At the recent United Nations General Assembly, Donald Trump again threatened to use U.S. military power to “annihilate” Iran — a country of approximately 93 million people. A cornerstone of United Nations Charter Article 2(4) is its explicit prohibition of the “threat or use of force” against the territorial integrity of any member state.
The U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide prohibits direct and public incitement to commit genocide — for which Trump has called. The only way to accomplish Trump’s stated result is to put U.S. troops in harm’s way and to use the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
There is a long U.S. presidential tradition when the head of state puts our young, active-service members at risk of injury and death in a war or military conflict: the adult children of the president also enlist and serve in the military. This tradition assures parents who may have convinced their adult children to enlist that presidents will not waste the lives of their children in campaigns of adventure or ill-designed military operations. The president should have, in a sense, “skin in the game.”
There are many examples of this: Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln, served in the Civil War. Frederick Dent Grant, son of Ulysses S. Grant, served in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War.
All of former President Theodore Roosevelt’s sons served in World War I: one died, and three suffered severe injuries. T.R.’s three remaining sons again served in World War II. All four of FDR’s sons served in World War II. John Eisenhower, son of Dwight D. Eisenhower, served in the Korean War — although before his father was inaugurated as president. After assuming the presidency, John Eisenhower remained in the military but was assigned to the White House staff.
In 2002, then-Sen. Joe Biden voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution. His son, Beau Biden, served a one-year tour during the Iraq War.
Trump’s 20-year-old son, Barron, lives in the protected environment of the White House and attends college.
If Trump wants to expend the lives of our nation’s young, active-service men and women pursuing his stated intention to kill 93 million people, it is time for Trump to convince Barron — or for Barron to decide for himself — that he should enlist and actively serve in the military.
This may mean, for security reasons, serving at some distant outpost from the Iran theater or in an intelligence officer role as did John Eisenhower; but service is service.
Historically, multiple news sources have corroborated that when discussing the Vietnam War behind closed doors, Trump allegedly stated: “Anyone who went was a sucker.” Only by Barron enlisting can Trump provide necessary assurance to the parents of those currently actively serving that his proposal to “annihilate” Iran is not an ill-conceived military operation in which the sons and daughters of ordinary-income Americans are sent to fight and die while the sons of wealthy billionaires live a luxurious life safe from harm.
Kurt A. Fisher, Salt Lake City