By Duncan Hopkins

Last Tuesday, Donald Trump posted online that unless Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz by that evening, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Like so many around the world, I was terrified of what he might do. How many millions of civilians was he intending to kill? How much critical, life-sustaining infrastructure would he destroy? A darker thought crossed my mind: would he drop a nuclear bomb on Tehran? As crazy as I felt, I made a few “just in case” calls to my family and could hardly stay composed. Even if there was even one chance in a billion he’d drop the bomb, I felt certain that I would wake up the next morning to the news of millions of deaths across the Middle East and all of the necessary conditions for this planet to enter World War III. I know that this is Donald Trump that we’re talking about, and he’s not known for keeping his word, but a threat to end an entire civilization was not one that he had made before, and not a threat I had the ability to take lightly. Needless to say, I was beyond relieved when I learned we had reached a ceasefire, no matter how short it was scheduled to be.

To me, last Tuesday was the scariest day of Trump’s presidency. Of all of Trump’s evil and illegal acts in the past decade, he has never done anything to make me even consider the possibility that he may usher in the end of humanity. He has done things that are worse, but I never knew just how far the floor had fallen since 2016. 

Because of this fear I felt last week, and because of the fear all of us have held this past decade, I am enraged at elected Democratic officials in D.C. for having done next to nothing to prevent us from getting to this point. On Wednesday morning, the only coherent message I could decipher from federal Democrats was “it’s TACO Tuesday again!” (TACO, of course, stands for Trump Always Chickens Out.) The first time I ever heard this phrase was when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer used it last June to call him weak during negotiations with Iran concerning their nuclear program. Every time I’ve heard it since, it has been following Trump’s backing down from a prior stance. There is only one reason you call someone a chicken: to goad them into something they’re afraid to do.

It is a good thing that Donald Trump is afraid of blowing up the world. I would rather be alive today than dead, wouldn’t you? There are two possibilities for why Democrats have doubled down on this phrase:

1. To make fun of Trump
2. To mask their own thirst for blood in Iran

It is no secret that many in Democratic leadership want to be at war with Iran. The only difference is that they want to do it on their terms, not Trump’s. Many Democrats have posed for pictures with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, while he commits genocide in Palestine and now Lebanon. He has been yearning for a Western war with Iran since before I was born.

In 2008, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton threatened to obliterate Iran no matter their stage of nuclear development. Now, in 2026, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries seem incapable of any action against Trump except for calling him a chicken. These are not the actions of leaders who have the world’s best interests at heart. These are the actions of leaders who are either stupid or just as bloodthirsty as Donald Trump. 

No matter what, you should not laugh along with them as they prod our president closer to World War III. You should question why they are in power at all and advocate, organize, and fight for better leaders to represent you in Washington, D.C.

Last Tuesday, Donald Trump posted online that unless Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz by that evening, “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Like so many around the world, I was terrified of what he might do. How many millions of civilians was he intending to kill? How much critical, life-sustaining infrastructure would he destroy? A darker thought crossed my mind: would he drop a nuclear bomb on Tehran? As crazy as I felt, I made a few “just in case” calls to my family and could hardly stay composed. Even if there was even one chance in a billion he’d drop the bomb, I felt certain that I would wake up the next morning to the news of millions of deaths across the Middle East and all of the necessary conditions for this planet to enter World War III. I know that this is Donald Trump that we’re talking about, and he’s not known for keeping his word, but a threat to end an entire civilization was not one that he had made before, and not a threat I had the ability to take lightly. Needless to say, I was beyond relieved when I learned we had reached a ceasefire, no matter how short it was scheduled to be.

To me, last Tuesday was the scariest day of Trump’s presidency. Of all of Trump’s evil and illegal acts in the past decade, he has never done anything to make me even consider the possibility that he may usher in the end of humanity. He has done things that are worse, but I never knew just how far the floor had fallen since 2016. 

Because of this fear I felt last week, and because of the fear all of us have held this past decade, I am enraged at elected Democratic officials in D.C. for having done next to nothing to prevent us from getting to this point. On Wednesday morning, the only coherent message I could decipher from federal Democrats was “it’s TACO Tuesday again!” (TACO, of course, stands for Trump Always Chickens Out.) The first time I ever heard this phrase was when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer used it last June to call him weak during negotiations with Iran concerning their nuclear program. Every time I’ve heard it since, it has been following Trump’s backing down from a prior stance. There is only one reason you call someone a chicken: to goad them into something they’re afraid to do.

It is a good thing that Donald Trump is afraid of blowing up the world. I would rather be alive today than dead, wouldn’t you? There are two possibilities for why Democrats have doubled down on this phrase:

1. To make fun of Trump
2. To mask their own thirst for blood in Iran

It is no secret that many in Democratic leadership want to be at war with Iran. The only difference is that they want to do it on their terms, not Trump’s. Many Democrats have posed for pictures with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, while he commits genocide in Palestine and now Lebanon. He has been yearning for a Western war with Iran since before I was born.

In 2008, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton threatened to obliterate Iran no matter their stage of nuclear development. Now, in 2026, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries seem incapable of any action against Trump except for calling him a chicken. These are not the actions of leaders who have the world’s best interests at heart. These are the actions of leaders who are either stupid or just as bloodthirsty as Donald Trump. 

No matter what, you should not laugh along with them as they prod our president closer to World War III. You should question why they are in power at all and advocate, organize, and fight for better leaders to represent you in Washington, D.C.