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