Trump praised Douglas MacArthur. He could embrace his nation-building in Iran, too

America approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026 with nation-building debates. But Trump's MacArthur example offers hope for Iranian freedom and constitutional reform.

Amir Fakhravar is an award-winning writer, former political prisoner of IRGC inside Iran, and the Senate chairman of The National Iranian Congress. Fakhravar has testified several times at the United States Senate and House of Representatives. He is the author of "Comrade Ayatollah" and "The Spirit of the Constitutional Law."  

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.