TEHRAN - When Donald Trump was vying for a second term in the White House in 2024, he rolled out a series of promises to American voters. He said he would "end inflation," "make America affordable again," and create millions of jobs. He also pledged to "stop all wars" and become a "president of peace."

More than a year after beginning his second stint in the White House, it is safe to say that not only has Trump failed to deliver on those promises, but nearly everything he vowed to improve has instead taken a turn for the worse.

The average American household paid an estimated $1,200 in extra costs last year because of his tariffs. Groceries got more expensive. Coffee prices rose nearly 21 percent. Ground beef climbed almost 13 percent. School supplies jumped more than 7 percent.

The manufacturing jobs he promised never came. Since April, the sector has lost 58,000 jobs. Employment for workers without college degrees — his base — fell by more than 360,000 jobs. Small business owners described conditions as "much worse than the Great Recession."

Electricity bills are up more than 9 percent. The president had promised to cut energy prices in half. When a reporter asked about affordability this fall, he brushed it off. "I don't want to hear about affordability," he said.

A recent NBC News poll found two-thirds of Americans say he has failed them on the economy. 

On the world stage, the war in Ukraine he vowed to end in 24 hours continues. By the end of 2025, the U.S. military had carried out strikes in at least seven countries — Iran, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Nigeria, and Venezuela — since Trump returned to office . According to conflict monitors, U.S. forces conducted more than 600 strikes over the year, surpassing the total from the previous administration's entire four-year term .

In June, the president authorized bombing Iran's nuclear facilities using B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. In September, the U.S. began a sustained campaign of maritime strikes in the Caribbean Sea, targeting vessels the administration said were tied to drug trafficking. Human rights groups reported that more than 100 people were killed in those operations, and lawmakers from both parties have pressed for the release of footage showing a "double tap" attack on survivors clinging to debris .

On Christmas Day, the U.S. launched strikes in Nigeria, the first known American military action in the West African nation . Trump said he chose the date for symbolic reasons — "a Christmas present" — and framed the operation as protecting Christians, a claim he has provided no evidence for and Nigerian authorities have rejected.

So it is only natural that when the U.S. president says he could attack Iran a second time in the coming days instead of making use of the ongoing negotiations regional countries have mediated, observers ask: who is he doing this for?

He won't be doing it for the American people. If Iran ends up closing the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation— which it practiced doing last week and all analysts say it can easily do with mines — groceries and every other bill Americans foot will get higher. Closing the Hormuz Strait, where 20 percent of the world's energy passes, would not only spike oil and gas prices but create a cascade effect across supply chains, making the cost-of-living crisis worse. A Quinnipiac University poll showed 70 percent of voters say the U.S. should not get involved in Iran.

Attacking Iran won't even be good for Trump or his aides. Iran has said it would hit U.S. bases in response. Iran's security chief Ali Larijani indicated this time they would focus on drawing blood and killing American soldiers . Images of soldiers returning in coffins would not bode well for Republicans in the upcoming midterms. Republicans could lose the House, and if they also lose the Senate — which strategists now say is possible — Trump could face impeachment.

Who would Trump be attacking Iran for, if not the American people and not his own political survival? The answer is Israel.

John Mearsheimer, the University of Chicago political scientist, has been saying this for years. "If it were just Trump and Iran, they'd probably cut a deal," he said recently in an interview with Judging Freedom. "Trump doesn't see Iran as an existential threat to America. The problem is he's painted himself into a corner. He can't ignore what Israel wants." And what Israel wants, Mearsheimer said, is the complete dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, as well as caps on Iranian missiles. "The Iranians will never accept that."

Tucker Carlson, a figure that helped Trump win the 2024 presidential election, sat down with the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, for two hours not long ago. Afterward, Carlson said on his show that it was obvious who Huckabee was speaking for. "You really got the feeling of a guy trying his best to repeat the talking points but very constrained," Carlson said. "If you're an American in Israel, you can be certain that your government will take the side of the Israeli government and not your side," he added.

Scott Ritter, the former U.N. weapons inspector, has made the same argument for years. The neoconservatives and the pro-Israel hawks in Washington, he said in remarks to the Tehran Times, have always wanted this war. American interests have nothing to do with it.                                                                     

When Trump threatens Iran while nuclear talks are actually making progress, the world must stop asking why it keeps happening, and start asking who keeps pushing for it.