A year ago yesterday, President Trump turned the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom to try to boost the slumping sales of his then-pal Elon Musk's electric-car company. A few months ago, Trump declared from behind the Resolute Desk that he was Boeing's 'salesman of the year,' claiming to have helped facilitate the purchase of hundreds of aircraft. And long before he entered politics, Trump slapped his name on just about anything'apartment buildings, steaks, even a dubious for-profit university'to market it to the masses. Trump will sell anything. He has now made one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency: launching a war against Iran. The conflict, which is well into its second week, has widened throughout the Middle East, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and caused tumult in the financial markets. Yet Trump has not sold the war. In many ways, he hasn't even tried. The absence of a sales strategy is all the more confounding when you consider the political stakes. The upcoming midterm elections were supposed to be about the economy. That was perhaps Trump's most effective issue in the 2024 presidential campaign, as voters grew frustrated with the stubborn inflation that permeated Joe Biden's presidency. Trump vowed to fix it, but his record over the past 15 months is inconsistent: Yes, inflation has cooled some, but last month's jobs report was brutal; the president's tariffs have created confusion and kept costs high; and the economy is starkly stratified'the rich are doing great, and everyone else is decidedly less so. Republicans have been on a losing streak in a series of elections, and poll after poll reveals a clear disapproval of Trump's handling of the economy....

This statement is so self-contradictory and confusing that one might be tempted to write it off as just riffing, except that he reiterated it at a press conference later in the day. 'We're achieving major strides toward completing our military objective, and some people could say they're pretty well complete,' he said, apparently referring to himself. All that was missing to complete the parallel to the Iraq War was a flight suit, an aircraft carrier, and a Mission Accomplished banner. Yet the same afternoon, the Department of Defense posted on X, 'We have Only Just Begun to Fight,' mangling a famous quotation from John Paul Jones, the father of the U.S. Navy. Reporters at the press conference, perplexed, asked Trump about the gap. 'You said the war is 'very complete,' but your defense secretary says this is just the beginning, so which is it'' You could'if you were a pundit making an argument about the future of the war. But people might hope for a bit more clarity from the man who launched the war without congressional authorization, popular support, or even much buy-in from his own advisers....

The American-Israeli war with Iran has primarily taken the form of an air campaign, a very different mode of war than ground operations'one with its own goals, strengths, and limitations. After the previous independent air campaign of this kind, in the 1991 Gulf War, I led the U.S. Air Force's assessment of the effort, the Gulf War Air Power Survey. The present campaign differs in important respects, but the same kind of questions posed then can help make sense of what we're seeing now. Airpower is peculiar in many ways. An old saw has it that a bomber is a thunderbolt, contained in an eggshell, invisibly tethered to a base. It captures some important truths: Aircraft can deliver tremendous violence from a platform that is intrinsically vulnerable, and that requires a well-protected base and skilled maintenance staff, the unsung heroes of air operations. More than that, airpower is unusual: Unlike land or sea forces, airplanes can linger (loiter is the technical term) over a target for only a brief period of time. Simultaneously, however, it is enormously flexible. Airpower can be massed over one target today and over another hundreds of miles away tomorrow....

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved eight pilot programs that will allow a handful of companies, including Archer Aviation, Beta Technologies, Joby Aviation, and Wisk to start widespread electric aircraft testing as early as this summer. The three-year program, which will span 26 states, is designed to ensure U.S. companies lead the way in next-gen aircraft used for personal travel, regional transportation, cargo logistics, and emergency medicine, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in remarks Monday. The pilot program, known as the Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program, was announced last year through an executive order by President Donald Trump in an effort to speed up development of the futuristic aircraft. Numerous electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) companies have emerged in recent years with promises of launching urban air taxis and other regional electric aircraft. However, getting those aircraft into commercial operation takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars. The FAA must certify any new aircraft, which is a multi-year process....