Israel vs Iran: What is Trump doing?

Israel vs Iran: What is Trump doing?

Did John Bolton sneak into the White House when we were not looking? How else to explain the sudden rise of the neocons at the White House with Trump being all in with Israel against Iran. Yes the MAGA apologists will point to Trump’s actions against Iran in his first term. Trump imposed tough sanctions against Iran that Biden lifted. Now in his second term Trump has reimposed the sanctions. They are export oil restrictions, a nuclear program blockade, a disruption of proxy group financing of Iran’s terrorist allies (Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis), and various economic sanctions. But the most significant action is the signaling that the United States might join Israel militarily in their war on Iran. How else do you explain the movement of another carrier group to the Middle East along with 30 fighter planes and refueling tankers to Europe? 

Trump’s increasingly pointed threats against Khomenei are intensifying. His threats have been called “bellicose.” He has intimated that the US may take direct military action and pivot away from seeking a diplomatic agreement to restrict Tehran’s nuclear program. He has called for Itan’s unconditional surrender and said that although the US knows where Khomenei is hiding that the US wouldn’t kill him, “at least for now.”

 I thought that Trump and the MAGAs like JD Vance were opposed to intervening in foreign wars? Apparently not so with this one. Yes Trump has been consistent in saying that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon. But couldn’t he just support Israel’s attempt to destroy Iran’s nuclear capacity rather than seeming to want to join them in the effort? I keep reading that only B-52s carrying bunker busting bombs can get to Iran’s nuclear facilities that are buried deep beneath the surface. Yet no one has told me why the Israeli army could not attack the facilities after they were made more secure by its air force. We did not need the B-52s to go after Hamas’ underground network and we should not need the to go after Iran’s either. Just sounds like the neocons are itching for another military involvement.

Will the MAGA faithful fall into line to kiss Trump’s ring – like they always do? Apparently not all of them. First, Tucker Carlson who is definitely not a ring kisser remains staunchly opposed to US military involvement as does Steve Bannon. Trump now calls Carlson a kook. Marjorie Taylor Greene has voiced her concerns. Although Bannon says that military involvement will cause most of the MAGA folk to get on board with the president, he acknowledges that it does have the potential to splinter Trump’s support among his base.

Trump has said repeatedly that Iran should not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. As to ordering US involvement, Trump has been perfectly clear saying “I may and then I may not.” But it is clear that Khomenei has pledged to destroy Israel and wipe it off the face of the planet by 2040. He has called Israel a “dangerous and lethal cancerous tumor” and has expressed genocidal intentions. Calling for the complete eradication of Israel by the Irani leader is reason to incapacitate Iran and reason to topple the entire government in the hope that whatever replaces it could not possibly be worse than the current regime. Thus far Israel has assassinated or killed Iran’s military leaders and its nuclear scientists but has not targeted Khomenei – yet. 

The bottom line is that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon because the zealots running the country will use it on Israel. That threat is intolerable for any people but especially one that has experienced the holocaust, the pogroms and all the purging and terrorism of the Jewish people throughout history. That said, this is Israel’s war and its responsibility. The US military should sit this one out.