Back during the initial tariff war days, Trump presented one of his visions for America. Using tariffs, Trump wanted to build an America that was nearly self-sufficient in terms of manufactured goods while seeing the world clamor for its products. That would guarantee the positive trade balances that Trump falsely believes our nation needs.
Fast forward to now. Because of the Iran War, the U.S. has sold more LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) and oil than what was sold before the war. How? Factor in the Iranian attacks on facilities the Gulf Coast Countries along with the closure of the Straight of Hormuz and we see why some nations are starting to look to the U.S. to make up for the loss of supply in those commodities. These increases in sales are benefiting Trump's friends who own those related businesses. Here, we should note something about Iran's attacks on its neighbors. Iran used those attacks to do unto others what was being done to it in order to get the world to care about what was happening to them. Morally it was wrong, but such an approach is understandable.
The above leads to the following question, is Trump receiving more incentive to keep the conflict with Iran going or to find an exit strategy? In terms of valuable fuels, both Russia, which is led by Trumpˋs geopolitical partner, and the U.S. have both profited more and grown more important in terms of providing the world with those resources.
Here we should remember what was repeated in last weekˋs article and stated in an earlier article. It was said here that Trumpˋs criteria for success are domination and acquisition. And in the Iran War, Trump has boasted about Americaˋs military domination over Iran. In addition, Trump believes that he has currently put Iran in an economic stranglehold with his naval blockade in order to force Iran to accept his terms for peace.
And so is Trump looking for an offramp to the war? I donˋt think that is the case. It seems to me that, as long as the Stock Market behaves, Trump is comfortable with or without an agreement with Iran at this time. At the same time, Trump has expressed little to no concern for the human costs of the war--that is especially true when he so flippantly threatens to wipe the Iranian civilization off the map. Has he shown any concern for how the Iran war has caused great hardship to those in some Asian nations? If he has, I havenˋt seen it. And what about his concern for how this war caused inflation on the American public? Again, I havenˋt seen it. Trumpˋs rhetoric suggests, if not implies, that he doesnˋt care about what non oligarch Americans are suffering from this war. Instead, what Trump has continually bought up is Americaˋs military might, which is under his control, and how America is profiting from the war. And so it seems that those factors seem to have eased any discomfort Trump might experienced which would have caused him to look for an early exit from the war.
When we look at Trump's actions through the lens of his criteria for success, again which are domination and acquisition, Trump seems to be comfortable with saying "I'll stay." And the most disturbing part of this story is that Trump's criteria for success will remain the same in all of his future foreign and domestic policies. Here we should note what Trump recently said about social safety nets. He said that our nation cannot afford to pay for safety net programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and child assistance programs while paying for the kind of military that he wants. And so if Congress approves of his new defense/warmongering budget, Trump will become more powerful than any President ever has. And, in the true way of authoritarians, expect more wars in the future.
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