I don’t know much, but I’m starting to think that maybe this Trump Administration isn’t so honest. Do you think it’s possible they’re being (gasp) less than straight with us?
Mercy.
Take this whole Iran thing. Call me suspicious, but it doesn’t sound to me like Trump and Veep JD Vance and all of their partners in crime got everything they were looking for in their MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) leading to a potential peace deal.
How do I know this? Well, see, if you’re proud of what you were able to generate in terms of progress and concessions, you scream it from the highest mountaintop, not cover it up and leave it for everyone to guess. And then on top of that, you don’t dispatch Vance to hit the damage control interview circuit to justify why more than $300 billion would be going to Iran from the pockets of U.S. taxpayers while at the same time claiming that nation had been brought to its knees.
It's pretty clear to anyone with functional synapses that Trump had to sell his soul — I mean, that is, if he had one — to get the Strait of Hormuz open again so oil could once again flow through and gas prices could drop and every Republican in Congress might stand a slight chance of not getting wiped out in the midterms.
Again, they’re not releasing any details of the MOU until Friday or disclosing why it’s taking several more days to put it out there. Not that anything we’ll be fed is anything close to the truth, a concept with which these people haven’t the thinnest association. The more secretive they are, however, the worse the reality tends to be.
Let’s remember that Barack Obama had carved out a much more equitable deal when he was president. The strait was also wide open for years and years until Trump got the bright idea to invade Iran, only to quickly lose interest and struggle to brainstorm a way out. It turns out he found one, but it cost him — and us — dearly.
And then, of course, Trump began crowing that he was alone among American presidents in figuring out a way to make peace with Iran, conveniently forgetting that it was him who had launched the hostilities in the first place. The man remains the King of Shamelessness.
As part of his talk show propaganda tour, Vance is claiming that it’s actually Qatar and Saudi Arabia that will be paying the $300 billion in “reparations” that Iran is demanding. But that is plainly untrue. The fact is, it’s going to cost America and only America (i.e. you and me), and that doesn’t count the $70 billion the war has already cost us — to say nothing of the lives of the 13 American service members killed in action that we know of, or the thousands of Iranian civilians.
Oh, and there is also this: the MOU that Iran has released and is likely more trustworthy and forthcoming than the one our own Department of Defense will be putting out says not a thing about Iran giving up its nuclear material or ballistic missiles and drones. There is also nothing that specifically says, “Iran will give up its nuclear program and forego creating a nuclear weapon.”
The only provision Iran agreed to involves a promise to only enrich their uranium for “non-weaponization” purposes. But there’s nothing in there about oversight by international investigators, as Obama’s much better deal had.
Interesting, isn’t it?
You may recall that when asked if the everyday economic struggles of Americans factored into his negotiation to end the war with Iran, he famously replied, “Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran is they can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Evidently, Trump changed his mind and it’s cool for them to have one now.
None of this should come as even a tiny shock to anyone, naturally. Our “leader” has nothing that would ever be mistaken for convictions. It’s all just about whatever he happens to feel at any moment in time. Nukes, no nukes, it’s all the same to The TACO Man.
The MOU, as Iran understands it, also allows Iran and Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz and to charge ships fees. This sort of toll system didn’t exist prior to the invasion. It was open and free for everyone under Obama’s treaty.
Who would have imagined that Obama – who never claimed to be a businessman – would be far better at making deals than the “Art of the Deal” dude? Oh, that’s right. Everybody.
As ever, the Trump plan is that if people don’t see it, it doesn’t exist. If they never see the actual particulars of the MOU, then whatever outrageous claims he makes (read: alternate facts) will be the truth. It’s reminiscent of how he handled the COVID crisis in his last term. Remember? If people didn’t see the grim statistics, then his declarations of it all being overblown would preside as the reality.
This is also how Trump can stand there and lie, cheat and steal his way through a presidency. Keep the information from getting out and no one is the wiser. And if it gets out, simply deny, deny, deny. When the country collapses, as is happening in real time now, just say it’s someone else’s fault (Obama, Biden, liberals, fill in the blank) and move on.
One of the true tragedies of the Trump era is the deceit has taken hold as the default for a sizable portion of the populace and, of course, his entire staff. If you’re Secretary of State Marco Rubio, that means claiming, “I’ve never seen him fall asleep.”
Delusion now predominates in both our domestic and international dealings. So does insincerity and misdirection. And it’s all because one man’s ego can never get enough fuel.
(Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.)