As it turns out, we aren’t quite so divided as a nation.

Again and again, surveys show that Americans agree that billionaires and corporations don’t need more tax breaks. We agree that we want quality, affordable health care, housing, child care and education. We agree that our children should not go hungry. We agree on equal rights for all, and that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is going too far.

Americans also agree that we don’t want regime-change wars around the globe.

Where the divide shows itself is in government, where the Trump administration and leaders in Congress don’t agree — with us.

President Donald Trump and the GOP’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” took more than $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in order to give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and the biggest corporations. And while Americans grapple with rising housing prices, Trump reportedly told U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson that “no one gives a s— about housing.”

This administration’s war of choice on Iran also illustrates this tension. Dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” this war is profoundly unpopular, with a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll putting support at a paltry 27%. This is sure to be even less popular if the conflict drags on or includes U.S. boots on the ground.

In addition to being unpopular, Operation Epic Fury is enormously costly to U.S. taxpayers. The war cost taxpayers an estimated $2 billion per day in its first week and has cost about $1 billion per day since then.

According to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, that $1 billion per day alone could instead cover the daily costs of Medicaid coverage for the 16 million people who, as a result of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” will lose it — and for the food assistance for the 41 million people who rely on SNAP.

As Americans are losing these economic lifelines, the war is going to make life even more expensive.

Trump’s war has spiked the price of gas at home and around the globe, threatening world economies with instability. Families already struggling to make ends meet are having to fork over even more money for transportation to and from work. Food prices could also balloon as costs for transportation and fertilizer rise.

And now Trump is going to Congress seeking another $50 billion— or perhaps up to $100 billion or even $200 billion, according to some reports — to fund this war, on top of the $1 trillion a year the Pentagon already gets. He also intends to ask for an eye-popping $1.5 trillion in Pentagon spending for 2027.

We must also tally the cost in terms of human lives. As of this writing, more than a dozen U.S. service members have been killed in this conflict, and at least 200 wounded. More than 1,200 Iranians have been killed, including over 170 girls and staff at a girls’ school in Iran, with at least 12,000 Iranians injured and millions displaced. Deaths are also reported in Israel and nearby countries.

Trump’s war of aggression, absent a declaration of war from the U.S. Congress or from the U.N. Security Council, is illegal.

So, even as Americans are broadly united on critical issues related to our families, health, and war and peace, this administration is thumbing its nose at us and threatening all of these things that we care about. There has been almost no effort to justify this war of choice on Iran, only disturbing reports of administration figures calling it a “Holy War” or false claims that Iran is a nuclear threat — even though it doesn’t have nuclear weapons.

But we persist in our common values. This attempt to divide us isn’t working. What remains incumbent upon us as those who value our families, communities and democracy — the vast majority — is to make our voices heard.

_____

Karen Dolan is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.

_____

©2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.