“An army of sheep led by a shrewd lion is better than
an army of lions led by a reckless sheep.”
— Attributed to Alexander the Great,
c. 324 BCE, modified
The history of warfare disasters by command blunders in the present day, in the modern era, and as far back as the Roman and Macedonian Empires, too often imparts the painful reality that if supreme leaders of those belligerent nations fail to take heed or ignore lessons from past colossal warfare tragedies, then they are doomed to repeat them; most often at a higher cost of lives, civilian and/or military lives, and worse still accumulate more national debt or bankruptcy. Military history and its political governance is replete with foolish supreme leaders at the top, down to his commanders, and his consulting politicians (cabinet) most of whom are too afraid to speak up.
∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼
In the annals of military warfare since the beginning of recorded history there are multitudes of catastrophes by aggressors, belligerents, and their arrogant supreme commanders. Example after example after example of these tactical, strategic, economic, political blunders can either be observed, comprehended, and applied to warfare or foolishly ignored. Yet, beware, the final butcher’s bill from those monumental tragedies by clumsy, impulsive leadership often led those combatants, their loyal ranks, and back home their civilian population to suffer the losses and drive distrust, low morale, and often lead to ruin. Ignorance and hubris become a graveyard for the incompetent leaders, commanders, political proponents, and in some historical conflicts the fall of a once great nation or empire. Repeating history proves time and time again these cruel lessons to the demise of those foolish enough to ignore it.
For the sake of time this blog-post will concentrate on the modern era, specifically in the early part of World War II in Europe (1940 thru 1943) and how blunder after blunder, disaster after disaster plagued the two supreme leaders of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. While reading, I would like for all of you to find eerily similar (identical?) blunders that happened recently and are happening presently in the U.S. and the world. The similarities are remarkably telling.
Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain
After Hitler’s and Goering’s failed Operation Alderangriff (Eagle Attack) and Operation Sea Lion in 1940 against Great Britain, Adolf Hitler made his second major blunder of the Second World War just after his first one at Dunkirk, off the northern coast of France. There Hitler stopped his Army Group A of tanks and soldiers just a few miles outside of the French town of Dunkirk. This halt was an enormous mistake by Hitler because he allowed the British Expeditionary Force of nearly 340,000 Allied soldiers, who were completely surrounded by the German Wehrmacht pushed literally into the sea, to escape by sea to fight Hitler’s Third Reich another day. This blunder would soon come back to haunt him and inflict losses on his Western Front he could ill afford to recoup.
These two botched operations were the beginning of Hitler’s false idea of himself as a gifted supreme commander. Though Hitler was a veteran of World War I, achieving only the rank of Lance Corporal (Gefreiter), at minimum he had combat experience when he became German Chancellor and later Führer. Many “supreme commanders” around the world have no military or combat experience whatsoever. This puts them in a position of either listening to their expert military commanders, political staff and national GDP economists and heeding their opinions, or ignoring the hard facts and bumble through by trail and error—unfortunately at the cost of valuable, irreplaceable lives and material resources.
Despite Hitler having WW I combat experience, actual reality of wars and battlefields mattered little to Hitler and his self-deluded truth or to his lack of military prowess. Eventually it was a brutal lesson he was forced to accept, but accepted far too late to avoid the total destruction and defeat of his 1,000-year Reich. Making matters worse it came at the unfathomable expense of 7.8-million German soldiers and civilians dead by May 1945.
How did fuck-up after fuck-up chase Hitler after the victories over Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, and France in April and May 1940, just over a mere two months? Why was the defeat by Great Britain in October 1940 the beginning of the end for Hitler?
Hitler versus Stalin – 1942 and 1943
Despite Hitler’s significant blunders and loss to Great Britain in October 1940, his ego and oversized self-esteem as the supreme leader of Nazi Germany he never waned in the following military operations from July 1942 through February 1943. The one operation that would seal the fate of Hitler and Nazi Germany’s hemorrhaging military machine, along with Germany’s resources and GDP to outlast Allied victory was a belief, a hope based on exaggerated reports of hyped propaganda, poor intelligence, actual smaller German production output, and scared subordinates to inform him unequivocally the real condition of his Reich. With each passing month his inner circle of generals, politicians, and economists grew increasingly distrustful (privately) of Hitler’s capabilities to lead. Those that were brave, candid with him were either fired and fired, then replaced by equally scared field marshals, generals, politicians, and economists. Those who showed backbone to him were often executed by firing squad or hung.
While still fighting an ever growing and draining war in Western Europe against the British and its Commonwealth countries, the giant producing United States, along with Free French, Belgian, Polish, Dutch, Danish, and Norwegian armies and pilots, as well as the French Resistance, and in Belgium, Holland, Poland, Denmark, and Norway Resistances inside their conquered occupied countries—all of which were immensely strong and very worthy enemies against Nazi Germany—Hitler makes one his most infamous, asinine, doomed decisions for himself and Germany’s entire Second World War campaign: Operation Barbarossa. In fact, most World War II military historians today assert Hitler’s choice to open a second front against the Soviets while still fighting on his Western Front, marked the real incompetence of Hitler and the start of the Third Reich’s collapse.
In June 1941 Hitler’s Axis forces consisted of 3.8-million men, armor, artillery, and planes to attack the Soviet Union that in contrast consisted of 5.5-million men, armor, artillery, and planes defending approximately 3.3-million square kilometers, or 1.3-million square miles from Leningrad to the north, to the outskirts of Moscow in central Russia, to Stalingrad and Krasnodar in the Soviet south. The German Eastern front stretched about 3,000 km (almost 1,900 miles) making supplies and replacements near impossible. The sheer size of the Eastern Front gave the Soviets a better 2-to-1 advantage for Joseph Stalin and the USSR. More over Stalin was seemingly replenishing his losses while Hitler could not. Factor in the Russian winters between December and March, sometimes lingering into April, Hitler drastically overestimated his Wehrmacht’s abilities, their mobility, a smaller German production rate compared to Stalin’s, then Hitler had created a recipe for failure.
Hitler grossly underestimated Soviet production, Soviet resilience, and arrogantly misjudged a realistic time-frame for total victory. On top of those blunders the Russian winters essentially made Stalin’s defense forces two to five times more lethal in comparison to Hitler’s colossal miscalculations. Over a century earlier Napoleon Bonaparte learned the exact same disastrous mistake. Apparently Hitler and his military top brass never learned from Napoleon and Russia’s arctic winters. Why not? Couple that with Nazi Germany’s appointed generals reporting false, exaggerated propaganda back to their temperamental Führer, made Operation Barbarossa doomed before it began. By the start of 1943 with the German Wehrmacht losing Russian land once conquered, Hitler was increasingly angry and only wanted to listen to German victories, not honest reports about the true condition of his failing Eastern campaign and many setbacks.
Meanwhile, though Stalin had absolutely no combat experience as a soldier or general in the field, by January 1942 after rescuing Moscow from the jaws of defeat, Stalin abandoned his earlier war strategy of reckless, aggressive, ruthless bloody attacks, counter-attacks with enormous Russian casualties—often ordering his army to attack without any weapons. Stalin learned quickly that listening to and following much better tactics from his experienced military commanders such as Zhukov and Timoshenko. With win after win Stalin placed greater trust in his expert military commanders rather than what his Nazi counter-part, Adolf Hitler was doing. With Hitler increasingly raged on his generals, firing them and firing them, or expecting them to literally commit suicide by fighting to the death when all was lost. Retreat or surrender was not tolerated by Hitler, ever. He only craved attacking, conquering, and then repeat it all again; no stopping, no retreating.
Consequently, the supreme Nazi leader, perhaps in distraught mania, unstable mental health, and drug addiction, and failing to capture Moscow, Hitler made his next colossal blunder: Battle of Kharkiv, then Operation Fredericus, then Operation Star, and finally Operation General Rumyantsev. If Operation Barbarossa wasn’t a gigantic, wasteful emptying of Nazi’s Third Reich armies and Panzer tank divisions, and urgently needed resupplying and refitting, then the above four operations for the southern regions of the USSR and the envied, rich oil fields, then the tangent campaigns southward Hitler planned would certainly spell the close end of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. And yet again, the German Führer craved more.
Operation Blue and the Battle of Stalingrad
In the summer of 1942 Hitler launched another reckless offensive campaign codenamed Operation Blue. By launching this campaign, despite being turned back outside of Moscow with heavy losses, due to the extremely outstretched Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe supply-lines longer than 1,200 km (or about 746 miles) from the Polish border to Moscow, Adolf Hitler gambled and risked far more than he could pay and replace. How much did Germany lose?
Operation Barbarossa cost the Nazi Wehrmacht and Panzer tank divisions men, whole divisions, mechanized armor/vehicles, munitions, and material for which German industry or military recruitment could never quickly replace, much less the valuable experience lost by so many dead soldiers and pilots. And yet, those horrific facts, those appalling losses, lower morale, didn’t seem to matter to Hitler. Instead, he would push forward with his next hair-brained campaigns: Fall Blau and the Battle for Stalingrad.
The conflict for Stalingrad and Voronezh, Rostov, Kuban, the Caucasus, and southern Russia (Operation Blue) would last for 6-months, 2-weeks, and 2-days along with losses of over 300,000 German soldiers, over 400,000 of the 4th Panzer Army, 900 aircraft destroyed, 1,500 tanks destroyed, 6,000 guns/artillery, and 744 aircraft 1,666 tanks, 1,652 guns captured/lost. To put this catastrophe in another perspective, those are losses Hitler and Nazi Germany could not recoup. Worst still it put German workers, conscripted workers, and the German war industry in an impossible predicament that would not be nor could be reversed despite Adolf Hitler’s continued delusional demands and visions of victory on his people and war-machine.
Furthermore, most all of Hitler’s great Field Marshalls and Generals knew by this point in 1942 and certainly by the end of 1943 that once the Western Allies of Great Britain and the United States along with their supporting cast of nations, would indeed open up a third front against a weakening Nazi Germany. The second front was opened in Sicily then Italy 1943 and moving north to Rome, southern France and Austria. The first front was Hitler’s colossal blunder of invading the Soviet Union in 1941 soon after he started the initial front in the West against France and Britain, who he was fighting for two years plus. These combined four fronts bled and drained Germany’s ability to wage war successfully. In fact, once he attacked Stalin and the USSR Hitler’s annihilation was certain. But right up until May of 1945, living deep underground in his Führerbunker a meager pathetic existence before he committed suicide with his mistress Eva Braun, Hitler believed fervently (psychotically?) the war could still be saved for Nazi Germany with Ghost Divisions and Battalions he was unaware did not exist. Adolf Hitler refused to accept his colossal foolishness as a civil or military leader right up to the second he pulled the trigger of his Walther PPK pistol. He was the ultimate symbol and definition of a Cult Mad Man that directed an estimated 18–20 million human deaths, civilian and military. A quick jump to the present…
How would such a U.S. budget compare to military spending by both partners and potential adversaries today?
How would this level of U.S. spending, if sustained, impact our federal debt? Rhetorical question; this present administration is spending and wasting enormous amounts of money, taxpayer dollars, interest charges, etc., as if it all just grows on trees blooming weekly or monthly. Insanity.
∼ ∼ ∼ § ∼ ∼ ∼
Endless Screw Ups and Ludicrous Obsessions
Not only was Adolf Hitler a horrible, mentally depraved military leader as we’ve learned so far, but he was also a monumental screw-up politically, socially, and economically for the German people from 1938–1946, pre-, during, and post-war posthumously. It would take Germany and its surviving people several more decades to fully recover and while continuing Second World War reparation payments—surprisingly something they are still doing today.
Instead of typing all of Hitler’s many, many enormous mistakes and colossal bad decisions after decision, I will just present below this side-by-side comparison of Hitler’s fuck-ups next to today’s U.S. president Donald J. Trump’s equally dumb fuck-ups.
Strange Controversial “Nation-Partners”
ADOLF HITLER
Italy – Benito Mussolini.
Mussolini headed many war crimes and crimes against humanity, primarily use of poison gas, brutal civilian massacres, and the persecution of Jews. Mussolini dragged Hitler into wasteful conflicts.
Japan – Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.
During World War II, the Empire of Japan committed massive war crimes, including the Nanjing Massacre, human experimentation by Unit 731, and the abuse of prisoners of war.
Several Minor Nations – Several of these countries and their leaders committed war and civilian atrocities such as illegal arrests, torture, and execution.
DONALD TRUMP
Israel – Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has not yet been legally found guilty of war crimes, but the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on November 21, 2024, accusing him of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Hungary – Viktor Orbán.
Orbán openly suppresses democratic norms & drafted a new constitution to his liking.
Russia – Vladimir Putin.
Putin has become a dictator over Russia the last 21-years rigging elections, imprisoning or killing political opponents, and illegally attacked or conquered neighboring countries.
Mohammed bin Salman – Saudi Crown Prince. Salman was close friends with Jeffrey Epstein and ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Kim Jong Un – N. Korea.
Kim is well-known to purge government officials and order imprisonments or executions on any perceived threats to his total power.
Delusional Obsession with Self Monuments
HITLER
Nazi Party Rally Grounds (Nuremberg)
Built between 1933 and 1937, the site featured the massive Zeppelinfield grandstand, modeled after the ancient Pergamon Altar, designed to stage colossal propaganda spectacles.
New Reich Chancellery (Berlin)
Completed in 1939, this vast complex featured a 146-meter Marble Gallery and an immense office for Hitler designed to intimidate visiting diplomats.
Berlin Olympic Stadium (Berlin)
Built for the 1936 Olympic Games, it was used to project an image of Aryan national strength, racism, anti-Semitic international legitimacy.
Planned Monuments:
The Triumphal Arch (Berlin)
Designed to dwarf Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, standing nearly 120-meters high as a monument to German military dominance.
The Volkshalle (Berlin)
A monstrous, domed “People’s Hall” sketched by Hitler himself, intended to be the spiritual centerpiece of a rebuilt Berlin (Welthauptstadt Germania) that could hold 180,000 people.
The Führermuseum (Linz)
Planned for his hometown in Austria, this massive cultural center and museum was meant to house the looted art treasures of Europe.
TRUMP
East Wing Gold Ballroom
a 90,000-square-foot ballroom, with costs estimated between $400 million and $600 million, alongside planned underground bunker and drone port security integrations.
White House Interior Renovations
Gilded and re-decorated portions of the Oval Office, Palm Room, and Lincoln Bedroom.
Rose Garden and Colonnades
Paved over the historic grass lawn with a white stone patio (“Rose Garden Club”); replaced the West Wing colonnade’s Tennessee flagstone walkway with black granite.
Planned Monuments:
National Garden of American Heroes
A budgeted $40-million (likely higher) project planned for West Potomac Park featuring sculptures of 250 notable Americans and himself.
Triumphal Arch ala Greek/Roman Emperors
Proposed 250-foot monument on federal parkland near Arlington National Cemetery to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
A $16-million resurfacing and renovation project featuring non-competitive contracts and added water filtration systems.
East Potomac Golf Links
Overhaul plans underway for the public golf course along the Potomac River.
Kennedy Center
Underwent extensive stage, seating, and marble refurbishments alongside a short-lived board vote to rename the venue with his name.
Mount Rushmore
Continued attempts to have his face on the sculptured memorial.
Unprecedented Resources & Spending for Military Marvels
HITLER
Nazi Germany spent an estimated $3–$4 billion (1940s U.S. Dollars), the equivalent of roughly $40–$50 billion today, on its Wunderwaffen programs, primarily the V-1 Flying Bomb and the V-2 Rocket.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jet Aviation Marvels – The Me-262 and Arado Ar 234 aircraft cost enormous hundreds of millions in German Reichsmarks that included building massive underground factories like the Weingut I complex to shield production from day & night Allied bombing raids.
Super-Heavy Super-Big Tanks & Artillery – Millions more in Reichsmarks were spent on impractical engineering projects championed by Hitler, including the 188-ton Panzer VIII Maus tank and the Schwerer Gustav, a massive 80cm railway gun that required its own dedicated rail lines.
TRUMP
In Trump’s 2nd term U.S. taxpayers have spent a historic $1-trillion++ in late 2025 and Trump has requested another $1.5 trillion for fiscal year 2027. This increased spending targets major force modernization, naval expansion, and enhanced troop compensation. This spending has been for minor “enemy” nations such as Iran, Venezuela, and Iraq, not directly against major superpowers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Drones, Missiles, Battleships, & Paychecks –
Drones – The proposed budget, which triples current spending on drones to more than $74 billion, would mark the largest investment in the technology “ever,” as those weapons reshape the modern battlefield.
Missiles – During the war in Iran, the U.S. has been firing off missiles at an “extraordinarily” fast pace, analysts say. To replenish those, the current budget requests a massive $53 billion for “critical munitions.” The single-largest line item, at nearly $18 billion, is the Golden Dome missile shield, a “system of systems” Manhattan Project-scale effort that combines ground-, sea-, and space-based interceptors.
Battleships – The proposed budget includes more than $65 billion for 18 more battleships and 16 other support ships as part of the “Golden Fleet” initiative. That’s a nearly 140% increase over the budget last year, when the Navy was allocated $27 billion to build 17 ships. The budget also includes some $427 million for unmanned naval vessels and testing of their weapons systems.
Troops – The budget includes a 7% pay raise for junior enlisted corps, and a 6% boost for mid-career military personnel. Some of the money, $57 billion, will go toward addressing ”failing” base facilities, including family housing, and fixing barracks that have long been deemed poor or failing. None of this includes repairs to the installations that have been struck in the Middle East during the U.S. war with Iran.
[1] and [2] citations
As Donald Trump has shown for many years, Adolf Hitler was also ruthless. Anything or anyone that gets in Trump’s way meant they/it were worth getting rid of or firing. However, as long as the selected, appointed high officials, the High Command is/was loyal to the death and obeyed everything the Supreme Leader directed, demanded or repeated verbally, they were in favorable graces and awarded lucrative benefits from Hitler/Trump. True democracy? No, far from it. Let me set the stage of these Hitler-Trump comparisons with a July 2026 speech to reporters by Tom Homan, White House Border czar and law-enforcement officer:
Does the “Nazi Gestapo” shoe fit Mr. Homan, not just on your I.C.E. agents, but several other Trump-appointed agency directors and chiefs in his inner circles of loyalists?
An Appointed Inner Clique of Loyal Sycophants
HITLER
Hermann Göring – a German politician, aviator, military commander, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party. Göring and Himmler also worked together to set up early concentration camps for Jews and other Nazi opponents.
Joseph Goebbels – a German politician, the chief propagandist of the Nazi Party, and the Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 1945. He was one of Adolf Hitler’s closest and most devoted sycophants, known for his fierce antisemitism and strict control over German media, arts, and information.
Heinrich Himmler – commander of the German Schutzstaffel (Protective Squadron), abbreviated SS, he created and controlled Nazi concentration camps and was responsible for the murder of more than 12-million people who were considered enemies by the Nazis.
Martin Bormann – one of Hitler’s closest figures, he was known for his bureaucratic acumen he served as Chief of Staff to Rudolf Hess and later as Hitler’s official secretary, where he exerted significant influence over party matters and military appointments. Bormann played a key role in enforcing anti-Semitic policies, including the Nuremberg Laws and the bureaucratic processes that facilitated the Holocaust.
Albert Speer – Chief architect and later Minister of Armaments, managing wartime industrial production. As General Building Inspector for Berlin he was responsible for the Central Department for Resettlement that evicted Jewish tenants from their homes in Germany.
TRUMP
Pete Hegseth – Secretary of War Hegseth has faced accusations from lawmakers, military survivors, and media critics of misleading the public regarding the scope, progress, and impacts of the U.S. conflict with Iran. In three primary areas Hegseth has fudged the reality of casualties, U.S. base attacks, and distorted the progress & claims of the Iran War. Hitler’s war cabinet did the same thing.
Pam Bondi & Todd Blanche – both Bondi & Blanche have been legitimately accused by critics and lawmakers that former U.S. AG Pam Bondi & current AG Blanche made false statements and mislead the public regarding the handling of federal investigations, legal limits on judicial authority, and transparency surrounding high-profile records. Hitler often did not wish to know details or his cabinet often didn’t divulge them.
Kash Patel – FBI Director Kash Patel has faced intense scrutiny and congressional investigations regarding allegations of professional misconduct, excessive luxury travel on taxpayer funds, and inappropriate personal behavior. Hermann Göring did the exact same things.
Brendan Carr – Critics and legal groups accuse FCC Chairman Brendan Carr of legal and ethical impropriety, specifically highlighting political pressure on broadcasters, First Amendment violations, i.e. late night TV hosts, and alleged abuse of regulatory authority. Goebbels & Heinrich Müller (Chief of Gestapo) both directed near identical orders and arrests for Hitler.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has faced public scrutiny and reports regarding historical allegations of sexual misconduct, non-disclosure agreements, and contested administrative decisions & health policies for public safety. Hitler’s personal doctor Theodor Morell & Karl Brandt along with Himmler all were tried & sentenced at the 1945-46 Nuremberg Trials for near identical conduct.
Kristi Noem & Markwayne Mullin – Kristi Noem faced key ethics inquiries and controversies involving family licensure intervention, travel habits, and federal department oversights including a state-level ethics board finding potential misconduct and federal scrutiny over agency actions.
Markwayne Mullin’s political career has involved several high-profile episodes of aggressive behavior, behavioral inappropriateness, and fiery committee confrontations.
Tom Homan – White House border czar Tom Homan faced public scrutiny regarding a closed FBI bribery investigation, tax omission concerns, and oversight of aggressive immigration enforcement actions. Heinrich Himmler and his subordinates committed these crimes as well as arrested, tortured and executed “Undesirables” for Hitler & the Nazi Third Reich.
The Biggest Military Blunders of Them All
HITLER
Operation Barbarossa – the unprovoked attack on Stalin’s Soviet Union. Hitler’s operation against the USSR in June 1941 through January 1945 cost the Third Reich 5.1-million German soldiers dead and 4.5-million captured. The costs…
Military Equipment – Hitler lost over 2,500 tanks and nearly 3,000 aircraft during the initial months of the campaign. Triple that amount for the following years in defending Germany against the Soviet push to Berlin in 1943-1945.
Supplies & Materials – Vast untold amounts of the German army’s fuel and ammunition stockpiles were depleted with no quick victory to replace them or liquid reichsmarks in the treasury to build and rebuild German industry due to Allied air raids and continued army advancements in the South & West.
Total Strategic Failure – This cannot be overstated, Hitler bit off more than Germany could chew when he attacked the Soviet Union while still fighting in the West against the great powers of Britain & its Commonwealth & the United States. Hitler’s micro-managing, avarice, and hubris ultimately resulted in Germany’s collapse followed by its long recovery and reparations to this day.
TRUMP
Operation Epic Fury – the unprovoked attack on Iran. Though the cost in human life is lower than Hitler’s Eastern Front, in modern warfare today the costs are just as significant in many other categories, not just in human lives.
Uncounted Base and Assets Lost – Military experts and independent think tanks note that the official $37.5 billion figure is a significant undercount because it excludes long-term maintenance and regional repair costs. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) estimates that repairing the more than 20 U.S. military installations damaged by retaliatory strikes will add between $5 billion and $9.4 billion to the final bill. At least 42 U.S. aircraft have been damaged or destroyed. High-tech naval assets like the USS Gerald R. Ford require extended, multi-million dollar overhauls. Beyond taxpayer-funded defense spending, the conflict has twice driven up oil prices past $100 a barrel following disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. These disruptions have filtered directly to American households:
According to the Brown University Iran War Energy Cost Tracker, Americans have paid more than $68 billion to $74.7 billion in extra costs for gas and diesel. National averages spiked approximately 30% to 40% over pre-war rates, frequently pushing pump prices over $4/gallon.
Per-Household Impact: A comprehensive analysis by Moody’s Analytics indicates that when adding up defense spending, higher borrowing interest, elevated airfares, and basic groceries, the conflict has cost the average American household roughly $1,100.
The Broader Conflict:
The war in Iran has cost the United States 18 to 20 military service members killed and 624 personnel wounded. One U.S. civilian contractor has also been killed.
While U.S. casualties have remained relatively low compared to previous prolonged conflicts, the overall death toll across all factions is estimated between 8,975 and 18,309 total deaths. This includes thousands of Iranian military personnel and regional proxy fighters, alongside significant civilian casualties in Iran, including between 120 and 123 school children were killed in the February 28, 2026 U.S. missile strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran.
In nearby Lebanon more than 4,300 people have been killed as a result of the regional conflict and fighting with Hezbollah triggered by the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran, and more than 12,200 people wounded and maimed. And for what? Being an immediate imminent threat to the U.S. homeland?
As long as Iran feels they cannot trust anything said from Trump and his military hubris—a legitimate concern given his history of falsifying, flipping back-and-forth daily, and what his administration press releases contain and entail day to day as well as his “War Cabinet” states or not states led by Pete Hegseth—this conflict will continue indefinitely along with the soaring costs to average Americans.
What was all this waste for anyway? Was it because Iran was close to having nuclear weapons in 2026? No, that was disproven and debunked several months ago [citation]. And to add insult to injury for the U.S., now Iran will likely maintain control or significant influence via threats over the Strait of Hormuz, a consequence that Trump, his administration, and his “war cabinet” CLEARLY never considered or planned for. The lack of foresight and all that has followed from the reckless folly has been a colossal screw-up that even the idiot numbskull Adolf Hitler would envy. What a pity America that you have been shamed and repeatedly lied to by this current president and his administration. So now the question is upcoming this October-November during the primaries… Will you be gullible again or complacent again for a third or fourth time, and repeat history again?
Addendum 5:55pm CST (UTC/GMT -5 hrs) —
I forgot to include American deaths caused by the 2019–2023 COVID-19, and remarkably still continuing in 2026, in my post here. Why? Because COVID-19 was a biological war or should have been declared as a serious biological war and enemy by the then sitting U.S. President Donald J. Trump. Astonishingly, absurdly, and callously Trump did nothing to prepare in 2019, then did very, very little from 2020 to January 20, 2021, (when Biden replaced him) to protect Americans from the invisible viral pandemic. Why? The lethargy showed by Trump and his administration to confront and combat COVID-19 with everything possible in order to save American lives was near identical to Adolf Hitler’s deep denial and complacency after the devastating loss of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad, USSR in February 1943 and thereafter. Just like Trump, Hitler turned into a recluse as if nothing had really happened. Of course, that was the furthest thing from the truth and the worst reaction to take.
HITLER’S INACTION CONSEQUENCES
An estimated 150,000–200,000 German soldiers died during the Battle of Stalingrad itself, and an additional 35,000 to 40,000 of the roughly 91,000 captured German troops died soon after in Soviet prisoner-of-war camps.
Approximately 2.5 to 3-million German soldiers died on the Eastern Front after the Battle of Stalingrad ended in February 1943 due primarily to the flawed micro-managing supremacy of Hitler’s incompetence and lethargy to reverse the front or quickly rescue those prisoners.
TRUMP’S INACTION CONSEQUENCES
Well over 1.1-million Americans did and have died from COVID-19, according to tracking data from federal health agencies and institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other independent organizations. In the Peak Years: The highest annual death tolls occurred in 2020 and 2021 before widespread vaccine and treatment adoption were finally pushed, developed, and distributed by the Biden Administration.
Those death statistics are more than all Americans who lost their lives in all of America’s wars combined in the country’s entire existence! 😲
The Professor’s Convatorium © 2025 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
The Professor's Convatorium 