Increasingly but not surprisingly, United States elections turn on the economy. Indeed, the popularity of the president in nonelection years often slides up or down depending on the performance of the economy.
It may sound simplistic, but we believe that is the way Tennesseans and the majority of the American people ultimately will judge President Donald Trump’s decision on Saturday to take out nuclear facilities in Iran, destroying or at least significantly delaying that country’s bomb-making capability.
We suspect when polling is done several days out from the strikes, a majority of Americans will approve of what was done. The strike, from news reports, was stealthily carried out, strategic in its targets and apparently successful in its mission. It is the kind of operation Americans expect their military to execute.
Iran and its terrorist proxies, after all, have continued a reign of terror against Americans and American assets since the once Western-leaning country experienced regime change in 1979.
An admittedly not comprehensive list of assaults against Americans since the Islamic Revolution published last week by Tzvi Kahn, a research fellow and senior editor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, detailed the hostage situations, suicide bombings, truck bombings, hijackings, terrorist facilitation, missile and rocket attacks, and outright murders that have taken place, including 180 attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East just between Oct. 17, 2023, and Nov. 19, 2024, resulting in more than 180 wounded and three dead U.S. service members.