Sunrise breaks over Virginia Peak and bathes the Carson Range and the Truckee Meadows in first light's fiery symphony. Easter and Passover have come and gone, but I always feel the spirit of life in such moments. Not that conjuring a hopeful heart is a simple matter these days.

Bumptious President Donald Trump, scheduled to escape the heat of Washington, D.C., this week to make a trip to Las Vegas, has marched the nation into a war with Iran and made the world a more dangerous place. With so much at stake, he can't resist laying on the bluster and brinksmanship like a crude mob boss masquerading as God's chosen warrior.

We won't soon forget these gems from the nation's puerile poet laureate: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," and "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise to Allah. President Donald J. Trump."

His staunchest supporters might still find such cheap talk charming, but his approval rating is lower than ever. He's even lost some of his biggest media boosters. Heavy criticism of his unilateral decision to go to war has come from Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Megyn Kelly and Joe Rogan. Much of their criticism has centered on Trump's inability to discern American foreign policy from Israeli foreign policy.

In a predictable response to the escapees from his cult of personality, Trump now describes them as "losers." Hey, didn't see that coming.

Trump finds unyielding fealty from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whose rhetoric increasingly strays from hyperbolic overstatement about the country's attack on Iran into holy war territory, the most dangerous talk of all. Hegseth continues to reduce the collective I.Q. of our military by forcing out top generals and staffers who reject the unrepentant frat boy's bluster. But as it turns out, the "Department of War" marketing effort really does accurately describe an administration that has committed military actions in eight foreign countries, not to mention on American soil, in its first year.

As political analysts and military experts focus on the fine details and bigger picture, the reasons behind Trump's actions fade in importance. For me, it doesn't matter whether he did this to fulfill a campaign promise, please Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of countries where the Trump family does business, distract from his presence in sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's sordid inner sanctum or simply because he's an unhinged king of chaos.

Some students of history believe Trump is mimicking his political hero Richard Nixon by playing the "madman" in order to strike fear in the heart of his opponent. Given the destruction of Nixon's bombing strategy, that's hardly a reassuring thought.

It's also important to acknowledge that Netanyahu is not Israel, whose main opposition party leader Yair Lapid made clear when he posted on X, "It will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage that Netanyahu caused due to arrogance, negligence, and lack of strategic planning." It's something to remember if Trump's fealty to Netanyahu and Israeli billionaires such as Miriam Adelson, who once suggested a "Book of Trump" be added to the Bible, ends up fomenting a spike in antisemitism in a country already prone to it.

In his endless effort to play the strongman, he's alienated our allies and continues to coddle dictators. Worse yet, he's chosen to make our own country less safe.

Try to keep that in mind when he takes a victory lap for the "No Tax on Tips Act" that has even his Democratic Party critics nodding their heads and wishing they'd thought of it first. Set aside for a moment high gasoline and food prices, Nevada's high unemployment rate, flattening visitation at Harry Reid International Airport, reduced health care access and the folly of a struggling gaming industry pricing itself out of the middle-class market.

Remember that in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on America, a mass murder committed by radicalized Saudis — not Iranians — the FBI considered Las Vegas a prime potential target for a terrorist attack. Although the biggest targets were located in the major coastal cities, one source briefed by the FBI reminds me Las Vegas was considered a "Tier 2" site. Its casino megaresorts and international reputation as a hedonistic playground seemed made-to-order to play a role in some violent radical fantasy. Add to that Hoover Dam and the Creech and Nellis Air Force bases, and you have what some would consider a target-rich environment.

The simple truth is, America is a land of soft targets. That's a reason we have relied on wise and mature leaders to make good decisions based on experienced minds and the best available facts — not ones who cheapen Christian values and endanger the planet, the God of the Bible's greatest gift.

Whether the tenuous ceasefire with Iran holds or falters, the war is closer to home than we think. Trump has made it so.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family's Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.