Trita Parsi

And as a result, we would be in a state of eternal warfare with Iran, which is something everyone else, including Trump in his first term, decided would be a terrible situation to be in.

Now, not only are we there, Trump seems to be embracing it as if this is what he wanted all along.

Look, it's impossible to be able to predict what's going to happen because predictions require some sense of, some assumption of rationality in the White House.

And then based on that rationality, you make some sort of an assumption, some assessment of what direction they would go in.

If there was rationality, we would never have started this war in the first place.

It's not just a miscalculation.

It's a complete misread of the situation that brought Trump into this war and listening to the Israelis.

So at this point, would it be utterly irrational, suicidal to go in with ground troops, suicidal in terms of destroying Trump's presidency?

Absolutely.

Is that a reason as to why he wouldn't do it?

Based on what we've seen in the last couple of years, it's absolutely not a guarantee that he won't do it.

The Iranians are essentially assuming that's going to happen.

They're preparing for this.

And they will be in a position

in which they will then be able to, they will take huge losses undoubtedly, much more will be destroyed, but they will be able to inflict a certain type of a damage that so far they have not been successful in doing, which is to kill a large number of American soldiers.

And once that happens, it will be very difficult for me to see that Trump's base will continue to trust Trump on this one, continue to believe that this was worthwhile, continue to believe that this is a winning war.

And that's part of the reason I think he will destroy his own presidency if he goes down that path.

That, however, is not a guarantee that he won't.

So we don't have all the details yet, of course, just some press reporting.

But by all accounts, it appears to have been a positive meeting, but not yet a breakthrough.