David Frum

We're giving up terrorism and we win.

We really win.

We win the war we want.

At that point, it's still going to be true that Iran doesn't have enough water for its cities.

It's still going to be true that this country that was on its way to being, had it not had, and I did this chart, I quoted this chart where from 1960 to 1980, the growth in the Iranian and the Portuguese standard of living is identical.

Today in 2020, Iran is really no richer per person than it was in 1980.

And Portugal is a fully paid up member of the first world, the OECD.

It's a wonderful place.

And Iran could have been, Iran today could be Portugal, but they're not, they're poor.

So we're going to have to help them.

We're going to have to make sure they have drinking water.

And that's going to cost a lot of money, more maybe than the war itself.

And Trump has again and again made it clear to his base, the United States is not putting out that money.

To do what?

Well, and this is where the refusal to think about reconstruction becomes an impediment to the war aims.

Because one of the things that the United States came out of the World War II with a reputation for was if you do fight the Americans and you do lose, they help you.

If president Trump, I mean, or there used to be a Twitter account called good president Trump.

Imagine him.

I imagine that person just gave up.

I gave up.