President Trump’s decision to join Israel’s illegal war on Iran was perhaps inevitable given his personnel choices. Rather than, as he should have, appointed wise and experienced patriots such as Douglas Macgregor, Lawrence Wilkerson, Raymond McGovern and Karen Kwiatkowski to positions of influence, he did the exact opposite.
As I noted in a December 7, 2024 column for The American Conservative,
With the honorable exception of Tulsi Gabbard, who was nominated to serve her country this time as director of national intelligence, the Trump transition has been a triumph for the neoconservative wing (and yes, it exists, and yes, that is the correct terminology for it) of the Republican Party.
Trump’s campaign rhetoric led many to believe that foreign policy realists and restrainers might have had a shot at some of the top national security and diplomatic posts. Whatever the reason, Trump’s nominees for secretary of state, secretary of defense, deputy secretary of defense, national security adviser, and UN ambassador—as well as those heading the staffing and “landing teams” at these agencies—seem as though they were assembled with the goal of winning the approval of Bill Kristol and Liz Cheney.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/how-the-neocons-won-the-transition/