We Don't Need Help, So Why Aren't You Helping?

 Help me if you can, I'm feeling down. And I do appreciate you being 'round. Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won't you please, please help me?

Paul McCartney and John Lennon

Bullies and tough guys have an inherent problem. It's called arrogance. A scant few months ago, Donald J. Trump was asked by an interviewer, if there were any limits to his global power. His response was, "Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me." Then he added, "I don't need international law." Finally, there was the inevitable lie. "I'm not looking to hurt people." 

That's right baby. Help? We don't need no stinking help.

Of course, many immediately saw the problems with Trump's original statement to the reporter from the New York Times. The man who said he was only limited by his own morality has never had any morality. Rapists and those who commit felony fraud don't. Plus, the limits imposed by his mind are few and far between since he lost his around the same time he lost the 2020 election. The whole, "I don't need international law," thing was a given. He's never needed domestic law, why would he worry about international ones. 

Then came the war with, Iran, (It's still unclear if the Israelis jumped in with us, or we jumped in with them.) and a 24-mile-wide waterway called the Strait of Hormuz became more important than his wandering mind ever dreamed.  According to Wikipedia, in 2018 more than 21 million barrels of oil per day passed through the strait. It is unknown how many barrels are making it through at the moment, but it's fairly easy to guess the number is a lot closer to zero than it is 21 million. It doesn't matter that the vast majority of it is headed to Asia, turning off the oil faucet to anywhere screws petroleum prices everywhere. 

When the U.S. and Israel struck a little over two weeks ago, the President appeared to think the violence would end quickly and shipping through the strait would proceed as usual. The whole strategy seemed to be kill the Ayatollah, the people would immediately rise up, the army, including the Revolutionary Guard would roll over, then Donald Trump would install a new leader who would do whatever he wanted. In other words, wham, bam, thank you Iran. 

Yeah, well that didn't happen. 

A few days after the 86-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei was offed, Iran replaced him with a 56-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei. Any uprising was small and immediately snuffed out. And, while the Iranian navy and air force are gone, or in hiding, the Revolutionary Guard and army are still intact and fighting with whatever they have left. As a result, almost all shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has stopped. Donald Trump can tell those shipping companies and crews to grow some balls and make the trip through all he wants, but the corporations and crews know it's their asses on the line, not his. 

It's reported Trump and his advisors didn't think the Iranians would close the strait. Trump denies it, of course, because he is incapable of admitting he made a mistake. However, if they did think that Trump and his staff just proved themselves the worst strategic planners since Herr Hitler decided it would be a good idea to invade the Soviet Union. Since the Iranians don't have nukes, their only option is to choke off the shipping through the strait. It is the only route to survival the newly minted Ayatollah and the military leaders have. They must create enough economic chaos throughout the world to force Donald and Bibi Netanyahu to hit the exit button. 

Suddenly, with gas prices at home rising and the cost of practically everything else soon to follow, it has downed on Donald Trump he needs help winding up this war. He told the media, "We're always there for NATO. We're helping them with Ukraine. Doesn't affect us, but we've helped them. It'd be interesting to see what country wouldn't help us with a very small endeavor, which is just keeping the strait open." 

In order to solicit that help, Trump, never the diplomat, told The Financial Times on Sunday, "If there's no response (to his demand for assistance) or if it's a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO." Ah yes, nothing like strongarm threats to grease the wheels of cooperation. He also told the publication China, Japan, and South Korea should send warships to the strait, conveniently ignoring two of those three nations have to contend with a wildly unpredictable North Korea on a daily basis. 

The international response to the President's bellicose, yet whiney demands so far has pretty much been, "You started this war on your own, Donnie, now you fucking finish it on your own." 

Earlier today the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent announced his resignation on social media. In part he wrote, " I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear we have started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby." 

While Kent blames the Jews and others blame Trump for taking the whole Epstein distraction act too far, it is clear the final responsibility for this war rests entirely with the President of the United States. His unbridled arrogance and strategic incompetence have brought us to the brink of a ground war in the middle east. You know, the exact place he once promised us all we would never be if he was elected President. 

Not to mention that for a guy, "not looking to hurt people," he's sure doing a lousy job of it. 

3-17-26