Dear Trump: You're Dragging Us Into World War III - An Open Letter from Lloyd Dobler

note: this is an excerpt from episode 3 of The Tao of Lloyd. Listen to the full episode here.

Dear Donald,

It's me, Lloyd. Yeah, the guy from the movie you probably tried to buy the rights to in the '90s but got outbid by a hedge fund vampire with better hair plugs.

I need to tell you something. And I'm going to use small words, so your attention span doesn't wander off to Truth Social, or whatever gold-plated toilet you're tweeting from today.

You just started World War III.

Not a "limited engagement." Not a "surgical strike." You kicked off a regional firestorm that's going to make Iraq look like a Fourth of July barbecue gone slightly wrong.

And let's be honest about why. Because your poll numbers are in freefall. You whined online that even Fox News is being mean to you. You're so desperate for relevance, you'd light the world on fire just to watch your name flicker in the glow.

One week, nobody comes to your birthday party. The next week, you're dropping bunker-busters on Iran.

You've gone rogue: Only Congress can declare war—but you skipped all that. No hearings. No votes. Not even a pretext. You bombed a sovereign nation that posed no imminent threat to the U.S.

As Congressman Sean Casten put it: "This is an unambiguous impeachable offense."

You're flying blind, Donald. Bombing first, thinking never.

You talk tough, but we see you. The guy who hides behind bone spurs. The guy who dodged the draft. The guy who called American soldiers "losers" and "suckers."

You think history won't remember that?

Wait until the first flag-draped coffin comes home from this war you just started. Wait until that mother in Ohio or that widow in El Paso hears what you said—that dying for your country makes you a sucker.

You'll have to explain that to a folded flag and a six-year-old who doesn't understand why daddy's never coming home.

You didn't just betray the Constitution. You betrayed the very people you sent into harm's way.

And for what? So Raytheon can pop champagne on the earnings call? So Netanyahu can cling to power? So you can pretend your manhood isn't made of spray tan and NDAs?

Here's the truth you'll never face: Real strength would've been restraint. Real courage would've been owning our past, lifting the sanctions, and meeting humanity with humanity.

But that would've required you to be something you've never been: a man. Instead, you're a scared little boy with billion-dollar toys, blowing holes in the world to feel something.

You didn't make America great again. You made empire terminal.

You lit the match and called it peace.

And when the blowback comes—because it will come—when the body bags start arriving and the headlines start hedging—when cable news says "tragic but necessary," and the generals mumble about "collateral damage"—don't be fooled. They'll try to wrap this in strategy, in patriotism, in solemn-faced ceremony.

But none of them will say what really happened: That a fragile narcissist started a war to feed his ego, and the system—media, military, and political alike—played along like it always does, pretending this was destiny instead of a choice.

They'll salute the casket. They'll fold the flag. And then they'll go back to fundraising and weapons contracts like nothing happened.

But we won't forget. And neither will the ghosts.

Sleep tight,

Lloyd

An Open Letter to ICE Agents, from Lloyd Dobler

note: Lloyd Dobler pens an open letter each week as part of his podcast, The Tao of Lloyd—equal parts spiritual gut-check, anti-fascist satire, and mixtape manifesto. This open letter was taken from episode #1. You can listen to the full episode here.

This is going out to all the ICE agents, Proud Boys, and paper-pushing patriots lost in the sauce of “just following orders.”

“One ICE agent quitting may not make headlines.  
But it makes a crack in the machine.  
And cracks in the pillars that hold up the evil empire can spread like COVID in a group hug with RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan during a MAGA Harley ride intermission at a bar that still sells ivermectin on tap.”

— -Lloyd Dobler

Listen.

I know people are yelling at you in the streets.  

I’ve seen the signs.  

Heard the chants.  

Maybe you’ve got family who stopped calling.  

Friends who ghosted.  

Maybe you think I’m just one more voice in the chorus of shame.  

But I’m not here to yell at you.  

I’m here to offer you a door.  

Not a trap door.  

Not a fire exit.  

A real door. Out.  

You can walk into work today, look around, and say:  

“I’m not flipping switches in the Death Star anymore. I’m out.”

Because I believe part of you—maybe buried, maybe bruised—knows:  

This isn’t what you signed up for.  

There’s no way the bullshit Trump and company are asking you to do was ever your childhood dream.  

And if it was your dream to be in law enforcement, ask yourself:  

Whose dream was it, really?  

The badge. The uniform. The mission.  

Was that your dream—or something sold to you between Saturday morning cartoons and Pentagon-approved blockbusters?  

Look around.  

You’re not the hero in this story.  

You think you’re fighting for order, country, security—  

But you’re really fighting for optics, control, and campaign ads.  

You’re not Luke blowing up the Death Star.  

You’re the stormtrooper guarding the detention level.  

Right now, you're enforcing policies written by people who treat suffering as a strategy and families as leverage.  

You’re vanishing families so someone else can boost their poll numbers.  

And maybe you tell yourself:  

“I’m just doing my job.”

But “just doing your job” doesn’t protect you.  

Not legally. Not morally.  

Not in the eyes of history. Or your kid. Or your future self.  

Ask Nuremberg.  

Ask your gut.  

And maybe you say:  

“I don’t make the rules.”

But you carry them out.  

You knock on the doors.  

You take the parents away.  

That’s anticipatory obedience.

But here’s the good news:  

You can stop.  

One ICE agent quitting may not make headlines.  

But it makes a crack in the machine.  

And cracks in the pillars that hold up the evil empire can spread like COVID in a group hug with RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan during a MAGA Harley ride intermission at a bar that still sells ivermectin on tap.

You’re not alone.  

You are one person.  

And that is enough.  

Enough to say:  

“Not today. Not me. No more.”

You don’t need to be perfect.  

You don’t need another job lined up.  

You just need to make one honest decision:  

Step away.  

Quit.  

Let that be your legacy.  

Not the raids.  

Not the fear.  

But the moment you said:  

“I choose to stop.”

And I’m telling you:  

There is a way out.  

Take it.
- Lloyd Dobler | The Tao of Lloyd