Dear Mr. President Donald J. Trump,
When I checked the news on January 3rd, 2026, and saw that we had yet again conducted a special military operation in another country, my first thought to myself was “Not again?!” I don’t know the ramifications of this decision, for that will play out in the coming days, months, and years. On the surface, I cannot even say this is a good decision or a bad decision. I am a common citizen and not in the “know” about these kinds of matters. Yet, I want to offer a reflection on the nature of this kind of operation to understand if such a thing is good for us and the world or not.
We have seen in the last eighty years or so a continuous cycle of meddling in foreign affairs – in particular toppling regimes we no longer deem politically or economically convenient to us. We condemn countries that do these operations, but expect us to be able to do them whenever we want to in order to protect our own interests. Our justification is that we are the best country on earth. This is maybe a normal inclination for an empire, but it does not always make it a right one. We even decried usurpation against you in our own country in 2020.
It is also worth noting that America thinks the Monroe doctrine is a valid doctrine. I disagree. These continents and this hemisphere are not our own.
Firstly, being God’s creation, they belong to Jesus as King of the Universe, and particularly to Mary, as queen of the Americas. These lands are theirs by right, and their laws must be respected. Do we respect and follow God’s laws? How about “do unto others as you would have done unto you?” I do not think, therefore, that other nations outside our republic fall under our jurisdiction. They are not ours to abuse and mess with whenever we want to. In any event, we have repeated this cycle to no good effect for decades, and I cannot help but wonder why again? Why do we continue the cycle? Is there not a path to break this cycle? Is there not a way we can work with these countries to make them and us prosperous – even if we disagree on the form of governance? What works for us may not work for others. I would even make the argument our own system is corrupt and defunct as we have seen many times – notably in 2020. Why are we so self-righteous? We blame others for problems that are our own. We address their problems, instead of fixing the gross spiritual problem in our country. The drug problem is a spiritual one, and that will get fixed when we spiritually fix ourselves.
“But they are communists,” we are told. Do we wonder why they are communists? Do we wonder why they have oppressive regimes? Perhaps their tradition is not republican democracy, but that does not make their form of government wrong. If it is, is it any wonder they are that way. Is it any wonder many countries are trending that way? After all, we have wrought decades of meddling and destruction, which leaves chaos and poverty and anger in its wake, so of course oppressive regimes enter the void. Chaos cannot endure. I would not befriend anyone who was constantly bombing other people and harassing me and trying to steal my resources. It’s no wonder they do not like us. We’ve been robbing and raping nations for decades! When will it end? Why is it that almost every president going back to potentially Woodrow Wilson – maybe slightly before – began to meddle in foreign affairs? Our own esteemed first president’s final departing wishes, nay, his warning, was that we stay out of foreign affairs and do not allow ourselves to get tangled in other nation’s businesses and politics. He said we should focus on our own country and to befriend our neighbors so that our people can prosper and be safe.
America is still viewed as a Christian nation, and all we bring is bloodshed and death, so they turn atheistic and oppressive. I can’t help but wonder if it would not be better for our nation that instead of blustering with our military might we lead by example by returning to our Christian roots and living a Christian empire.
Good living is not just material wealth – something our nation has forgotten. Good living is having a good family, a healthy community, economic prosperity. It is living a moral, upright life and having neighbors that do the same. It is, in simple terms, living a Christian life. Other nations want the same things. If they have chaos from our interventions, what are they to turn to? America is still viewed as a Christian nation, and all we bring is bloodshed and death, so they turn atheistic and oppressive. I can’t help but wonder if it would not be better for our nation that instead of blustering with our military might we lead by example by returning to our Christian roots and living a Christian empire. We are far more likely to make friends that way. We are for more likely to have a positive influence in our hemisphere. We promote godless, libertine materialism and wreckless populism, and many people find that distasteful. They want orderly, lawful, Christian states. They want mothers and fathers, not abominations, raising their children. They want hierarchy and respect for authority. We try to get that through bombs, but there is a better way.
Why not instead show them a wealthy Christian America that knows how to respect the dignity of persons and nations? If we show them and act as a light, we will win friends, but you never win friends by feeding them vinegar. You breed anger, resentment, hatred. We should be promoting Christian republicanism and Christian governance and Christian liberality and Christian industry and Christian humility. Instead, we listen to our deviant experts who tell us to bomb this nation and that nation and to remove this person and that person. “It will fix things this time!” They say year after year, and all that is left in the wake is death and poverty and resentment against us. It is like we are hearing the same word as Eve in the garden, “Just eat it, and you will be a god.” When will someone break the cycle and try a different tactic? Why not you?
This occasion reminds me of a passage in the Gospel, taking us back to the time of Rome and Judea, when Rome was the greatest nation on earth and bragged about it. They could topple regimes whenever they wanted to, like we do, and they did it mercilessly. Yet, we read about a Centurion in that empire who had a sick servant. That servant was most likely not a Roman. He was a slave and therefore subject to whatever his master desired. The Roman army was also feared and if the Centurion wanted someone brought to him or beaten or imprisoned, it would happen. Neighbors would turn on each other because they feared the Romans. But this Centurion does something unexpected. He runs out to the Lord, and he says, “Lord, I am not worthy. I conduct, I command, I have power and authority, but I am not worthy.”
This Centurion does not exercise his lordship in a destructive manner. Instead, he seeks to help those that are sick. He goes out and publicly humbles himself before the Lord. Why do we not do the same? There are a lot of sick servants in our country, in other countries, within our communities, within our homes. Why do we not humble ourselves and present to Jesus our desire to see them healed and prosperous? Instead of bombing and invading and kidnapping, why do we not run to our Lord and say, “Lord, heal my servant for he is sick, and I am not worthy?”
