As It Turns Out, We Are the Great Satan

Trump's genocidal megalomania vaults the United States into the pantheon of worst regimes in history.

Every single official who promoted attacking Iran as necessary to eliminate an “imminent threat” and every single supporter of this war who said it would be quick and easy or claimed, like Brett Stephens that “the war is going better than you think,” should hang their head in shame. They should apologize, admit they were pathetically wrong and promise never again to pronounce on national security.

But they won’t. They are shameless. They know that they will pay no price. CNN will still book them and The New York Times will still quote them. They will skate behind Donald Trump’s absurd lie today that “we have already met and exceeded all Military [sic] objectives.”

It is true Trump pulled back at the last minute from genocide, but Donald Trump’s promise that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” revealed how truly depraved American leadership has become under his control. His threats garnered nearly universal condemnation. Pope Leo took the rare move of directly criticizing the Iran War, calling it “unjust” and warning that it was a conflict “which is continuing to escalate and which is not resolving anything.”

South Park skewers Trump as in bed with Satan.

It is hard to exaggerate the damage that has been done to America’s standing in the world. Iran’s declaration that America is the Great Satan and Israel is the Little Satan has never hit so close to home.

And for what? Having killed several thousand civilians in Iran and Lebanon, included hundreds of innocent children, what do Trump and Netanyahu (the true architect of this war as Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman document) have to show for this carnage? Not much.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is too young to remember the “Five O’Clock Follies.” These were the daily US military press briefings held at the Rex Hotel in Saigon during the Vietnam War, were officials would regularly provide optimistic, inaccurate, and even absurd information compared to the reality on the ground. “Body count” became the metric for illusory success.

Hegseth and JCS Chairman General Dan Caine’s eight o’clock press briefings are the modern equivalent. On April 8, hours after Trump thankfully retreated from his murderous plan, Hegseth claimed that the United States had achieved a “historic and overwhelming victory.” Iran’s military had been rendered “combat ineffective for years to come,” he claimed.

Even some of Trump’s most loyal followers aren’t buying it. Laura Loomer, the far-right influencer with a mysteriously close relationship with Trump, posted online that “we didn’t really get anything out of” the cease-fire talks “and the terrorists in Iran are celebrating.”

The weeks of bombardment and terror did destroy much of Iran’s conventional military capabilities and killed dozens of senior leaders. But that is not what Trump promised.

When he launched the war in the middle of the night five weeks ago, without consultations with allies, Congress or even his own administration beyond a few advisors, Trump said “we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.” The bombings set back Iran’s ability to enrich uranium for reactor fuel by several years, but the knowledge of how to do it is still there and the facilities can be reconstructed in a few years. More importantly, Iran still retains a stockpile of some 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to near-weapons grade and centrifuges that could bring it to bomb-level in a few weeks. Those in the Iranian regime that have long urged that the nation should sprint to the Bomb have gained the upper hand. The intent to go nuclear has never been stronger.

Trump’s second big goal was to destroy Iran’s missiles. Gen. Caine said on Wednesday that bombs had destroyed “more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities” and 80 percent of Iran’s missile production facilities. That is not clearly true. Even analysts at the far-right, pro-Netanyahu Foundation for Defense of Democracies estimated that as much as one third of Iran’s missile arsenal remained intact, and cautioned that “we either get dismantlement or we don’t.” There is nothing in the Iranian 10-point proposal that Trump accepted that even mentions dismantlement. Both the missile and the drone capabilities can be fairly rapidly reconstructed.

The on-again-off-again goal of regime change clearly failed. “This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States Armed Forces,” Mr. Trump said on Feb. 28, when he launched his war. Iran met his challenge and has prevailed. It did not “win” but certainly emerged in the stronger position. The regime is intact, more hard-line than ever, domestic opposition quelled and it now has uncontested control of the vital Strait of Hormuz. Iran is allowing ships to pass through, but only after paying a toll of some $2 million that it has offered to split with Oman.

“In his zeal to project the U.S.’ ‘strength,’’ writes MS NOW Senior Editor Anthony Fisher, “Trump’s actions on Tuesday have signaled something else entirely: a weak and unstable leader who has done irreparable damage to America’s reputation and the global order.”

“We’ve also destroyed our moral credibility,” adds Paul Krugman. “Trump may have TACOed at the last minute, but he threatened to commit gigantic war crimes — and for all practical purposes our political and civil institutions gave him permission to do so.”

They are right. The Unites States emerges from this war weaker, more isolated, widely ridiculed and now seen as a global threat. Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to say that the greatest threat to America’s national security now comes from within the White House.

J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace organization that is rising to replace AIPAC as the voice of Jewish voters, wrote on Wednesday:

“This war has been an absolute catastrophe for the United States, Israel, Iran, the Gulf States and Lebanon. It has brought immense civilian suffering and death across the Middle East. Children and families have been forced to spend days on end in shelters under constant attack. It has caused massive economic disruption around the world and dramatically rising oil prices in the United States that will lead to further inflation. And for all that suffering and cost, this illegal war of choice has achieved essentially none of the central American and Israeli objectives outlined at the start of the war.”

Trump is increasingly incoherent. He denounced on Monday a 10-point peace plan presented by Iran as “not good enough,” then accepted it on Tuesday as “a workable basis on which to negotiate” an end to the war. The plan appears to give Iran everything it wanted, including control of the Strait of Hormuz and a recognition of Iran’s right to enrich uranium.

The ceasefire itself is in grave jeopardy as Israel, apparently eager to kill the deal, continues to bombard Lebanon. Iran, in response, says it has again closed the Strait.

Commentators and opinion writers cannot resolve this. Congress must step in. It is encouraging that calls for enacting the 25th amendment and rejections of Trump’s obscene military budget requests are growing. The first real chance for Congress to intervene will be over a vote to authorize this war.

“Congress should immediately reconvene to pass a War Powers Resolution disengaging U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran,” writes Nancy Okail, president of the Center for International Policy. “Lawmakers should also make clear that they will not support any supplemental appropriation whatsoever to fund this unauthorized war.”

She adds - and I completely agree - “There must be accountability for those who started this illegal war of choice and committed war crimes in its prosecution. The failure to hold decisionmakers accountable for the U.S. invasion of Iraq and enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza has led to this extremely dangerous moment in which a lawless president is threatening an entire people with destruction. Upholding the rule of law and basic decency requires that this illegal war end and those responsible for it face justice.”

We cannot let this moment pass. We must not excuse Trump’s insane behavior or allow his supporters to skate along until the next Big Lie.