Posted on 05/19/2026 10:36:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Donald Trump was for the Iran war before he was against it. His latest post on social media about the conflict indicated that he is once more calling off a sweeping military action, this time at the behest of his Gulf allies who are apparently quaking at the thought of a renewed conflict. Trump’s initial sentence was quite a mouthful:
I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow, in that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond.
Its import seems clear enough: Trump is going wobbly. Small wonder. Trump thought he was getting a Venezuela 2.0. Instead, Iran has played Ronda Rousey to his Gina Carano. Iranian General Abdolrahim Mousavi Abdollahi, commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, told Trump that Iran is “more prepared and powerful than ever.” He added that it would respond to a fresh attack “swiftly, decisively, and with overwhelming force.”
If leaked American intelligence reports are anything to go by, the general isn’t whistling Dixie. Those reports indicate that Tehran has reconstituted much of its missile force. So much for Trump’s repeated claims that Iran’s military has been laid waste.
Here’s hoping that Trump’s palpable hesitation about a renewed bombing of Iran prompts him to seek a genuine modus vivendi with the country, one that will require him to abandon the demand that it surrender its entire stash of enriched uranium. Containment of Iran should be his goal. It has always seemed strange that a president who could play kissy-face with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un would deny himself the opportunity to reach a peace deal with Iran.
Yes, the regime is an odious one, but there’s no indication that it’s going anywhere. If anything, Trump’s ill-conceived military campaign appears to have bolstered the mullahs as they exercise the right of usufruct over the Straits of Hormuz. Should the war continue much longer, it will torpedo, not Iran’s military, but the world economy.
Trump, in other words, has good reason to seek an exit posthaste. For one thing, his poll numbers could hardly be more dismal. He can enforce discipline against the likes of Senator Bill Cassidy, who lost his primary, and Congressman Tom Massie, who appears about to lose his, but Trump’s wider unpopularity threatens the fortunes of the Republican party itself (though whether this is of acute concern to him is another matter).
According to a New York Times/Siena poll a mere 30 percent of Americans approve of the decision to go to war with Iran while 64 percent disapprove. Overall, his approval rating stands at 37 percent.
Then there is the economy. Here, too, Trump is cratering. Inflation is headed towards 5 percent. Trump plans to swear in Kevin Warsh as the new head of the Federal Reserve at the White House, a break from tradition. Trump wants Warsh to serve as his faithful retainer at the Fed rather than an independent steward of America’s finances.
But how Warsh, a lifelong inflation hawk, can accede to Trump’s incessant demands for swift and sweeping interest rate reductions at a moment of soaring prices is as murky as the UFO files that the government has been releasing.
The truth is that for all his bluster about ushering in a new golden age, it has been back to the future under Trump. Back to the high gas prices of the Biden administration. Back to soaring inflation. And back to a president who, more often than not, has trouble remaining awake to perform the most elementary of his duties.
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“... Trump’s ill-conceived military campaign ...”
I didn’t realize The Spectator authors wrote such trash.
All shall be well since Great Leaders are advising Him.
This article is horse crap. I’ve been following Donald Trump as a media and political figure for decades. He does not want to kill thousands of people, and he wants the absolute smallest amount of U.S. casualties possible. I believe he’ll pull the trigger if needed, but will try everything else first, even while some “conservatives” on our side try to knee cap him and his agenda.
Ugh enough with the BS from The Spectator. Knock it off.
Yet now they are dumping oil into the gulf. That sound like a country whose infrastructure is intact.
“Its import seems clear enough: Trump is going wobbly.”
Not to me. No one wants more warfare if there’s a non-warfare solution. I think the Iranian government is becoming weaker by the day.
If you know how he feels about casualties, and I agree with you, then the Iranians do as well. Which makes his weekly threats of destruction impotent and make him look foolish. Betger he just dos this stuff in secrdt.
“All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
... another character who thinks it is better for America and the West that the ROT (Religion of Terror) leadership of Iran be allowed to develop nuclear weapons than it is to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons to achieve their goal of “Death to America”.
“Why Trump is wobbling at restarting the Iran war”
Because, at the end of the day, he’s not actually out of his mind.
What language is that?
the repeated delays, cease fires, dallying have allowed Iran to get off the matt and rearm, refit and catch it’s breath while Trump used every excuse in the book to stand down. This would have been long over had he kept up the original pressure. Now he stands a very real chance of presiding over a very humiliating defeat that will be celebrated in Havana, Beijing, Moscow and North Korea. Every General around him needs to be fired because they apparently are too scared of him to tell him what needed to be done.
Is this about Iran considering attacking Trump business interests in the region?
Everything on and after 10/7 shows this is impossible. The Iranian regime will arm its allies with whatever weapons it can as long as it can and is either unwilling or incapable of restraining them or itself. It has maximalist goals of destroying Israel and the Gulf states and has no desire to give them up. The "containment" strategy that could work is the seizure of Iran's enriched uranium, the verified destruction of its enrichment facilities and continued inspections to make sure there is no uranium enrichment, and a similar destruction of its missile capabilities.
The problem for Trump is that these appear to us to be limited objectives but appear to the IRGC as impossible insults to Iran's sovereignty and the regime's nihilistic raison d'etre.
So, like almost every other President pursuing military action since WWII, Trump has to decide if he's willing to continue to apply military force or accept another US defeat.
Yes but a restart was suppose to happen yesterday and now its called off - AGAIN. Projecting weakness.
This.
They didn't send Kushner and Witkoff to negotiate: Trump did.
Frankly, Trump seems to have no idea how to deal with opponents whose primary interests are not economic. He's always looking for a "win-win" solution with parties who only see a "win-lose" solution instead of a "deal," whether its the Iranians, Putin, or Xi.
Trump should know by now that a failure on the war will finish off his presidency.
No amount of tweets in all caps can fix the damage.
It seems that he is being misled by Pakistan when he declared the ill conceived ceasefire. It allowed the opponent to recoup and refine their strategy.
I never use the preview button.
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