The Death of "America First" Through Trump's Waging War on Iran

In late June 2025, the U.S. Air Force and Navy, under the direction of President Donald Trump, implemented Operation Midnight Hammer. This operation was destined to destroy alleged major nuclear facilities in Iran, as it accomplished through its Twelve-Day War. In his address to the nation following these attacks, Trump alleged that “This can not continue”. Just months later, on February 28, 2026, the US yet again partnered with Israel to continue sending major strikes to Iran, still under the guise of decreasing Iranian nuclear power while increasing sovereignty for the Iranian people. However, despite the many claims that Trump makes in efforts to defend these actions, a Reuters/Ipsos poll concluded Sunday that only a mere 25% of Americans support Trump’s use of military force in Iran, following a larger trend of over 53% of Americans believing that the administration is far too willing to use military force. Considering that a major factor in Trump’s being re-elected was his “America First” agenda, it is clear that neither his constituents nor the US as a whole are seeing net positives in the Trump Administration’s foreign policy. 

The attacks on Iran were launched on Saturday, destined to eliminate what US and Israeli leaders deemed as an “imminent threat.” It is important to note that, like Operation Midnight Hammer, President Trump did not seek Congressional approval or oversight before taking these major actions. It was later revealed to the media that the strikes had killed former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, alongside some other major Iranian public officials. President Trump ensured that this would be greatly beneficial to the Iranian people and that this is the perfect time to rise and overtake their government. However, he did not address that a major factor in Iran’s decades-long humanitarian and general domestic crisis has been American complacency, with initiatives like the aforementioned Operation Midnight Hammer exacerbating mass killings and protester deaths. Disastrously, a spokesperson for Iran’s Health Ministry Hossein Kermanpour reported “the most bitter news” of the conflict on a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, directly following the strikes: over 100 reported innocent children had been slaughtered in strikes on a school building. Kermanpour stated “God knows how many more children’s bodies they will pull from under the rubble,” while Trump still has yet to comment. While Iran continues to grapple with the disastrous effects of these strikes, the United States is coping with them in its own ways, as the strikes have also proven to be disruptive for the catalysts of this war. 

Economic struggles will beset the United States amidst this conflict. On Wall Street, the conflict runs counter to recent trends of American military interventions, which have had negligible effects on the stock market. Rather, this conflict has specifically arisen during a period of pre-existing stock market tensions, as stock market futures already point toward a decline for the US session, with S&P 500 futures down more than 1%. This is only set to increase as ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dwindles. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most vital shipping lanes for oil and natural resources in the world, with roughly 33% of seaborne oil exports and 20% of liquid natural gas exports passing through it. Because of its importance, the Islamic Republic is likely to make commercial traffic through the strait unsafe in retaliatory measures. Most recently, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes against U,S, bases in Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain. Principal at oil and gas firm Kloza Advisors, Tom Kloza, contextualizes that this will further risk economic detriments caused by the Hormuz Strait. Kloza states, “The attack by Iran on other neighbours in the Persian Gulf changes the calculus and the extent of the assaults put pressure on insurers to either aggressively raise tanker rates for Strait of Hormuz travel or balk at underwriting any traffic.” Though it has been speculated that if a recession ensues, the Trump Administration could utilize resources from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the current inventory of the reserve is only roughly 415 million barrels of oil, which would likely be outstripped by these economic offsets. 

National security threats have also been prominent in the United States since the conflict’s beginning. Federal counterterrorism agencies, namely the FBI and DHS, have announced that they are on “war footing” due to speculations that the “Tehran regime” and its proxy forces are seeking revenge. Former FBI and Treasury Department counterterrorism official Mathew Levitt has publicly stated that “Iran has developed this capability to carry out attacks abroad over many years”, and that “If there was ever a time the regime would act on it, it would be now.” As tensions ensue and Iran continues targeting more U.S. agencies internationally, these threats will continue to grow. Meanwhile, political tensions will rise as Americans grow wary of the Trump Administration’s abuse of power in foreign policy. 

Despite the American people supporting Trump’s “America first” regime by a 12-point margin, it is clear that American military intervention has no end in sight as both international tensions and retaliatory military actions ensue. As the supposed war between the US and Iran wages on, America will likely be placed last in Trump’s list of priorities throughout the rest of his second presidential term.

Extemp Analysis by: Jana Schodzinski

Question: Will conflict between the US and Iran undermine the Trump Administration’s “America first” regime?

AGD: Due to the question being primarily of domestic concern rather than international consequences, a humorous AGD can be suitable. Satirizing specific statements that Trump and members of his cabinet have made concerning their “America first” regime is fitting and appropriate. However, a narrative AGD detailing the plight of the hundreds of casualties of the US/Israel/Iran conflict thus far would also be suitable. Choose whichever fits your personal strengths more. 

Background: In your background, be sure to include prior US strikes on Iran, specifically Operation Midnight Hammer. Additionally, include other ways in which the US has placed international conflict over domestic policy in the past year of the Trump Administration (i.e. Venezuela, Russia, Israel, etc) despite claims of doing the opposite. 

Answer: Of course, every extemper will have a different answer to the question depending on personal viewpoints. However, a potential roadmap may be as follows:

Thesis- The conflict between the US and Iran has already undermined the Trump Administration’s “America first” regime, as we are wasting valuable resources on international affairs that have only harmed all parties involved. 

1- Weakening alliances and decreasing global influence

2- Economic disruptions

3- Military politicization 

Analysis + Concluding Thoughts: Because the question is evaluative, expectation/verification or expectation/violation substructure will work best. Remember to stay up to date on the most recent updates on the conflict, and retain morality and ethical standards when using narrative AGDs and on-tops. Good luck in the remainder of the season!

Read more here: 

• Vox Staff, Vox

• Hafsa Khalil and David Gritten, BBC

• Michelle Velez and Lauren Kent, CNN

• Joseph Rodgers, CSIS

• Kevin Liptak, Jeremy Herb, and Kristen Holmes, CNN

• Jason Lange, Iris Lee, and Ben Welsh, Reuters

• Deepa Parent and Tess McClure, The Guardian

• Joe Rennison, River Akira Davis, and Eshe Nelson, The New York times

• Spencer Kimball and Pippa Stevens, CNBC

• CIO Office, EFG International

• Josh Meyer, USA Today