President Trump suddenly got all sensitive and tweeted an all-caps warning at Iran, saying, in effect, if he hears one more "Death to America" threat he's going to wipe the country off the map of the world.
Iran replied, in effect, "Yo mama!"
Now both countries have been officially warned to be cautious.
Unfortunately, "cautious" is not a setting on Trump's Earth-pulverizing juggernaut.
(Except when he's standing next to Putin, when the machine shrinks back down to toy-shop size and purrs pleasantly.)
So, why does Trump appear all hot and bothered by Iran? I see it as a posture he thinks worked well on Kim Jong-un: Scream at the man, belittle him, and threaten him with total nuclear annihilation.
Do that, and you can get whatever you want out of the guy.
The problem is, Trump had nothing to do with what happened with North Korea.
(Whatever it was that happened; they've dismantled all their nukes and missiles, right?)
The reality is, it was Kim's show all the way. He got his missiles to fly far enough to hit all of the US, he tested a hydrogen bomb, and was in the process of mating the two for maximum effect. At that fortuitous moment the winter Olympics were about to start in South Korea. Kim jumped at the chance to make overtures, setting the ball in motion.
Whatever his long-term goal might be (and we still don't know what it is), he was now positioned to meet face to face with the American President on the World Stage.
Kim made it happen. Trump was just a noisy bystander.
What we've got now is like an episode of the Outer Limits—the one where time travelers or aliens or whatever deflected a bullet in midair, convincing a would-be criminal mastermind he's immortal and can do whatever he wants in the future.
Based on his magnificent performance with Kim, the immortal Trump is fired up and looking for new worlds to conquer.
His meeting with Putin went "great" (he assures us; nobody will ever know what really happened in that room for two and a half hours). The press conference after, not so much.
It must be so frustrating! You're great "in the room," then a bunch of Fake News jumps up to ruin everything!
Donald Trump, by his own admission, has been tougher on Russia than anybody in the history of history, yet he gets no respect. People actually call his actions at the Helsinki press conference treasonous.
(C'mon! What about Crooked Hillary? She destroyed whole sections of America and personally murdered every single person in Benghazi! Why the hell is she not in jail?)
Most recently Trump tweeted he expects the Russians will hack the 2018 election in favor of the Democrats. (They don't like him anymore 'cause he's so tough on 'em.) I guess that explains in advance any losses the Republicans might suffer. Nothing to do with their performance in Congress, that's for sure.
Any future success for Trump and his party will be based on herculean efforts to defeat an entire country intent on seeing him fail. Any loss, a martyrdom to dishonest international politics.
Trump's position on election hacking has gone from the "400-pound man on his bed" to anybody and everybody in the world to absolutely the Russians (as long as Putin is not standing right there). He now has an iron-clad excuse for any future failures as president.
Well, two excuses: the Russians and Fake News.
Always nice to have your wagons circled against impending disaster.
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