Mighty forces.

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows a F/A-18E Super Hornet preparing to make an arrested landing the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday, March 2, 2026. (U.S. Navy via AP)

One of my favorite quotes comes from a 1921 book by Canadian author Basil King. It says:

Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid.”

That quote has informed most of my 35 years as an entrepreneur. I don’t hear those words as an excuse for ill-considered recklessness. I hear them as saying that bold action taken after thoughtful consideration of the risks has a way of unleashing positive reactions. Bold, decisive action can be infectious. Properly calibrated boldness can attract the favorable notice of people and organizations that can prove helpful in an effort or a cause.

So President Trump hopes.

Unleashing hell from above upon a sovereign nation run by sociopaths is about as bold as it gets. Having done exactly that, the president now very much needs mighty forces to come to his aid. (And to be clear, by saying his aid I mean our aid. Trump is acting on behalf of every American.)

The left is reflexively attributing Trump’s military action to every malign motivation they can think of. But I believe his motivation was entirely rational. I believe that he had information leading him to believe that despite last year’s Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran was closing in on a nuclear weapon. That, along with their well-documented possession of the ballistic missiles to deliver said weapons, and coupled with their murderous, apocalyptic rhetoric, meant in Trump’s mind that not acting would have been an unforgivable dereliction.

Much good can come from this kinetic action in Iran. First and most obvious is the elimination of a homicidal regime that for nearly 50 years has been bent on the annihilation of Israel, the annihilation of the United States and indeed the immolation of the entirety of Western civilization.

But beyond that, putting the Iranian regime out of business – after having put the Maduro regime in Venezuela out of business – puts the squeeze on China, our number one strategic adversary. China is the largest oil importer in the world and Iran and Venezuela taken together account for about 25 percent of those imports. (For some perspective, the 1973 Arab oil embargo reduced total oil supply in the U.S. by only three to five percent, yet those of us who were alive remember the gas lines and the severe economic impact.)

If this operation succeeds, the U.S. gains de facto control of the Strait of Hormuz through which about 20 percent of the world’s daily oil supply transits.

Also, the defensive systems in both Iran and Venezuela that were provided by China have proved themselves essentially useless. Developing countries that might have been inclined to look to China for defense have certainly noticed.

But for all that, wars can destroy presidencies. Just ask Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush.

So, let’s pray for those mighty forces that Trump is going to need. Because success would reshape the world for the better. But the negative impact of failure upon the fortunes of the U.S. and the West is simply too awful to contemplate.