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President Trump’s remarkable half-hour news gaggle covered so much ground and so knowledgeably. I doubt if there’s another president like it in my lifetime that could have done that.
Mr. Trump’s message, as I heard it, is that the war in Iran is over. We have destroyed them militarily and the brilliant blockade strategy is destroying them economically and financially.
Iran as a nuclear and terrorist power is over.
All the critics have been proven wrong. Mr. Trump has been proven right. He is probably our greatest commander in chief since World War II, when FDR and Eisenhower and Marshall and Churchill defeated Nazi Germany.
What we have here is a miracle.
Actually, it’s an Easter–Passover miracle. Let us not forget our great Israeli ally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This is a remarkable personal triumph for Mr. Trump and his steadfast vision of peace in the Middle East and around the world.
And it is also a remarkable triumph for Mr. Trump’s policies, especially the phenomenal execution of these policies by our mighty military.
That Mr. Trump is able to bend the arc of history to his vision of peace and destroy Iran is remarkable.
And yes, I believe in miracles. And I believe that the Iran victory was providential.
Let’s come to the blockade, which is so important and will lead to the economic and financial collapse of Iran. A brilliant Trump decision.
As Mr. Trump put it: “the blockade has been incredible. It’s held and they’re not doing any business. They’re unable to do any business because of the blockade. And so the combination of having no Navy, having no air force, having no anti-aircraft equipment, they have nothing. Everything is gone, including their leaders.”
He added that “the blockade is maybe more powerful than the bombing, if you want to know the truth.”
With no oil and no money, Iran has nothing left to stand on in any negotiation. And I hope the embargo continues for a while.
Iran will have to shutter their oil fields, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps won’t even make payroll in another few days, the Rial currency is worthless, without trade there’s no foreign currencies to substitute and it’s the end game.
That by the way is why stock markets are doing so well.
General Jack Keane is right to say there must be no concessions to Iran, no lifelines, no help at all until they prove that their behavior is really changing. That will take a while.
It is essentially unconditional surrender where the enriched uranium in Iran must be handed over to American forces and, to be sure, the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened.
Yet the United States will control Hormuz for a while. When Mr. Trump doubled down on the blockade, it was game, set, match. Also he found time to push his pro-growth tax cuts.
“What’s happening,” he said, “is people are finding out that in their tax returns they’re getting a big refund much bigger than they thought. So it’s no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on overtime.”
Mr. Trump added: “I think it’s a wait wait wait wait. I think it’s going to be amazing,” and “if you look at what they’re doing in New York and California, they’re raising taxes and they’re driving people out.”
And for heaven’s sake the pope should be thrilled that peace is breaking out in the Middle East.
Actually, the whole word should be saluting Mr. Trump for his vision and his faith.
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