From Newsgroup: rec.food.cooking


independent. co. uk

March 14, 2026
Why Trump's war in Iran could finish him off at home

Donald Trump was at his braggadocious, bombastic, bewildering best/worst (delete as applicable) when he spoke in Hebron on Thursday – that is
Hebron, Kentucky; not Hebron on the West Bank. He said the war in Iran was won. In fact, he told his audience, it was won in the first hour. He lauded himself for coming up with such a great name for the operation. "Epic Fury,
is that a great name? " he joked with his audience, as if you can't launch
a war without coming up with a great slogan first.

Now you would think in week two of a war, where US servicemen and women are
in harm's way, there would be a rallying to the flag. Here he was in Republican Kentucky, and as he uttered these words, I expected every
sentence, every rhetorical flourish to be met with a tub-thumping U-S-A
from this loyal Maga crowd. But it didn't come. The audience was strangely muted.

It was almost as if they knew what we all know: that there is no plan, and there is no victory in sight. The regime has not fallen, and the Iranians, with great ease, are able to block the Strait of Hormuz – and there seems
to be nothing the Americans, with all their prodigious might, can do about
it.

Now I would be overcooking it if I said this was akin to that moment on 21 December 1989, when Nicolae Ceausescu stood on the balcony in Romania's capital and found the audience not cheering his every word. And I would certainly be in danger of drifting into fantasyland if I compared this to a certain Hans Christian Andersen fairytale about a little boy who shouted
out to a vain ruler who surrounded himself with sycophants that he had no clothes.

But maybe there is a small element of that. The genius of Trump over the
years is that he has been able to say the most tendentious things, totally untethered from any factual reality, and his fans have nodded along.

This war in Iran feels different. His appeal to Americans when running for office was that he would not involve the US in conflicts in faraway lands.
It was America First, and yet Donald Trump has involved the US in a war of choice. There was no preparation of public opinion, no coherent explanation
of why – and why now. No clear narrative about what the strategic aims are.
Is it about regime change? Destroying Iran's nuclear weapons? Or is it just
a case of neutering them a bit? The messaging has been all over the place.

A Himars missile fired during Operation Epic Fury by the US army
A Himars missile fired during Operation Epic Fury by the US army (US
army/AFP via Getty)

We are now in a position where the Americans are running out of targets to hit. They've knocked out Iranian air defences, blown to bits key Iranian infrastructure (and a girls' school), decapitated the Iranian leadership –
but the regime is still in place.

Then there is the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the
world's oil flows. According to President Trump, the Iranian Navy has been destroyed. It's been sunk. But the strait is narrow. And all it takes is a dhow or skiff to drop a sea mine overboard (and the Iranians are thought to have an arsenal of around 1,000 of them) and, bingo, you've choked this
vital artery of global trade. And for all the lethal power of the US Navy, there ain't nothing much they can do about it. It's just so simple for the Iranians.

Did anyone around Trump warn him there might be a rather big economic consequence? Had he thought this through? Well, maybe they did and he
decided to ignore it. Remember this is a second term where the president doesn't want advisers who challenge him; he wants thigh-slapping
cheerleaders who say: "Way to go, Sir. "

So claiming victory as Americans are having to pay ever more to fill up
their gas-guzzlers is going to feel pretty hollow. No one is saying he's
naked and has no clothes – an image no one, not even Melania, should have
to conjure with – but he is looking a little threadbare.

These are scary times. But Donald Trump, ever the entertainer, is enjoying
the beauty pageant he's able to mount between his VP, JD Vance, and
secretary of state, Marco Rubio, the two men best positioned to succeed him
in the 2028 election. The praise is being lavished on Marco right now.
Trump seems to have warmed to him enormously. JD seems much more sceptical
of the Iranian adventure – or excursion, as Trump is now calling it.
Vance's scepticism about this might serve him well in the long term.

The genius of Trump is that he has been able to say the most tendentious things, totally untethered from reality – but Iran is different
The genius of Trump is that he has been able to say the most tendentious things, totally untethered from reality – but Iran is different (AP)

All of which brings us to footwear. It is known that this president takes a particularly dim view of lousy shoes. So when he saw his VP and secretary
of state wearing scruffy, utilitarian pairs, he said he would buy them new ones. Rubio has recently been seen photographed wearing a pair where his
heel is nowhere near the back of the leather upper.

Now you'll remember Rubio took Trump on in a presidential debate a decade
ago, saying the property tycoon's small hands were a sign of – umm – being small somewhere else. The theory doing the rounds now is that when Trump
asked him what size shoes he wanted, Rubio gulped and replied "size 11",
when he's only an 8.

So if you see the secretary of state on TV tottering around as though he's
a little girl in his mum's high heels, you know why.


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