By Jacob G. Hornberger
The Future of Freedom Foundation
November 5, 2026
Prior to the midterms, there were indications that President Trump might initiate another intense bombing campaign in Iran after the elections. I've got a better idea for the president. In light of the tsunami-like rejection of his presidency at the hands of American voters - owing partly to his illegal and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran - this would be a great time for him to do a complete reset with respect to not only Iran but also Cuba and Venezuela.
Rather than bomb Iran again, Trump should order an immediate exit of all U.S. troops from the Middle East. Bring them all home. No more bombs, sanctions, and blockades. Leave Iran alone for the first time in more than 70 years. Leave Iran to the Iranians. Leave the Middle East to Middle Easterners. The U.S. has done enough damage already. Enough is enough.
In other words, let the Iranian people live and struggle under a brutal dictatorship without the additional suffering inflicted by U.S. interventionism. There are brutal dictatorships all over the world. Nonetheless, many people are able to carve out somewhat normal lives for themselves and their families even under tyrannical regimes. U.S. interventionism, including bombing sprees, sanctions, and blockades, only make life worse for them. The U.S. government should just leave people in foreign lands alone. As John Quincy Adams put it in his Fourth of July, 1821, address, America "goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy."
It's the same with the Cuban people. Lift the brutal decades-old U.S. economic embargo and the U.S. oil blockade. Leave the Cuban people alone, even though they have to live under a socialist-communist regime. Stop making life worse for them with U.S. interventionism. Let the Cuban people decide for themselves whether and how to change their political and economic systems. Free the American people to travel to Cuba, sell to Cubans, and buy from Cubans. Fight socialism and communism with freedom, not with U.S. governmental control over economic activity.
It's the same with Venezuela. Leave that country to the Venezuelan people. Stop cooperating with and making deals with Venezuela's socialist-communist regime and Marxist ruler. Just get out. Bring the CIA and the Pentagon home. Lift all economic sanctions on Venezuela. Stop making life more difficult for the Venezuelan people.
Trump has two more years in office. Despite the massive repudiation he received yesterday from American voters, he still has time to make a major positive achievement with his presidency. Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela provide him with the opportunity to do that. He should move America in a completely different direction - away from interventionism, militarism, imperialism, death, and destruction and toward economic liberty, a limited-government republic, and harmony with the people of the world.
This article was originally published at The Future of Freedom Foundation.