Trump Got Schooled by Iran. He’ll Never Learn |
Educating Donald Trump has been an expensive and perilous proposition, for the US and the world.
His war with Iran has cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars since it was launched Feb. 28 and the tab seems well on its way to reaching at least $100 billion. American soldiers have died and thousands of Iranians have perished. More than 22 million people in the Middle East are estimated to live near reported military strikes. Oil and gas prices have soared. Inflation has been spurred and economic uncertainty looms.
BloombergOpinionThe US and Iran Have the Blueprints for a Strait of Hormuz DealWho Needs London When They’ve Got LiverpoolIran’s Reality Shatters JD Vance’s Hungarian FantasyM&A FOMO Is a Serious Threat to Your SharesThe reputational, civic and strategic costs for the US have also been enormous. In the run-up to a two-week ceasefire announced on Tuesday evening, the president took to social media and the airwaves to warn Iran and the world that “a whole civilization will die” and he intended to bomb the country “back to the stone ages.” He brushed off questions about whether he was willing to commit war crimes by noting that Iranians are “animals.”
Trump’s dangerous and reckless flexes in Iran may have been nothing more than bluffing, but sophisticated dealmakers know that undeliverable threats backfire when your bluff is called. Iran called Trump’s bluff. His options now are limited to trying to save face by taking an off-ramp the ceasefire offers or doubling down on an unforgiving war that isn’t likely to achieve regime change or most other practical goals.
The world can hope for the former but should brace itself for the latter. Ceasefires aren’t permanent peace pacts and Trump is, essentially, a........