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On Oct. 28, 2025, President Donald Trump addressed a Business Leaders Dinner in Tokyo, reminding his audience of a forgotten chapter in history. “A lot of people don’t know that about General Douglas MacArthur!” he said. “The moment that the peace was signed 80 years ago … he actually wrote the Constitution here, and he did it all by himself. He was an intellect.” Critics suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome mocked the remark, but Trump was essentially right. After Japan’s devastating defeat in World War II — marked by the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki— MacArthur, inspired by America’s Founding Fathers, defied Washington bureaucracy and ordered his staff to draft a new Japanese constitution in just one week.
Completed in February 1946, the “MacArthur Constitution” enshrined natural rights, equality, and checks and balances, becoming the world’s oldest unamended constitution and the foundation of Japan’s rise from ruin to a free, prosperous democracy. Deeply admired, MacArthur received more than 500,000 letters from grateful Japanese who saw him as a liberator and trusted him — not their own leaders — to guide their nation out of war, poverty, and despair.
Although “regime change” and “nation building” are among the most unpopular terms in Washington today, U.S. foreign policy has always been rooted in both. From the nation’s founding, helping others experience freedom and democracy has been central to America’s mission. On December 25, 1780, Thomas Jefferson — who later became the first secretary of State and built the State Department from scratch — wrote to George Rogers Clark, using the phrase “Empire of liberty” to identify the responsibility of the United States to spread freedom across the world even by intervention abroad.
Nearly three decades later, on April 27, 1809, Jefferson, then recently retired from the presidency, wrote to James Madison, his friend and successor, reaffirming the idea of “an empire for liberty as she has never surveyed since the creation: & I am persuaded no constitution was ever before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire & self government.” This enduring Empire of liberty doctrine has long inspired America’s role in advancing freedom and helping other nations build democratic systems modeled on its own Constitution.
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Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio face regime change and nation-building challenges in Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, Venezuela and Cuba — and those are just the urgent cases on their desk. The list is much longer. Many Americans — especially Trump voters — are understandably wary, remembering the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan compared to Japan’s postwar success under MacArthur.
Following the highly successful B-2 bombers Operation Midnight Hammer, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” On June 25, at the NATO Summit, Trump compared the strike on Iran’s nuclear sites to the bombings of Japan, stating: “I don’t want to use an example of Hiroshima, I don’t want to use an example of Nagasaki, but that was essentially the same thing.”
Even Charlie Kirk, whom Trump deeply admired, initially disagreed. He quickly posted on X, writing: “For those of you who support US led regime change, why? What does that look like? Does Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan give you pause? It certainly does for me. Make your case.”
He later called Vice President JD Vance, who recalled that “He was mad,” adding, “The American people are done with American troops dying in unnecessary foreign conflicts.” However, after Iran’s nuclear sites were destroyed without any U.S. casualties, Kirk changed his tone, saying he was glad the mission was accomplished safely.
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If the Islamic regime in Iran survives Trump’s leadership and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s resolve, the mullahs will rebuild the terror networks nearly destroyed by the IDF and U.S. military, once again threatening America and her allies. The same danger looms in Venezuela, Syria and beyond.
In Iran, a vast deeply pro-American people are already fighting for their freedom. During the 12-day U.S.-Israel attack, the Iranian people trusted almost no one — except Trump and Netanyahu. When the son of the late shah called for demonstrations, hardly anyone turned out; hours later, after Trump urged residents of Tehran to leave the capital for their own safety. News outlets reported widespread traffic gridlock, massive lines for gasoline and, “Nearly nine million people headed out in cars from the major cities, especially Tehran,” according to Al Jazeera.
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American troops aren’t necessary in Iran; instead, President Trump should back a constitutional assembly within the Iranian opposition to produce a unifying draft constitution — so when a credible, U.S.-endorsed alternative emerges, Iranians themselves can peacefully implement regime change.
As America marks the 250th anniversary of its founding in 2026, there is no greater calling than to help those who share our ideals rebuild their nations. The answer is not in the failed “nation-building” models of leftist bureaucrats and Harvard globalists who once let Tehran’s influence shape post-war constitutions in the Middle East. It lies instead in the vision of Jefferson and the resolve of MacArthur — to help free nations rise on the foundation of American values: liberty, equality and self-government.
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