Sen. John McCain's time as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam and his avoidance of a military cemetery he said was "filled with losers." Trump managed to avoid much political fallout from those past comments, but this time, Ball stressed, will be different.
"The American troops fighting and dying today are doing so at Trump’s behest – by skipping Congressional approval, he has no one to hide behind," Ball wrote. "Everyone knows this war is happening because Trump personally wanted it."
He continued: "Trump’s base voted him in to fix the economy, close the borders and end foreign wars. They were willing to forgive him almost anything if he delivered on that. If the deal falls apart, they will turn on him just as viciously as they’ve turned on every other politician. And he won’t like that one bit."
