Donald Trump never should have attacked Iran. It has been by far the biggest mistake, politically speaking, of his presidency. It is also the most evil thing he has done.
If you look at Trump’s first term, his biggest foreign policy mistakes also had to do with Iran. He never should have abandoned the JCPOA. He shouldn’t have assassinated Soleimani.
The Iranians never wanted conflict with the United States. Trump did the bidding of Netanyahu and the Israeli government. Previous presidents resisted this pressure, at least enough to not start a war with Iran.
Trump is a war criminal no matter what happens now. Nothing can change that. His actions have caused the death of thousands of innocent people in Iran. He also threatened to destroy their civilization. Even though he hasn’t yet followed through on that threat, it is still a great act of evil. How would you feel if the president of China or the president of Russia said that a whole civilization would be destroyed in the coming days, and it happened to be where you live?
With that said, what is the best course that Trump can take from here to minimize any further loss of life? Also, what can Trump do to get out of this politically?
The Ron Paul Idea
When Ron Paul ran for president and talked about being involved in overseas conflicts, he would say that we marched right in there, and we can march right out of there. In other words, just bring the troops home.
Ron Paul still says these words to this day. We can just leave right now.
This isn’t even a thought on Trump’s radar. He is so stupid that he thinks he has to have some kind of a deal. He just loves to negotiate. Unfortunately, he has learned the hard way that you can’t negotiate by bullying if someone is able to fight back.
What Trump loves even more than making deals and negotiating is talking about making deals and negotiating. This has become his thing. He thinks it makes him look so smart and wonderful when he can announce a great deal and that we are winning because of his great deal.
But the best option for him at this point is to walk away without a deal. Yes, the Strait of Hormuz is still fully controlled by Iran. Let others figure this out. If the U.S. government withdraws from the region and stops threatening Iran, then others will figure things out. Iran will probably charge a toll to pass through. They never did charge a toll before February 2026, but we can’t go back to those days now. You have to cut your losses.
A Political Exit
If Trump just doesn’t have the intelligence or the humbleness to walk away without a “deal”, then he has other options. He could return to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which is probably worse than just walking away.
We don’t know where $300 billion in reparations is going to come from, and Iran still maintains the right to charge a toll through the Strait of Hormuz. But Trump can make his claim that we are making sure that Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon, even though that was never really a valid issue in the first place.
As part of the MoU, Trump is supposed to stop making threats towards Iran. It might literally be impossible for Trump to do this as long as he is alive. Trump’s ego is getting in the way of success, but it wouldn’t be the first time.
Trump could return to the MoU, which is similar to the JCPOA except that Iran gets $300 billion or more in money, plus control over the Strait of Hormuz. As absurd as this is, this is probably our best realistic chance for something of a lasting peace at this point.
So, let’s hope Trump makes his grand deal, declares victory, and stops bombing Iran. Then he has to do the hard part and keep his mouth shut. Either way, he will never have a 50% approval rating again. He probably can’t even get back to 40% at this point.
It is possible to just walk away from this conflict that never should have been started. Trump is probably not a good enough person or smart enough person to do such a thing.