Trump's War Is Staggering to an Incoherent Defeat
No one yet knows the details of the Iran deal that President Trump has been teasing on social media for the past day or so. The president himself has admonished his followers not to “listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about.” But as this war stumbles to a close, it is clear that the president, too, is lost: He didn’t know what he was doing when he began it, and now he doesn’t know how to get out of it.
TL;DR
- Details of President Trump's Iran deal remain unknown, leading to speculation and criticism.
- Trump's statements about the deal have been contradictory, shifting from 'largely negotiated' to 'not even fully negotiated yet'.
- Concerns about the deal are being expressed by Trump's supporters, including Senators Lindsey Graham, Roger Wicker, and Ted Cruz.
- Former officials like Michael Flynn and Mike Pompeo have warned against making a deal with Iran.
- Trump's communications director, Steven Cheung, responded defensively to Pompeo's criticism.
- The article argues that the war has already resulted in a strategic defeat for the US, regardless of the deal's specifics.
- The author compares the potential new deal unfavorably to the 2015 JCPOA, which Trump withdrew from.
- It is suggested that Trump is ending up signing terms that make the JCPOA appear demanding by comparison.
- The article concludes that the US will likely accept a major strategic defeat in the Middle East due to Trump's ego and incompetence.