by Roger Kimball
Trump’s “outrageous” rhetoric unnerved critics, but it masked a blunt strategy: overwhelm Iran militarily, force leverage at the table, and leave opponents scrambling to keep up.
Pearl clutchers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your credibility. A week ago, on Easter Sunday—Easter Sunday, forsooth!—President Trump horrified delicate souls by issuing this minatory post on Truth Social:
Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F–kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. That meanie used a bad word, called the Iranian mullahs “crazy bastards,” and taunted them by saying, “Praise be to Allah.” How disrespectful can you get?
There was worse to come. On Tuesday, as zero hour approached, President Trump went whole hog. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
Oh, oh, oh! Can you believe it? He just threatened to destroy the storied civilization of Persia, Cyrus the Great, Darius, and the Achaemenid Empire! The collective knickers of the anti-Trump establishment were twisted tight. He’s an “unhinged madman,” skirled some. “Apply the 25th Amendment and remove him from office,” burped others. Bill Kristol, the smarmy Yoda of the NeverTrump coven, urged top military leaders to disobey any such orders the president might issue. The frenzied knot of moralizing mouthpieces competed mightily to show the world how lustrous their consciences were.
This shoddy bit of holier-than-thou performance art would have been simply funny were it not also such a ghastly symptom of insanity. As usual, The Babylon Bee cut to the chase. “World In Shock As Trump Takes Seemingly Extreme Position To Negotiate Best Possible Deal.” What, did President Trump say those outlandish things as part of his strategy to bring the mullahs to heel? Was Salena Zito once again proven right about the importance of taking Trump “seriously, not literally”? Is it possible that the commander-in-chief knows more about what is happening in Iran than talking heads from the NeverTrump sorority?
While we wait for an answer to that difficult question, we can at least register admiration for the almost balletic dexterity with which those suffering from TDS can pivot. On Tuesday morning, President Trump was a war criminal. By Tuesday night, when he announced a two-week pause in hostilities, he had chickened out, sealed Iran’s victory, and betrayed the Iranian people. Excellent pirouettes, comrades!
Once again, Bill Kristol was William-on-spot with his comment that, by negotiating with what might amount to a new regime in Iran, President Trump was the “mother of all TACOS.” Kristol might be right about the acronym, but its true meaning, as Don Surber observed, is not “Trump Always Chickens Out” but “Trump Always Conquers Opponents.”
Even the most delusional NeverTrump fanatic knows, in his heart of hearts, that what just happened was possibly the most lopsided military victory in history. In 38 days, the United States and Israel destroyed Iran’s military. We eliminated most of its political and military leadership. We then went back to eliminate most of those who replaced the original leaders. We sank Iran’s navy. We pulverized its air force and air defenses. We incinerated most of its ballistic missiles and drones. We flattened the factories where Iran fabricated and assembled those and other weapons. The tally of destruction is impressive. Are the mullahs still in charge? Possibly, but President Trump has suggested he expects to deal with newer, better mullahs.
If things do not work out, President Trump cautioned, U.S. forces remain in place in and around the Persian Gulf. Should a satisfactory agreement not be forthcoming, “then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.” Mere hours after the ceasefire with Iran commenced, Israel launched an extraordinary operation against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Some 100 targets were struck simultaneously across Beirut, the Beqaa, and southern Lebanon, killing at least 180 terrorists. To reinforce that point, it was recently reported that an additional 2,000–2,500 Marines are headed to the Gulf from San Diego to join the 2,500 already aboard the U.S.S. Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group. Also, the 82nd Airborne Division is sending in more paratroopers. I am told they all have maps of Kharg Island embroidered on their kit.
Iran claims that it cannot find some of the mines it laid in and around the Strait of Hormuz. No matter, the U.S. Navy will find and clear them. Just today, it was reported that several U.S. Navy ships transited the Strait without any coordination with Iran. Meanwhile, many tankers from Europe are crossing the Atlantic to fill up on American oil.
Across Iran, armed resistance groups are targeting members of the IRGC and Basij militia. “This isn’t just Kurdish or Baluchi fighters in border regions anymore,” one commentator observed. “These attacks are now happening in central, Persian-majority Iran near the so-called holy city of Qom.” From the moment President Trump first announced the attack on Iran, on February 28, he has insisted that the goal of Operation Epic Fury was to crush Iran’s war-making and especially its nuclear-bomb-making capabilities. Regime change was not a stated goal. That, the president said, would be up to the Iranian people themselves. “When we are finished,” President Trump urged, “take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations.” The Iranian negotiators will bluster till the end. Unfortunately for them, that end is nigh. As will be increasingly obvious as the resistance to the Shia fanatics grows, the new Iranian dispensation does not include members of the theocratic death cult that has oppressed Iran for the past 47 years.
Photo: US President Donald Trump speaks to journalists before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on April 10, 2026. President Trump is flying to Charlottesville, Virginia to attend a MAGA inc. meeting and dinner at Trump Winery. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
Roger Kimball is editor and publisher of The New Criterion and the president and publisher of Encounter Books. He is the author and editor of many books, including The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia (St. Augustine's Press), The Rape of the Masters (Encounter), Lives of the Mind: The Use and Abuse of Intelligence from Hegel to Wodehouse (Ivan R. Dee), and Art's Prospect: The Challenge of Tradition in an Age of Celebrity (Ivan R. Dee). Most recently, he edited and contributed to Where Next? Western Civilization at the Crossroads (Encounter) and contributed to Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order (Bombardier).
Source: https://amgreatness.com/2026/04/12/trump-iran-and-the-theater-of-moral-panic/
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