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Trump can't stop it. The Iranians control the strait; only they decide when we're done. Nothing Trump can do, even surrendering and withdrawing completely from the entire middle east, can force them to let ships through if they don't want to.
I cannot overemphasize how royally and permanently Trump fucked up by disrupting the previous status quo, where Iran still thought the US had power to enforce maritime law.
Yep. Iran has won this war for all intents and purposes.
But have you considered more tariffs?
They have no reason to stop the ships if trump buggers off. They'll charge, but there's not a lot trump can do about that before he dies.
I don't think Trump has the ability to stop. His ego won't let him and his party won't force him. If the US surrenders (and that's exactly what it will be), the MAGA movement will die. Trump and Iran are like Putin and Ukraine right now.
Consequently, this is also why the Democrats absolutely can not force a surrender either: it will give MAGA a scapegoat. "We were winning but the leftist socialists made us surrender!" It doesn't matter that it doesn't make any sense, MAGA will accept that as absolute truth because they're a cult.
Trump is pathologically unable to make rational decisions, yes, and extraordinarily badly motivated.
But why would they continue if the war ended? There would be no reason to.
Money. We've shown them that they can charge for transit through the strait.
Yes, but continuing to bomb them isn't going to change that.
They can now charge for access to the strait.
The access charge would probably be less than the current cost.
Or a better way to phrase it: more oil tankers would traverse the strait if the price was known and stable, compared to the risk of attack and unknown outcome they currently face.
You say Trump fucked up. I say Trump behaved as intended with the intended result.
You're giving him way too much credit.
I never said this was his plan. The only plans he's personally capable of are raping, stealing and ego feeding. That's his limits. But he's capable of thinking ideas are his very readily, and following plans of others.
You think Trump intended to make the GOP as unpopular as possible just before the midterm?
I think he intended to hand the oil industry a vast windfall.
Yes. Forced to say victory just around the corner.