Trump now says he – meaning the U.S. Navy – will attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic, if the Iranians do not accede to Trump’s (that is to say, Israel’s) demands by tomorrow. He also says he stands ready to “take out the country in one day,” doubling down on his prior Strangelovian promise to end the Iranians’ civilization.

It’s worth remembering that the U.S. Navy skedaddled out of reach of the Iranians’ missiles and drones – some of which may have hit and caused serious damage to one of the Navy’s aircraft carriers. If Trump is to be taken at his word – which is something like taking a shady used car salesman at his word – the Navy will soon be back within the reach of the Iranians’ missiles and drones. This could prove to be the spark that ignites the big fire – if the Iranians devastate an American aircraft carrier. Such an event would embarrass Trump bigly – as well as possibly cost hundreds or even thousands of lives, as a aircraft carrier has a complement of more than 3,000. Trump would likely escalate and – given his “civilization ending” braying – that could mean a nuclear strike on Iran.

Perhaps a worse alternative is if it does not.

If the Navy does close the strait, it will have global economic repercussions more severe for Americans than a couple or three mushroom clouds blossoming in Iran. Such as gasoline going up to $5 per gallon from its current national average of about $4 per gallon. This could well prove to be something like the final blood-letting that sent George Washington to his grave at just 69 years of age.

Trump, isolated in his bubble and surrounded by toadies and worse, may think paying another $15 to fill up up the tank of a typical crossover is no big deal; a small price to pay for what he personally considers to be something worth us paying for. But it is just this tone-deafness that is turning him into a pariah among his own supporters, even to the extent that Alex Jones has turned away from him. That is the right way to put it, by the way – because it is trump who has turned away from them. It is not a “betrayal” to refuse to accept betrayal – which is what Trump seems to expect from his supporters. He seems to believe he is owed bind obedience, like Stalin or Jim Jones. Like them, he waxes paranoid and flat-out mean. The once-funny sarcasm has become angry imprecation. He was funny, once – when he mocked the pieties of the Left. It is not funny (except to the Left) that he now mocks the principles of the Right.

Maybe – hopefully – it is all just braggadocious blustering. One gets the feeling that it’s not. Trump’s ego may be so swollen that he can’t just walk away and declare a Great Victory. Perhaps because the Iranians publicly (and correctly) have. If you’ve not read the official statement released by them, you should. Once you do, you’ll be able to imagine how Trump read it. He, like the devil, is a proud spirit who cannot bear to be mocked. Especially by people he almost certainly regards as “ragheads” and “sand niggers” – never mind that they are Persians and so actually related to the Aryan people Trump probably likes to imagine are his tribe.

It’s Sunday afternoon as this goes live. We’ll see what happens come tomorrow.

. . .

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