Trump kicked off his re-election campaign just like Nixon with Vietnam, Reagan with Grenada, Bush 1 with Iraq, and Bush 2 with both Afghanistan and Iraq - with a war. He, himself, has identified this strategy and suggested that Obama would follow it back in 2012 when he repeatedly tweeted that Obama, who was up for reelection that year, was going to start a war with Iran at any moment.

But a war to increase your popularity before a reelection campaign is a Republican trick, not a Democratic one. For Trump this is a twofer: not only does it give him the potential popularity of being a wartime president, but it also is, from his point of view, a way of punishing America for impeaching him.

Will it work for him? Some say no, but get ready for the “rally around the flag” effect when Iran hits us back, and Iran is a hell of a lot bigger and more powerful than any of the countries Republican presidents have used for their reelection campaigns in the past.

-Thom