Matt Stollar:And just like that, Trump acknowledges the obvious - the U.S. lost and Iran now has hegemony

[Passages]

over the Middle East.

Link to tweet

Results of blowing up Obama's diplomacy, Iran deal.

[IbogaProject]

1. Rubio admitted as much a few days ago

He said that they expect Iran to now charge "tolls" for safe passage through the straight.

[Whip-poor-will]

2. The war that isn't

Because the war's in trumps head mostly ,who could tell weather we won or lost what?

[NJCher]

19. your Freudian slip

on the use of the word "weather" is very appropriate. Trump's decisions are like the weather: one never knows where they are going to go.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Or maybe someone convinced him that by retreating, Hormuz will be opened.

And that is the only outcome that the markets would accept that will also keep him in office.

[maxsolomon]

21. What removes him from office?

Surely not Impeachment.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Think about it.

The Republicans in office are running out of time. They will be unseated by the next election. When that happens, Trump's imposing stature will no longer be an issue for them. But they will need to integrate back into private life.

What I'm saying is, that the business world will have more of an influence on them, than Trump. Trump's power hold will eventually gas out, once the Congresscritters start looking for their next gig in the business world.

[maxsolomon]

27. I'm thinking about it.

Basically, big business interests will persuade GOP Congressmen to Impeach or become pariahs.

I think the Senate GOP will still be a firewall - even after November. Impeachment 2.0 left me a cynic.

[mwmisses4289]

30. Yup, the super wealthy gop donors are being impacted by the antics of the stooge they put in office.

[multigraincracker]

4. Even a blind sow picks up and acorn once in a while.

[AverageOldGuy]

5. That's what he said yesterday

Today will be a different story. That is, this morning will be a different story.

He will change his mind late this afternoon and again with his 2:00 AM tomorrow tweet.

[orangecrush]

10. THIS

[GoodRaisin]

17. Exactly. To pump the market up.

Although, he may as well jump off at this point instead of sending American soldiers to their death. He isn’t accomplishing anything making threats he is too chicken to follow through on. The world is laughing at the bully.

[CrispyQ]

18. It's what reactionary's do.

And it's getting worse. His flip-flops are happening more often, several times a day, or even during a short speech.

Most reactionaries live in the real world, where you can only get away with that for so long before you're called out on it, or the consequences kick your butt, but not Don. He lives in a world where his family's wealth & influence kept him from any blowback to his contradictory words & behavior. And the cult doesn't care that he says one thing & five minutes later, the exact opposite. It's truly staggering, the moment we're in.

[Fil1957]

6. He'll try and spin it as a victory. Don't know how he will do that, but he'll try. And some of the hard core MAGA and

Republicans will believe him. They'll hail him as the greatest military genius who ever lived in the history of the world.

But that's a small price to pay if it means no ground war in Iran.

[MLWR]

7. I know how he'll do it. He'll do what he always does: LIE. And repeat his lies, over and over and over.

I don't know if his idiot, imbecilic, moronic supporters and voters will believe him or not, but they'll shut up and that's all he wants: no contradictions.

[EdmondDantes_]

8. The same way he does everything else. Declare it loudly

Fortunately he isn't beholden to being accurate on his loud proclamations of his own greatness.

[wolfie001]

9. The destruction of the AWAC was pretty stunning

Total incompetence by this criminal administration.

[Bluetus]

24. The Iranians were very deliberate in their conduct of the war

While Trump was bombing schools, the Iranians were targeting the military bases in the area. Given the direct strike on the AWACS, evidently Iran was able to knock out air defense systems.

Apart from leaving this vital aircraft sitting exposed on an open airfield, the really stupid thing is that the Boeing is building the successor to AWACS, and other countries already have them in operation. But the US hasn't taken a single one yet. And now the US is down to about a dozen working AWACS planes.

[odins folly]

11. Isn't it just us?

And Israel that are blocked from using the strait?

Doesn’t that mean that it’s not really a huge issue except for the US….

Or am I missing something?

[FakeNoose]

14. Now we can buy oil from Russia ... wasn't that the whole point of this exercise?

From Pootie's point of view, he got exactly what he wanted. Now Chump can go back to looting our Treasury with abandon.

[paleotn]

15. $2M per ship. That's Iran's going rate to transit Hormuz

It’s effectively shut for everyone except for a small number of exceptions. The only way to apply serious economic pressure in an uber trade connected world is to close it to just about everyone.

[odins folly]

23. Got it

Thanks, I wasn’t completely sure about the situation

[paleotn]

12. I wouldn't say hegemony..,,,

but they will develop a deliverable nuke asap. They’d be crazy not to after all this. Good job, Donnie.

[flashman13]

13. There is a real problem here. The Iranians are not going to let Trump off his petard without concessions.

They can manage with the Straits closed way better than the rest of the world. At a minimum they will demand reparations and that the destroyed U.S. bases on the Gulf will not be rebuilt (most of the host countries probably won't allow rebuilding anyway). They will also want some guarantee that this attack won't be repeated, but I have no idea how that could be structured.

Way back when this war started, I said it would end with Trump's total humiliation. Personally I would like to see Trump be forced to apologize to the world, possibly at the U.N., for starting this shit show.

[paleotn]

16. Got us by the short hairs

The reason no US admin has been stupid enough to do what Donnie has done.

[flashman13]

20. That's not the only thing they have got us by.

[MW67]

22. A broken clock

Is right twice a day

[Joinfortmill]

26. He's a pestilence upon the earth.

[WestMichRad]

28. As others have said, it's really two wars

… or two different main aspects of a war. One is the show of military might, which at least up to now the U.S. and Israel have demonstrated superiority. We can bomb and missile them without equal (although they have shown some capability of retaliation).
The second war, or aspect if you prefer, is the political war. This is the part of war that the U.S. seems incapable of winning (thinking of Vietnam and Afghanistan, in particular). We don’t have the ability to go in and dictate the political future of the country (nor should we, IMO). Trump’s stated goal was regime change, and while their former leaders were killed, we have no power whatsoever to dictate who will succeed them. In that sense, the U.S. is clearly losing this war, or this aspect of the war. Trump is admitting as much… although of course, he’ll proclaim victory based on the military mission’s destruction of much of Iran’s infrastructure.

And, as always in war, it’s the people who are the big losers. On both sides.

[bucolic_frolic]

29. The Phony War

The consequences are permanent. The world cannot be reversed to its January 2026 state.

[Passages]

34. When we get together with friends the topic of undoing this mess always comes up.

Overwhelming.

[peggysue2]

31. If this were a true statement, then why . . .

Are we sending additional troops for a war that's over? Reportedly we have 50,000 troops already deployed and Trump and his flunkies are broadcasting they're ready to send an additional 10,000.

Again, for a war that's over, a war in which Trump is ready to declare VICTORY.

This is more BS, gaslighting and market manipulation for a war Trump and his Holy War warriors expected won in days, not weeks or months.

Trump is willing to sacrifice our troops to assuage his fragile ego over a war with no plan nor strategy.

This entire Administration needs to be FIRED, tout suite.

Then prosecuted. Every damn one of them!

[Passages]

33. I want all of them prosecuted too. I'm not the biggest fan of The Atlantic, yet this

article was spot on imho. There is an actual term for what Trump is doing as opposed to what most of us call him, a gangster.

See if you agree. **patrimonialism....the key concept for his second-term administration, where he treats public interest as personal interest.**

I'd link the article, but you need a subscription.

[Wonder Why]

32. I wish the characters that these people portrayed in the movie were here now

Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift.

If you've never seen it, find and watch it.