He can’t help it. Everything he does is the biggest, greatest, best, worst, ever. If he didn’t talk in absurd superlatives, he wouldn’t be Trump. But this time, he really means it.
No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me. TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it. Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale. Their navy is gone, their air force is destroyed, their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless, and their country is hanging by a thread. Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences. Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are. This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat. These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide. IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. President DONALD J. TRUMP
There are two messages here. The first is that he’s done with a fighting war. We’re running dry on bombs. The military, sent to the Middle East to sit and wait for . . . something, has been worn out. And there is no chance that he will put American boots on the ground, both because of the upcoming midterms, where Americans want nothing to do with his war of choice, and because of the fear that watching flag-draped coffins being walked off planes will remind a nation that Trump lost the war.
The second message is for our former allies. No, they weren’t asked beforehand if they wanted to be part of a coalition of the willing. They weren’t willing. They knew there was no strategy for winning, with Trump believing he would pull a Maduro, shock and awe Iran into swift submission and then turn Iran into Trumpville. Once that failed, and failed miserably, he had nothing. Plan A was delusional, and there was no Plan B.
And as Trump was warned, but chose to ignore, the consequences of losing the Strait of Hormuz put Iran in a stronger position than ever before. Trump didn’t believe it would happen because of the shock and awe thing, despite being told that Iran was no Venezuela, and when it did, his only recourse was to lie and deny it. No, the United States is not in control of the Strait. No, it is not a new United States territory. No, ships are not moving through just like before the debacle. Claiming otherwise might serve as a palliative for the ignorant, but doesn’t make it real.
Trump’s new tactic is to starve Iran out. Since the US wasn’t a trading partner, there is nothing the US can do on its own to make it happen. Instead, Trump is threatening our former allies to bend to his will and end all connection to Iran or be his enemy. As Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent said, they’re either with us or against us. As Trump commands, they must follow. Or else.
The obvious problem is that neither Russia nor China, not to mention North Korea, care about Trump’s threats. They’ll deal with Iran any damn way they want. Then again, these countries get a pass because Trump believes that their leaders are personal friends of his, thus distinguishing them from other, “disrespectful” nations like France, Spain, Germany and Canada, which Trump believes are obligated to do his bidding.
Trump’s threats of HISTORIC MEASURES isn’t directed at Iran. It’s directed at our former NATO allies. It’s directed at South Korea, the one country in the east where we were once positioned to exert influence in the region to keep China in check. While the hyperbole is laughed off by Trump’s besties, his focus will shift from the lost war to insulting and attacking our one-time friends for their failure to do as he commands.
He may have lost the war in Iran, but he can still distract us by pointing at the war against NATO and others for their failure to back up the man who didn’t think enough of them to ask for their support before wreaking havoc. And then Trump can blame France for losing the “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale” that he would have won in a day if only they weren’t traitors to Trump. And, no doubt, Biden too, who is to blame for everything.