Dire warning as Trump makes 'world's worst nightmare' worse: 'Future looks pretty grim'

A nightmare scenario is already playing out on the global stage, according to an analyst, and President Donald Trump has multiple ways to make things worse.

The war in Iran is back on with the killing of three more American service members over the weekend and both adversaries edging closer to a wider war, and The New Republic's Michael Tomasky laid out four ominous scenarios the 80-year-old seems likely to pursue.

"The future looks pretty grim," Tomasky wrote. "I mean, we’ve got Trump doing the one thing he said he’d never do: running a war. Knowing what we know about his attention span, his decision-making process, his willed ignorance of history, his refusal to read briefing papers, and his habit of responding to the last thing he saw on Fox News or Newsmax, we have plenty of reason to be worried here — and by 'we,' I don’t mean liberals or Democrats or even Americans. I mean the world."

Trump could bomb some civilian installations such as power stations, for example, which Tomasky said would likely drive Iran to exert fuller control over the Strait of Hormuz and rattle the global economy until Trump backs down. That is how the war has played out so far.

Trump could also carry out a massive bombing raid on Kharg Island, from which Iran sends out 90 percent of its oil and natural gas, or even attempt a ground invasion of the crucial Arabian Gulf site.

"There has also been talk of a full-scale invasion of the island by U.S. troops," Tomasky wrote. "Doctor Testosterone over at the Pentagon probably can’t wait. Trump is surely holding off on both of these options because he knows full well that either would likely send gas prices soaring to the heavens and have other negative effects on the global economy."

Or a worse scenario would be an escalation of the conflict until some entirely predictable “unpredictable” event, such as the mass killing of civilians or U.S. troops, which could intensify the conflict exponentially.

"Finally, there is the possibility that Trump gets impatient over a war he thought he was going to win in two weeks, and he takes drastic action that truly does shock world opinion," Tomasky warned. "The wholesale bombing of civilian infrastructure. Bombing of civilian targets resulting in heavy casualties. The metaphorical 'nuclear option' in this scenario would be quite literally nuclear."

The U.S. holds many small tactical nukes in its arsenal, and Tomasky fears that Trump could be tempted to tap into that supply to end the war.

"I’m just saying —with Donald Trump (and Pete Hegseth), never say never," he said.

Trump's conscience surely wouldn't stop him from sending a nuclear message to Iran, Tomasky said, so the only hope that he would shy away from such a drastic move is his fear of a global depression on his watch.

"Trump is Trump — a vain man-child who rarely thinks more than an hour or so ahead," Tomasky concluded. "At any given moment, he’ll do what he thinks he needs to do to get out of whatever immediate jam he’s put himself in. That’s why we’re in this war in the first place. And that’s why Donald Trump running a real-live war is the world’s worst nightmare."