Trump and the Art of the Surrender with Ben Rhodes
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What triggered the backlash against Trump from GOP Senators?
All hell has broken loose as Donald Trump's top Republican allies in the United States and elsewhere are turning against him after his unequivocal, unconditional surrender to Iran. As one account notes, it takes truly keen political instincts to alienate your party's senatorial class just before selling out the U.S. to Iran and needing them to run cover for you. top-notch stuff that was reposted by right-wing guy named eric erickson now we've heard from mega republican senators like roger wicker after donald trump announced his surrender to iran after trump promising that iran would be the one that did an unconditional surrender but trump did an unconditional surrender and gave Iran everything they wanted, including $25 billion control over the Strait of Hormuz and that Trump has agreed he won't even talk about nuclear issues with Iran for another 30, 60 days.
Here's what MAGA Republican Senator Roger Wicker says. The rumored 60-day ceasefire, with the belief that Iran will ever engage in good faith, would be a disaster. Everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught. Let me just fact check him right there. In fact, check a lot of this. We should never have been in this unlawful and catastrophic war at all. Period. Full stop. Donald Trump and Netanyahu are war criminals. They're genocidal maniacs. I'm just simply pointing out that Donald Trump promised a set of criteria that he said would show success, and he's failed in each and every one of them. Ben Rhodes, former President Obama's speechwriter and deputy national security director, wrote the following.
Nothing was accomplished by Operation Epic Fury except putting the IRGC in charge of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. Then we heard from... Lindsey Graham, warmonger. Lindsey Graham, he writes, if it is perceived in the region that a deal with Iran allows the regime to survive and become more powerful over time, we will have poured gasoline on the conflicts in Lebanon and Iraq. A deal that is perceived to allow Iran to survive and possess the ability to control the straight in the future is will put Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Shiite militias in Iraq on steroids. He then goes on to say if a deal is struck to end the Iranian conflict because it is believed the Strait of Hormuz cannot be protected from Iranian terrorism and Iran still possesses the capability to destroy major Gulf oil infrastructure,
then Iran will be perceived as being a dominant force requiring a diplomatic solution. This combination of Iran being perceived as having the ability to terrorize the Strait in perpetuity and the ability to inflict massive damage to Gulf infrastructure is a major shift of the balance of power in the region and over time will be a nightmare for Iran. Israel, I guess Israel first for Lindsey Graham. Also, it makes one wonder why the war started to begin with if these perceptions are accurate.
What are the implications of Trump's surrender to Iran?
I personally am a skeptic of the idea that Iran cannot be denied the ability to terrorize the straight. and the region cannot protect itself against Iranian military capability. It is important that we get this right. Then you had Ted Cruz, and Ted Cruz posted as well that he thought that this was catastrophic, that the outcomes would be terrible, and he said that you couldn't have a worse solution, to which you then had Donald Trump's MAGA influencers and people in the White House like Alice Brusiewicz, said, cool, Ted, no one asked you, bro. Stop trying to undermine the president and his administration, Cruz wrote. I'm deeply concerned about what we are hearing about an Iran deal being pushed by some voices in the administration.
And then in response to Trump official Alex Brusowitz calling him out, Ted Cruz goes, hush, child, the adults are talking. I'm not your bro and young political grifters pushing Iran appeasement are not remotely helping the president. One commentator noted, when you're having to tell Ted Cruz to shut up and be more obedient to Trump, probably not a great sign for normie voters.
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