When given options, Donald Trump will invariably select the stupidest and most reckless one. It’s happened again in the Middle East. It’s the region where American presidents go to lose their popularity: Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush learned that the hard way. Things may start off well, but they usually go wrong when America meddles in the mess that is the Middle East.
There’s no doubt that the Pentagon had plans for bombing Iran. They have contingency plans for everything BUT Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was impulsive, reckless, and stupid. The con man was conned by Bibi Netanyahu into thinking this would be a quick operation. Nothing in the Middle East ever happens quickly. Trump, of course, does not know that. His grasp of history and geopolitics is rudimentary at best. He thinks he can share in the credit for damaging the Iranian regime without much danger. As always, he is wrong.
Nothing in the Middle East ever happens quickly.
One of the few historical events the Insult Comedian knows about is the Iran Hostage Crisis. He seems to think a quick war will raise his dire approval ratings: Carter’s popularity went up after the storming of the embassy because of the rally around the flag effect. That’s unlikely to happen in 2025, Trump is hated by half the nation. That’s why he won’t have a Bush post 9/11 bounce after joining Team Netanyahu. His hardcore fans will applaud, some MAGA maggots will object, and the rest of us will be appalled by his wishful thinking that this will be over soon.
Nothing in the Middle East ever happens quickly.
Let’s discuss the press coverage. The media is taking the most mendacious administration in our history at its word. A president who lied over 35K times in his first term isn’t suddenly going to become a truthteller. Team Trump are not the only ones to lie during wartime, but they never tell the truth so how can we tell what’s going on? LBJ and Dubya lied about their wars, but they were capable of telling the truth. Trump is not.
Repeat after me: The first casualty of war is the truth.
I stole the post title from a great 1984 book by Barbara W. Tuchman. I only steal from the best.
In The March Of Folly Tuchman wrote about self-inflicted wounds that changed history:
Drawing on a comprehensive array of examples, from Montezuma’s senseless surrender of his empire in 1520 to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Barbara W. Tuchman defines folly as the pursuit by government of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of feasible alternatives. In brilliant detail, Tuchman illuminates four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly: the Trojan War, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by the Renaissance popes, the loss of the American colonies by Britain’s George III, and the United States’ own persistent mistakes in Vietnam.”
Trump ran against what Gore Vidal called “perpetual war for perpetual peace.” He lied. Is anyone surprised? Trump is the most hawkish dove to be found in the political aviary. It’s no shock that he’s gone back on his pledge to put American first. Instead, President Pennywise is putting his ego first. He’s hoping for a bump in the polls from this military action. As I said earlier, it’s unlikely to happen. Those days are gone.
The decision to go to war with Iran is classic Trump. It’s being done for short-term advantage without contemplating the downside. There’s always a downside in the Middle East:
After the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein stayed in power and Poppy Bush lost the 1992 election.
After the second Gulf War, all hell broke loose in Iraq and Team Bush didn’t have a plan to deal with an insurgency.
That’s the march of folly in a nutshell.
I’m not sure where this military action against Iran will lead. Events in the Middle East are predictably unpredictable. One thing I’m certain of is that Team MAGA went to war without building support for military action. It’s another example of Trumpist arrogance and stupidity. The incompetence, it burns.
Repeat after me: Nothing is easy in the Middle East. Nothing is what it seems.
The last word goes to The Police:
