Friend, 

This week, a reporter asked Donald Trump a simple question: “To what extent are Americans’ financial situations motivating you to make a deal?”

His answer? “Not even a little bit.”

Gas prices are up 50% since the Iran conflict began, at a national average of over $4.50 a gallon. Inflation is the highest in three years at 3.8% annually. The President even campaigned on lowering costs for working families with an emphasis on those gas prices. But now, letting them eat cake seems to be Trump’s mantra.

At a recent hearing with Pete Hegseth, I also attempted to get answers on behalf of families across the nation. I asked what the escalation in Iran has cost, when it will end, and what the plan is.

Hegseth lashed out, blamed Biden, and now refuses to put a cost on the conflict that Pentagon officials estimate is at over $29 billion of your taxpayer dollars. I’ll tell you the most generous thing I can say about his performance was that it verged on incompetence.

Here’s the truth: There is no exit strategy. Trump rejected Iran’s recent proposal to end the conflict and warned the current ceasefire is fragile. Oil prices will continue to rise, especially if tensions escalate. And all of his references to guaranteeing that there will not be a nuclear Iran? Despite the vast and unknown expense in dollars, loss of our munitions readiness, and the lives of our service members, no real progress has been made at all.

This is what a reckless, unprepared, and incompetently waged war looks like.

What makes it worse is the administration asking Americans to accept this economic pain without ever asking Congress or the public for authorization in the first place. Maybe preventing a nuclear-armed Iran is worth enormous sacrifice, but in a democracy that decision belongs to the American people, not one man who launched military action without congressional authorization, a plan, and, by his own admission, consideration for the costs to working families.

So today, I’m asking you to stand with me and sign my petition. Do you approve of Trump and Hegseth’s war in Iran?

Thank you,

Dick