Dr. Moshe Dann is an historian, writer and journalist who lives in Jerusalem.
"Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim is a melancholic ballad about regret, bad timing, and the foolishness of missed opportunities. What better way to describe Amerca's mid-term elections!
Let's face it. U.S. President Donald Trump failed to present the war with Iran properly and clearly. The war with Iran was not to protect Israel. It was a war on behalf of the international community, especially countries which are within range of Iranian missiles. It should have been presented as a war that threatened American allies and NATO countries. Americans, whose patriotism and instincts for self-preservation would be aroused, would have endured the rising fuel prices to achieve a victory.
And when European countries refused to participate and support the war, Trump should have made that a violation of NATO’s commitments.
Turmp also mishandled the war itself. Attacking Iran and then negotiating with it, declaring that he had won the war and defeated Iran, and then watch Iran prove him wrong. Threatening Iran and then saying that he had achieved his goals through negotiations displayed confusion (at best) and lack of determination (at worst). His military advisors, especially his Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, should have spoken up. His pr advisors failed to sell the urgency of the war to the American people.
Trump’s instincts were correct, but he lacked a coherent, consistent follow-through. He lost public support because of opposition by the Democratic Party and lack of Congressional approval. He was sabotaged by anti-Trump politicians and many in the media who accused Israel of dragging America into a war that they believed was not in America’s interest, and, therefore, they opposed it.
No country will support a war that lacks a decisive victory and strategy, and that has no foreseeable end. Vice President JD Vance (and Trump supporters) won't say it, but many Americans voted against a war that they did not understand. It wasn't because of higher gas prices, or protecting Israel. They were fed up with Trumpism.
The consequences of Trump’s lack of clarity are enormous.
Iran remains a threat and is becoming stronger; it continues to support its proxies, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas. Iran will continue to suppress any opposition by Iranians. Trump may yet concede and admit that the DSA won.
Israel is now left with the burden of confronting Iran alone. Hamas is still around and is trying to get stronger. Hezbollah is attempting to reassert its power.Condemnations of Israel and Israel's isolation will increase.
China and Russia will become more assertive. Russia’s war to conquer the Ukraine will continue. Islamism will continue to spread around the world. Iran will dominate the oil market and work with oil producing countries to destroy Israel.
Sooner or later, the war with Iran will be understood as existential, especially as it rearms. The IRGC will not relinquish power and will continue to slaughter Iranians and attack countries that resist, or oppose its desire for hegemony. It will continue to promote terrorism and Jihad as religious obligations. The Iranian threat is not only a conflict between nations. It is part of a struggle to deal with Islamism and its attempts to dominate the world under a Caliphate. As Iran and Islamists have defined it, the war is between Muslims and non-Muslims (infidels).
So send in the clowns.