Each ship transiting through the Strait at $1 million a ship (presumably splitting the other $1 million with Oman) can purchase between 20 and 50 brand new Shahed drones.
That's an epic own-goal on the part of the US and Israel, if I've ever seen one!
Sure seems like the usual Trump action: talk big, fail to accomplish goals, give up while declaring being awesome. Applies to his business and his presidencies.
I got into an exchange online with a trump supporter yesterday who told me we just didn't get it. He drug out the old line about trump playing 4-D chess. All one can do is laugh at the insanity of his followers.
I quickly read EE's free email this morning where even he admitted the war started by trump was a miserable failure...to date. He went on to encourage trump to "finish it." Really, what does that even mean?
On the other hand, trump is bleating he's ready to go off on his next "conquest." I would reflect, he would have been better served had he just conquered Cuba rather then acting as Bibi's bitch. But hell, what do i know?
The world as we know it will never, ever be the same....trump did that too.
RE: Erickson, it's a similar thing to what those opposed to starting the war say: if you're going to start a war, you better be prepared to actually fight it. The sad thing is is that the least bad option right now is to escalate to a full-scale invasion of Iran.
That's the problem with Trump and his admin's lack of strategic thinking/planning: it leads us to nothing but bad options.
Iran has been engaged in international terrorism for nearly five decades. Donald Trump is the only one of eight presidents in that time to give a damn. Very few of the commenters here are old enough to know many of the details. They have not lived through it. All they know is the drivel published and aired by left wing media. The path between diplomacy and war is difficult to navigate but doing nothing is not a viable option to allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons. You can bitch and disagree all you want but the President is trying. No others have.
Trump half-assed this and allowed himself to be conned into a stupid war (for everyone but Israel).
If he was serious about doing something productive in Iran, there's a lot more work that he needed to do (coalition building, more extensive planning, preparing for the consequences) that he simply decided to skip.
The only people who should be thanking Trump for "trying" are the Iranians, who are the only parties coming out of this better than they entered it.
I thought your generation was against participation trophies.
And your solution is what the other seven presidents have done? Sit on their rears and do nothing. Change is needed and major changes are not easy. So, tell us exactly what you would do given only maybe as long as 18 months to do it before the do-nothings take control and send the Iranians another $billion.
Why would the Iranians take a deal from the "do-nothings" for $1 billion, when under Trump, they can charge $1 million+ for each ship going through the Strait of Hormuz, and make $1 billion every 10 days if the Strait returns to its daily traffic of around 100 ships a day?
That will fund a lot of terrorism and buy a lot of expertise and material for a nuclear weapon.
Unfortunately, it will take the "do-nothings" to start to repair this MASSIVE screw-up from Trump, as Trump's already signaled his disinterest in doing any more and hoping that invading Cuba will distract Americans from the massive tax we'll be paying the Iranians in the form of higher prices, as well as the cost of this "operation" that leaves the world worse off than before it started.
The "do-nothings" had very good reasons for NOT blundering into Iran, and we are seeing exactly why they were right.
And to be clear, let's not forget that Trump also didn't do anything about Iran during his first term. Then again, he didn't need to distract the public from the Epstein Files, and actually had advisors who knew their ass from a hole in the ground.
Leaving an enemy better off AFTER an attack than they were before is more than justifiable grounds for criticism.
What you want is for me to make excuses for Trump's failures and I will not do that.
Since you think I'm being too tough on the President, tell me - in your own words - what precisely do we have to show for a month's worth of expensive warfare that made it worthwhile? All I can see is a lot of wasted munitions and proving to the Iranians (and the rest of the world) that we're impotent to confront them when they decide to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Dunno how you think that the previous presidents simply lacked courage rather than analyzing the situation as being unfavorable to direct action by the US. That's why we backed Saddam in Iraq - who lost his wars against Iran - and why we have used sanctions and other means to weaken the regime over time.
The other way of looking at this: none of the other presidents were dumb enough to fall for Netanyahu's BS.
Trump lacks the fortitude to actually run a long war, as shown by his desperate messaging surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and begging for Iran to make a deal. Who gives a crap of he "tried" - this is real life with real consequences.
Here's some of those:
March 1, 2026
Nicole Amor, 39, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army
Declan Coady, 20, Sergeant, U.S. Army
Cody Khork, 35, Captain, U.S. Army
Robert Marzan, 54, Chief Warrant Officer 3, U.S. Army
Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, Major, U.S. Army
Noah Tietjens, 42, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army
March 6, 2026
Sorffly Davius, 46, Major, U.S. Army [non-combat death]
March 8, 2026
Benjamin Pennington, 26, Sergeant, U.S. Army
March 12, 2026
Curtis Angst, 34, Captain, U.S. Air Force
John “Alex” Klinner, 33, Major, U.S. Air Force
Seth Koval, 38, Captain, U.S. Air Force
Ashley Pruitt, 34, Technical Sergeant, U.S. Air Force
Ariana Savino, 31, Captain, U.S. Air Force
Tyler Simmons, 28, Technical Sergeant, U.S. Air Forceo
Each ship transiting through the Strait at $1 million a ship (presumably splitting the other $1 million with Oman) can purchase between 20 and 50 brand new Shahed drones.
That's an epic own-goal on the part of the US and Israel, if I've ever seen one!
It was also very cute that Trump thought Iran would share the lucre gained from their piracy with Trump under a "joint venture"[1].
[1] https://thehill.com/policy/international/5821343-trump-us-iran-ceasefire-deal-joint-venture-strait-of-hormuz/
Good news! Now *we're* blockading the Strait of Hormuz!
Huzzah! That will show them!
Sure seems like the usual Trump action: talk big, fail to accomplish goals, give up while declaring being awesome. Applies to his business and his presidencies.
And look, now we have POTUS posting a video of a murder to distract from both Iran and these new Epstein recordings. Just great...
I got into an exchange online with a trump supporter yesterday who told me we just didn't get it. He drug out the old line about trump playing 4-D chess. All one can do is laugh at the insanity of his followers.
I quickly read EE's free email this morning where even he admitted the war started by trump was a miserable failure...to date. He went on to encourage trump to "finish it." Really, what does that even mean?
On the other hand, trump is bleating he's ready to go off on his next "conquest." I would reflect, he would have been better served had he just conquered Cuba rather then acting as Bibi's bitch. But hell, what do i know?
The world as we know it will never, ever be the same....trump did that too.
RE: Erickson, it's a similar thing to what those opposed to starting the war say: if you're going to start a war, you better be prepared to actually fight it. The sad thing is is that the least bad option right now is to escalate to a full-scale invasion of Iran.
That's the problem with Trump and his admin's lack of strategic thinking/planning: it leads us to nothing but bad options.
Iran has been engaged in international terrorism for nearly five decades. Donald Trump is the only one of eight presidents in that time to give a damn. Very few of the commenters here are old enough to know many of the details. They have not lived through it. All they know is the drivel published and aired by left wing media. The path between diplomacy and war is difficult to navigate but doing nothing is not a viable option to allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons. You can bitch and disagree all you want but the President is trying. No others have.
Trump half-assed this and allowed himself to be conned into a stupid war (for everyone but Israel).
If he was serious about doing something productive in Iran, there's a lot more work that he needed to do (coalition building, more extensive planning, preparing for the consequences) that he simply decided to skip.
The only people who should be thanking Trump for "trying" are the Iranians, who are the only parties coming out of this better than they entered it.
I thought your generation was against participation trophies.
And your solution is what the other seven presidents have done? Sit on their rears and do nothing. Change is needed and major changes are not easy. So, tell us exactly what you would do given only maybe as long as 18 months to do it before the do-nothings take control and send the Iranians another $billion.
Why would the Iranians take a deal from the "do-nothings" for $1 billion, when under Trump, they can charge $1 million+ for each ship going through the Strait of Hormuz, and make $1 billion every 10 days if the Strait returns to its daily traffic of around 100 ships a day?
That will fund a lot of terrorism and buy a lot of expertise and material for a nuclear weapon.
Unfortunately, it will take the "do-nothings" to start to repair this MASSIVE screw-up from Trump, as Trump's already signaled his disinterest in doing any more and hoping that invading Cuba will distract Americans from the massive tax we'll be paying the Iranians in the form of higher prices, as well as the cost of this "operation" that leaves the world worse off than before it started.
The "do-nothings" had very good reasons for NOT blundering into Iran, and we are seeing exactly why they were right.
This is what losing looks like.
And to be clear, let's not forget that Trump also didn't do anything about Iran during his first term. Then again, he didn't need to distract the public from the Epstein Files, and actually had advisors who knew their ass from a hole in the ground.
Not true: he ripped up the JCPOA which made war inevitable.
So, your answer is you do not have a clue about what to do except to bad mouth Trump even more and hope the world changes.
Leaving an enemy better off AFTER an attack than they were before is more than justifiable grounds for criticism.
What you want is for me to make excuses for Trump's failures and I will not do that.
Since you think I'm being too tough on the President, tell me - in your own words - what precisely do we have to show for a month's worth of expensive warfare that made it worthwhile? All I can see is a lot of wasted munitions and proving to the Iranians (and the rest of the world) that we're impotent to confront them when they decide to close the Strait of Hormuz.
What am I missing?
The facts. Iran is much less likely to have nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
Dunno how you think that the previous presidents simply lacked courage rather than analyzing the situation as being unfavorable to direct action by the US. That's why we backed Saddam in Iraq - who lost his wars against Iran - and why we have used sanctions and other means to weaken the regime over time.
The other way of looking at this: none of the other presidents were dumb enough to fall for Netanyahu's BS.
Trump lacks the fortitude to actually run a long war, as shown by his desperate messaging surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and begging for Iran to make a deal. Who gives a crap of he "tried" - this is real life with real consequences.
Here's some of those:
March 1, 2026
Nicole Amor, 39, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army
Declan Coady, 20, Sergeant, U.S. Army
Cody Khork, 35, Captain, U.S. Army
Robert Marzan, 54, Chief Warrant Officer 3, U.S. Army
Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, Major, U.S. Army
Noah Tietjens, 42, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army
March 6, 2026
Sorffly Davius, 46, Major, U.S. Army [non-combat death]
March 8, 2026
Benjamin Pennington, 26, Sergeant, U.S. Army
March 12, 2026
Curtis Angst, 34, Captain, U.S. Air Force
John “Alex” Klinner, 33, Major, U.S. Air Force
Seth Koval, 38, Captain, U.S. Air Force
Ashley Pruitt, 34, Technical Sergeant, U.S. Air Force
Ariana Savino, 31, Captain, U.S. Air Force
Tyler Simmons, 28, Technical Sergeant, U.S. Air Forceo
Fortitude or not, Trump does not have time to run a long war.
Then he shouldn't have started one.