President Trump’s impetuous decision to order the assassination of Iranian general Qassim Suleimani has set in motion a crisis that could rapidly escalate into an all-out war. President Trump’s rashness when it comes to foreign policy helps distract from his impeachment. He is trying to gain the public’s sympathy and recognition before he either leaves office or gets re-elected, according to an article from The New York Times. 

That the administration followed up by saying it had killed Suleimani to “stop a war” showed that President Trump’s supporters will believe anything, no matter how preposterous or mind-numbingly outlandish, so long as he tweets it with enough exclamation points, according to the article. 

This is a crisis with no visible off-ramp. The assassination, likely ordered by President Trump as a distraction from his impeachment and upcoming Senate trial, was such a brazen violation of international norms that it has left the Iranian leadership with no choice but to respond. And any Iranian response will, inevitably, trigger further United States military reprisals, according to an article from The Nation. 

War is the ultimate distraction, and there is little doubt that the assassination of Qassim Suleimani directed by President Trump will lead to violent retaliation by those who saw him as a protector and leader.

Once again, President Trump will claim justification for this action, purportedly taken to end increasing violence that he himself initiated by ending the nuclear agreement with Iran and imposing sanctions.

President Trump has escalated conflicts that were quieted all to protect his image in hopes of getting re-elected in the 2020 election. His justifications of violating global norms is to tweet that he did it to protect American lives when in reality, he did it to protect himself. Impeachment is no longer a partisan issue, it is a national issue