by John Mearsheimer, Antiwar. com, Aug 5, 2026
The U.S. government continues to demonstrate its knack for pursuing remarkably foolish foreign policies that have terrible consequences.
Many thought that President Trump was going to rectify this problem, at least somewhat. After all, he promised to shut down the Ukraine War as soon as he moved into the White House, if not before he did! Moreover, he said no more forever wars, no more wars in pursuit of regime change.
But Trump has failed. Not only did he fail to end the fighting in Ukraine, but he has also twice gone to war against Iran – the 12-Day War in June 2025 and the disastrous war that he and Benjamin Netanyahu started on February 28, 2026, which could be the greatest strategic blunder In U.S. history. Furthermore, he kidnapped Venezuela’s president and, by his own account, is running that country as if it is an American colony, not a sovereign state. And like his predecessor in the White House, President Joe Biden, he is complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its endless pogroms in the West Bank.
How did we end up in this dreadful situation? And how can we rectify it?
There is no guaranteed way to avoid foreign policy errors. But one way to minimize the chance of getting into serious trouble is to debate the issues of the day openly, so that critics of conventional wisdom or particular government policies can have their say. Media institutions are hugely important in fostering this kind of debate, which is why freedom of the press is protected in the United States. It allows critics to make their views known to large numbers of people and it provides legitimacy. Critics of existing policy are not always right, but sometimes they speak truth to power and help us avoid or correct big mistakes.
As almost every reader of Antiwar.com knows, the mainstream media in the United States have become much less willing to provide dissenters with a platform since the Cold War ended. Mainstream media outlets often seem to speak with one voice on the big foreign policy issues of the day and that voice usually backs U.S. government policy. This situation is not healthy, and it helps explains why America’s standing in the world has declined in recent decades.
Antiwar.com plays an enormously important role in filling this dangerous void in our public discourse. It provides an indispensable platform for critics to challenge the reigning views of the foreign policy establishment. This is essential for increasing the likelihood that the United States will pursue wiser policies. For this reason, I urge readers to generously support Antiwar.com. In these troubled times, a flourishing Antiwar.com is very much in the U.S. national interest.
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John J. Mearsheimer, PhD, is an American professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. More recently Mearsheimer has attracted attention for co-authoring and publishing the article The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, which was subsequently published as a book.
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