![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3IVCVMYSQJAO7DJ7NKZWT4SO7E.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cBiggest threat in the world today \u2013 Donald Trump and the USA.\u201d <\/p>\n
That was the chant of protesters at New York\u2019s famous Columbus Circle, under the shadow of Trump International Hotel. <\/p>\n
Despite the temperature hovering just below zero degrees Celsius, a diverse range of people showed up to these hastily-organised anti-war rallies throughout the country. <\/p>\n
Some were protest veterans \u2013 frequent attendees of protests opposing Israel\u2019s attacks in the Gaza Strip. Others were younger, who have read about past American intervention in the Middle East with horror. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen this before and it\u2019s happening again. We just don\u2019t learn from history…we\u2019re not going to stand for it, just like we protested against the Iraq war, all those other wars. This s*** ain’t right,\u201d one young protester told me, wearing a Covid-era mask to protect his identity. <\/p>\n
Trump and Netanyahu vow to carry on until the Teheran\u00a0\u201cthreat\u201d\u00a0has been eliminated.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Standing at the back of the group, and with half a dozen police watching closely, an older man shouted insults at the protesters. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey know nothing,\u201d he told me, before another man joined in on the shouting. <\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael! Israel! Israel!\u201d the pair chanted, trying to compete with loudspeakers set up by the rally organisers. <\/p>\n
This escalating war in the Middle East has thrown up a complex range of emotions among Americans. <\/p>\n
In my discussions with citizens across the political spectrum, no one has been mourning the loss of Iran’s (now former) Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe stand wholeheartedly opposed to the war against the Iranian people, but also the theocratic rulers of Iran is nothing to support,\u201d said protestor Travis Moralas. \u201cPeople of Iran need real liberation \u2013 real revolution.\u201d <\/p>\n
The division is how Trump has gone about creating that liberation. <\/p>\n
While many feel that this conflict was inevitable, it also contrasts with what Trump told supports on the campaign trail. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to start wars, I\u2019m going to stop wars,\u201d he said as part of his victory speech on election night in 2024.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
While the White House has attempted to reframe that through a mantra of \u201cpeace through strength\u201d, it is a hard sell to many Americans \u2013 a poll rushed out by Reuters in the days following the strikes found only one-in-four Americans supported the war. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne of his promises on the campaign – \u2018no new wars\u2019 – they called him the \u2018no war president\u2019,\u201d said the protester wearing the face mask. <\/p>\n
\u201cWould you look at that – he\u2019s started a war. There’s lies upon lies upon lies \u2013 they’re straight up lies all over the place, and his supporters ate those lies up. They don\u2019t want to admit they are wrong and look where we are now.\u201d <\/p>\n
Moralas agreed. <\/p>\n
“[Trump] talked about how they were going to attack Iran to liberate the Iranian people \u2013 this country has never liberated anybody except in the civil war that ended slavery. The country has a history of invading, dominating, and bombing.\u201d <\/p>\n
The big fear for many was the risk of this escalating, costing American lives and global stability. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a retired railroad worker and I\u2019m against this new war against Iran,\u201d another protester told me. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely dangerous \u2013 including the danger of nuclear war. Not from Iran, but from the United States, which is the only country in history to have dropped the atom bomb killing hundreds of thousands of people. <\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/a-former-iranian-military-member-gestures-during-a-demonstra-4CSNI5DCZZF3HBEUZSRK5FPGBU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
A former Iranian military member gestures during a demonstration in reaction to the US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Sunday, March 1, 2026 (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis war has got to end now.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cTrump has been talking about this war for quite a while,\u201d added Moralas. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve been talking about the real danger of the US attacking Iran and that war spiraling out of control, engulfing the Middle Wast and potentially the entire world.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the chanting continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cMoney for jobs and education \u2013 not for war and occupation.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cHand\u2019s off Iran now!\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump seemed to have gambled the future of his presidency on this war \u2013 his biggest challenge now is convincing Americans it was the right move. <\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Trump\u2019s rationale for attacking Iran, and the return of a Kiwi film classic. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBiggest threat in the world today \u2013 Donald Trump and the USA.\u201d That was the chant of protesters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-313008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}