How We Got Here

Why neocons keep winning in a supposedly anti-war political age.

(Credit for the voiceover for this article goes to the great Samuel Lipson)

On June 12th, 2025, America’s hawks saw their greatest policy victory since the Iraq War. After decades of debates, negotiations, deals, reneged deals and new negotiations, the question of how the world would handle the Iranian nuclear program was given a decisive answer in the form of a massive, unprecedented Israeli attack across the whole of Iran. Hurried from our country’s State Department that we were not involved did not even last the night before our President woke up and began bragging that he had worked with the aggressors hand-in-glove. The Iranians have promised revenge, while the Israelis have made it clear that their effort will be one for the long-term. Some have said it will last days; others say it will last weeks. Both assessments appear unduly optimistic given the scale of the attack and the way in which it has closed off all alternative pathways for a resolution.

Some may not admit it, and others may not like it, but this means war in the region on a scale we have not seen before. And to those in power across the West right now, it makes perfect sense. If one looks at the statements posted almost instantaneously after the attack by practically every Republican member of Congress—as well as more than a few Democrats—they will see the same exact logic posted on repeat. Tehran, they say, cannot ever be reasoned with, the fact of which makes the prospect of a nuclear Iran an existential threat to both Israel and the United States. Because of this, Israel’s actions are not just justifiable, but the only thing they could have possibly done—in fact, something we should even be grateful for. Their utility, morality, and effectiveness are not even up for debate. All that can or should be done is proclaim our support for them, pray for them, and possibly ask why this was not done earlier.

This, of course, is all bullshit. Still, the last part does bring up an interesting question. Given the supposedly ironclad logic justifying this new conflict, why wasn’t it done earlier? Why was it done now, of all years? Today, we are governed by a supposedly new kind of administration—one that spends practically every waking moment shouting from the rooftops that it represents a new, pro-peace, “America First” approach towards the world. Endless gallons of ink have been spilled writing about this supposed “realignment” and how deeply profound of a break it represents. Among voters, support for America taking a leading role internationally has reached all-time lows; only a miniscule one-fifth of the public wants the country to take a more active role overseas. Yet it has been under this White House—not Bush, not Biden, not even the neocon-laden Trump 1.0—that Israel is at its most emboldened, given a free hand to undertake the most audacious actions imaginable, all with a guarantee of U.S. support from the beginning to the end.

How could this be? The answer is something a lot of people are not going to want to hear. Although they may have been pure in their intentions and were undeniably dealt a bad hand, the fact of the matter is that the American anti-war movement—as defined by its leading public figures and institutions—has completely failed over the past decade. In an attempt to navigate a rapidly changing political environment, it was too clever by half, too susceptible to foolery, and ultimately blind as to how to succeed as an organized movement in a polarized age. Its leaders were pathetically desperate for approval from Republicans who never cared about them and insufferable scolds to their most likely supporters. As a result, anti-war attitudes are inert when they should be ascendant, marginal when they should be hegemonic, and all but ignored by those in power when they should be at the front and back of their minds.

Here’s the story of a movement that had once had everything going for it, the challenges it faced, how it ended up failing all of us, and how we can pick up the pieces they left behind.

The Challenge of Liberal Stan Culture, or: Why the Politics Represented by the Image Below Could Cause World War III

The most frustrating thing about the anti-war movement’s descent into irrelevance is that, at one point, it had won it all.