By Donnie Johnston, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
When you talk big, in the end you are usually faced with but two options—put up or shut up.
That’s where President Donald Trump finds himself right now with the Iran War.
During his recent speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Trump told the world that he was still deciding whether he should negotiate a peace deal with Iran or blow that Middle Eastern country off the map.
His tone was not loud and brash in the manner of an Adolph Hitler or a Joseph Stalin, but rather calm and calculated, as if he was God Almighty with the end times at his disposal.
His words and his delivery appeared to give no thought to the fact that these were human beings he was talking about destroying, people who want to live and love just as we do. Their hopes and dreams meant nothing to him. Just obliterate the whole country—men, women and children.
It was not the first time Trump had threatened to completely destroy Iran. He seems to enjoy playing God and holding the power of life and death in his hands.
Heretofore, the president’s threats have been hollow, at least the ones of annihilation, and critics have labeled him as “TACO Trump.” He talks big but then backs down. “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
Eventually, however, you must either put up or shut up, and we are nearing that point. Something has got to give pretty soon.
The Iran War, which Trump thought he could win in a week, is now in its eighth month and Iran is showing no signs of capitulation. Instead, the Iranian government seems to gain more resolve each day and continues to control the Strait of Hormuz, where 20 percent of the world’s crude oil passes—or did pass—every day.
In other words, we, supposedly the greatest military power in the world, have fought for more than seven months and gained nothing. In fact, we have spent billions only to lose mobility in a crucial shipping lane.
Iran may not have America’s military, but it has something else—an understanding of how Americans think. Iranian leaders know that if they can hold out long enough, we will give up and go home. We always do.
We did it in Korea and we did it in Vietnam. We did it in Afghanistan and we did it in Iraq. This is not the America of our grandparents, a nation dedicated to victory with the resolve to see things through to the bitter end.
We are now a nation of arrogance, impatience and affluence. We talk the big talk, but, as with everything else in our society, we don’t have the patience to fight to the finish. We want to hurry up and get it over with so we can get back to our TVs and social media and non-stop sporting events.
War offers little entertainment and takes a toll on our pocketbooks (gas prices, for example). If we can win a war quickly, that’s great. But don’t drag it out. We want to worry about things like who will win the Super Bowl, not some foreign conflict that costs us money.
Iran also understands that dragging this war out is taking a toll on both our weapons stockpile and the national treasury. It costs millions of taxpayer dollars to build modern bombs whose detonation often accomplishes nothing.
So, here Trump stands. He either must put up or shut up. He either pulls out and accepts defeat or follows through with his threat and uses nuclear weapons to destroy Iran.
The problem is that the world is not going to just stand by and watch if he does use nukes. Russia and China are already reportedly assisting Iran militarily (they’re getting weapons from someone), so they have an obvious stake in all this. And unlike Iran, they DO have nuclear arsenals to come to Iran’s defense.
Of course, there is a third option. If Iran, China and Russia can keep the United States involved in this conflict for years, it will weaken the American economy and make both those countries even more powerful. It is to their advantage to keep this war going for as long as possible.
Remember that it was a decade-long war of no consequence in Afghanistan that bankrupted the Soviet Union. Our military aid to Afghan rebels kept that conflict going and helped destroy our old nemesis. Now Russia, aiding Iran, may be using the same tactic against us.
If Trump is smart, he will pull out. But Trump is not smart and he will stay until he bankrupts America.
Or he will use nuclear weapons as he has threatened and maybe destroy humanity.
Either way, the man is intent on destroying something.
And Republicans follow like sheep to the slaughter.
Iranian leaders have shown that they are not intimidated by Trump’s threats, so something must give. Either put up or shut up!
If we pull out, we are seen as weak. If we use nukes, were are monsters. America is in a bad situation and Trump’s arrogance put us there.
Either way, the world now sees us as the bad guys. We’ve come a long way under Donald Trump.
Down!
