Donald Trump, the self-proclaimed “candidate of peace” who staked his presidential campaign against foreign wars, kicked off a deeply unpopular war with Iran costing American taxpayers at least $1 billion a day. $1 billion a day could:
- Buy breakfast and lunch for every single K-12 student in the U.S. with hundreds of millions of dollars to spare.
- More than triple daily funding for food assistance.
- Fully cover the daily cost of permanently extending ACA tax credits and restoring the devastating Medicaid cuts that threaten care for millions from Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill.
- Replace at least 200,000 lead pipes in the U.S. drinking water supply.
Trump’s reckless incompetence has had staggering consequences for Americans. Six American soldiers died in a Kuwait facility that lacked adequate protection from aerial attacks, and operational incompetence led to the loss of three fighter jets at the hands of one of the U.S. closest-coordinating allies in the region. His strikes have left the State Department scrambling to protect Americans. Embassies only began sending warnings and evacuation notices after the conflict began. Now, with embassies shuttered and regional airspace largely closed to commercial traffic, up to one million U.S. nationals living in the Middle East are stranded with no comprehensive solutions from the administration.
Trump Administration Incompetence Is Getting Our Soldiers Killed And Stranding Hundreds Of Thousands of Americans With No Plan to Get Them Home
- Trump Attacked Without Evacuating Diplomats and Their Families From Embassies That Have Been Targeted and Shuttered. The Trump administration did not prepare to evacuate its diplomatic missions in the Middle East before launching the strikes, only authorizing the departure of non-emergency personnel from Israel and Lebanon. The State Department has now been forced to close its embassies in Kuwait, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia entirely, and evacuate non-emergency staff in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and Pakistan in the wake of attacks and threats:
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- The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City was hit by Iranian aerial strikes.
- The U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan is under a shelter-in-place order due to direct threats and protests.
- The U.S. Consulate in Dubai, UAE was targeted by a drone that struck an adjacent parking lot
- The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by two drones, causing a fire.
- A U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan was attacked by rioters.
- Qatar is evacuating its own residents living near the U.S. Embassy in Doha, which is under a shelter-in-place order for all remaining staff but remains open.
- Up to One Million Americans Are Stranded in the Middle East With No Comprehensive Evacuation Plan. Trump launched strikes against Iran without any consideration for U.S. nationals in the region. Instead, the State Department has been forced to issue post-hoc warnings to U.S. nationals in the area, and is scrambling to secure military airplanes and charter flights for evacuation. Up to 1 million U.S. nationals are stranded in the Middle East, with thousands requesting evacuation even as President Trump has no plan to get them home. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem admitted they are “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” Israel and the U.S. have been desperately shuttling Americans to the Egyptian border as missiles scream overhead and flights remain few and far between.
- Tens of Thousands of Travellers Are Stranded As Aviation Hubs Shutter. At least 20,000 flights were cancelled around the world in the days following the commencement of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran as several countries closed their airspace to commercial air traffic, leaving tens of thousands of travellers stranded at home and abroad, with no end to the conflict in sight.
- 6 American Soldiers Died In A Facility That Lacked Adequate Protection From Aerial Attack, Drawing Criticism From Military Officials. Trump administration incompetence has already killed American soldiers in Trump’s war with Iran. At least six American soldiers died during an attack on a tactical operations center in Kuwait. Three military officials have questioned whether the building was adequately fortified against Iranian drones and missiles, telling reporters that the center was merely a trailer with office space fortified by T-walls, lacking overhead protection. Instead of taking accountability, however, Trump dismissed the military deaths as “the way it is,” and said, “There will likely be more before it ends.”
- Air Force Veteran: “Operational Incompetence” Led To the Loss of Three Fighter Jets. On Mar. 2, Kuwait mistakenly shot down three American F-15E fighter jets in a friendly fire incident. An Air Force veteran attributed the loss to “operational incompetence,” given that the U.S. Air Force is permanently stationed in Kuwait and the two countries regularly train together.
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Federal expenditures for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were $274 million per day in FY 2024.
Permanently extending ACA tax credits would cost an estimated $95.9 million per day, according to the CBO. The GOP’s cuts to Medicaid amount to an estimated $249.6 million per day.