Field Marshal Trump Throws in the Towel

One of the advantages of keeping a blog for over a year is that it becomes a private journal of sorts — a record of what you got right, what you got wrong, and what you saw coming before the pundit class caught up. And so far, my prognostications have been, to borrow a phrase, “bigly” correct.

Recently, I wrote that Unconditional Surrender Trump has surrendered. I said this when Trump abruptly declared that hostilities with Iran were over and that he had accepted Iranian demands as the basis for a long‑term settlement. At the time, I wrote:

“Somehow, America went from demands for regime change, an end to Iran’s nuclear program, an end to its drone and ballistic missile production, and an end to support for groups like Hezbollah, to an agreement that discards all those demands and instead cements Iran’s status as a regional power. After over a dozen U.S. servicemembers dead, hundreds wounded, and a fortune in destroyed equipment and bases — not to mention the damage to GCC states and their oil infrastructure — Trump has now agreed to a status quo ante arrangement with the added humiliation of Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Some readers insisted I was being cynical, or that I was committing the cardinal sin of taking Trump “seriously but not literally” — still one of the most asinine coping mechanisms in the MAGA toolkit. But today, those naysayers were proven wrong when Lil’ Marco himself confirmed the surrender:

“The operation, Epic Fury, is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation,” Rubio said at the White House.

“This is the first step toward reopening the strait. We are doing it not only because we were asked, but because we are the only ones that can.”

What an abject failure for the Trump administration and the U.S. military. Again, not a single stated American objective has been achieved:

• Members of the old regime were killed, but their replacements are ideologically identical and just as defiant toward U.S. and Israeli demands.
• The Iranian people remain under the same theocratic rule; no “liberation” has occurred.
• Iran’s nuclear enrichment program remains intact — and, if anything, Tehran is now more determined than ever to retain it after witnessing how non‑nuclear states are treated by nuclear powers.
• Iran’s ballistic missile and drone capabilities remain largely functional despite U.S. and Israeli strikes.
• Iran has not been forced to abandon its regional proxies; Hezbollah remains operational despite Israeli operations.

So what “objectives” is Lil’ Marco talking about? I’m at a loss. The Trump White House can’t even get Iran to the negotiating table.

Worse, Iran is now in a stronger position than before Trump launched his illegal war. It controls one of the world’s most vital chokepoints, turning the entire strategic exercise into a net loss for the United States. And because of the administration’s chaotic handling of the crisis, Iran has made the Trump team look like fools. Recall the sequence:

• The Secretary of Defense insisted the Strait was open - except for the attacks on shipping.
• Trump said the Strait was open.
• Trump then said we didn’t care whether it was open.
• Then he claimed NATO was sending a naval force to open the Strait, which was already open but closed.
• When no such force materialized, he said it was a “test” of NATO and that we never needed help anyway.
• Then he declared the Strait was closed - but it didn’t matter because America had “plenty of oil.”
• Then he said we did care and that a counter‑blockade was underway to open the blockade that may or may not have existed.
• And now, today, ending the Iranian blockade is suddenly a humanitarian objective, despite the war supposedly having ended with “all goals achieved.”

If this reads like a rejected Monty Python sketch, you’re not wrong.

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BREAKING NEWS

Only hours after Lil’ Marco announced Operation ’Merica!/Screaming Eagles!/Something Jingoistic!, Trump has TACOed yet again. According to the New Zork Times:

President Trump announced Tuesday evening that he was pausing the day‑old U.S. operation to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz “for a short period of time,” citing what he called “great progress” toward an agreement with Iran.

His announcement came only hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that combat operations were concluded and that the U.S. was fully focused on the new escort mission. Only three commercial ships have made it through the strait since the operation began.

When asked for comment, U.S. Central Command referred all questions to the White House.

Three months into this war, the administration still can’t articulate what it’s doing, why it’s doing it, or what “victory” even means. The only consistent through‑line is chaos — and Iran is exploiting every second of it.

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Perhaps this is why a majority of Americans believe Trump is not mentally fit for the presidency.  According to a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll:

59 percent of U.S. respondents indicated Trump does not have the mental sharpness it takes to lead the country. Forty percent of respondents said the president is mentally equipped for leadership, and 1 percent of participants skipped the question. 

Comparatively, 55 percent of surveyed U.S. adults said Trump is not in good enough physical health to serve as president, while 44 percent disagreed and 1 percent of survey participants skipped the question. 

More than half of respondents, 54 percent, said they do not believe the president is a strong leader.

Sixty-seven percent of survey participants also said they don’t think Trump carefully considers important decisions.

As recent events indicate, those Americans are not wrong.

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Great powers rarely fall in a single moment. As the collapse of the USSR demonstrated, they erode through misjudgment, self‑deception, and the slow normalization of incompetence. This administration has managed all three in the span of a single conflict. Unless something changes, future historians will look back on this episode as one of the obvious signs that America's decline was already well underway.

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