Trump must end the war today and fire all top officials connected to it

For the last eight months, the Iran war has been a topic of fierce debate: is the war in our national interest? Was Iran an imminent threat? Should we stay the course or escalate? This debate raged through the historic MAGA coalition that brought Donald Trump and JD Vance to the White House. My position on it was clear: the war was the catalyst for my resignation from the Trump administration — and likely for many others who left without making their disagreement public. This debate burned hot and loudly in right wing circles online, on podcasts and occasionally even on right-wing mainstream platforms like Fox News. Then suddenly, on Tuesday night, after months of deafening argument, all of that debate was suddenly silenced, like a father coming home from work telling bickering siblings to knock off the racket. The American people loudly rejected the war by voting against President Trump’s Republican party and handing the Democrats a historic landslide, granting them solid control of the House and Senate. The American people settled the debate. It's time to end the war in Iran. This is irrefutable, as Vice President Vance has admitted. Over 70% of voters blamed the Iran war and our off balanced relationship with Israel for the out of control inflation that affects their daily lives and have zero tolerance for more wars of choice. With this clear message from the American people, Trump must immediately end the war – today. No good will come from prolonging the conflict; the American people have made this painfully very clear. President Trump must end the war by making it clear to his national security team that the war is over. To ensure that he is not thwarted by the neocon national security “blob” as he was in his first administration, he needs to fire and replace the secretary of defense (Pete Hegseth), the CIA director (John Ratcliffe), the secretary of state (Marco Rubio) and his chief of staff (Susie Wiles). President Trump must bring in new appointees who understand that we must end the war and who know how these institutions will likely attempt to keep us at war. Above all, these new leaders must have the courage and management skills to ensure these organizations do exactly as the president instructs. We end the war by withdrawing our troops from the Persian Gulf and lifting our blockade. This is not as dramatic as it sounds. Iran has already destroyed most of our bases in the Gulf and proven once and for all that these bases are a strategic liability and not a strategic asset. They are already past their expiration date; leaving them behind once and for all is in our interest, not a defeat. Removing the naval blockade serves two key functions: first it removes a valuable target that Iran could hit, which would drag us back into the war on Iran’s terms, not ours. Second, removing the blockade throws the diplomatic ball back in Iran’s court. We have reached an impasse diplomatically, with the Iranians refusing to give concessions while they are under blockade and the threat of being attacked. The Iranians use the blockade to justify their aggression in the Persian Gulf. If we remove the blockade, the Iranians won’t have any more justification for acting aggressively in the Strait of Hormuz and will likely opt for quiet diplomacy with their Gulf neighbors to come up with a workable arrangement for getting tankers through the strait. We can also offer gradual relief of sanctions on Iranian oil and natural gas so that Iran is incentivized to keep the waterway open. As we remove our troops from the region, we must also meaningfully restrain the Israelis to ensure that they don’t thwart our efforts to end the war, as they have in previous cease fire talks. Restraining Israel means more than just rhetoric: we must remove significant components of the air defense assets like the American missile defense batteries that we give to the Israelis so they are forced to use their resources for defense and not offense. The president must also demand that the lame-duck Republican Congress remove section 219 from the National Defense Authorization Act and section 662 from the intelligence authorization act. These provisions will give Israel invaluable access to the most sensitive capabilities of our defense and intelligence apparatus and are an affront to our sovereignty.Finally, to ensure Israel is restrained, the president must recall and fire Amb. Mike Huckabee and all of his team members. Huckabee and his team have blatantly shown more allegiance to Israel than our nation. This can’t be allowed to continue. The American people have spoken loud and clear and rejected this war. President Trump just has to have the courage to end the war, restrain Israel and put America first.