The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

Two of America’s greatest presidents were Republicans, Lincoln and Eisenhower. Sharply different from Trump. Lincoln preserved the union, ended slavery, exuded humility and understood the cost of war. Moreover, Lincoln grew past his race prejudice, leading the nation towards equality for Blacks. Eisenhower, a WWII military leader, also knew the cost of war, prevented nuclear war and moved the nation toward enforcement of civil rights for Blacks. Eisenhower prophetically said: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”

But Trump and Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson operate from the dark side of politics. The NYT reported: “Fund-raising features troops’ coffins”, a solicitation for donations for Trump after his visit to Dover, Delaware to honor dead U.S. troops. Then there is Johnson, never served in the U.S. military, questioning the patriotism of his Democratic congressional colleagues, who are veterans. Johnson maligned the veterans as “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” 

Meanwhile, the Iran War is escalating. The Pentagon wants $200 billion more to fund the Iran War, on top of the current eye-popping $1 trillion military budget. Reuters also reported the Pentagon is considering sending more U.S. ground troops to the Middle East. That’s in addition to the thousands of U.S. Marines already on the way. Unhinged GOP members of Congress want to seize Iranian territory, while Trump talks out of both sides of his mouth about sending U.S. troops.

Make no mistake: the Iran War is not a “short excursion.” The U.S. has suffered 13 dead and several hundred wounded, with thousands of dead Iranians and Lebanese. The war and its closing of the Strait of Hormuz (20% of the world’s oil shipped through this waterway) has led to soaring prices for oil and natural gas. A global recession is likely; the U.S. is not immune. In January, Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany said 2026 would see gas prices decrease. But soon it will cost $4 per gallon at the pump in Wisconsin. Big oil is making windfall profits which need to be taxed. It gets worse.

Wisconsin farmers, already facing hardship from Trump’s trade wars, now face economic pain from the Iran War: soaring diesel prices and more costly, increasingly scarce fertilizer from the Middle East. In addition, mortgage rates are rising, “further squeezing housing affordability as the war in the Middle East drives up costs” (NYT). And, promised tax savings for the middle class will be negated by the cost of the Iran War.

Trump and congressional Republicans said there was no money for the expired Affordable Care Act tax credits. But the money spent and requested for the costly and senseless Iran War would do so, guns vs. butter. In 1961, Eisenhower warned “against the acquisition of unwarranted influence whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Guns vs. butter. 

Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.