Trump's Endgame Is Surrender

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/05/trump-surrender-iran-endgame/687252/

by _tk_ • 2 months ago

16 7 2 months ago

theatlantic.com

MattGaiser• 2 months ago

And it still seems unclear what they thought they could get from the war in the first place.

0bytes• 2 months ago

Distraction from the Epstein files Which supposedly were a distraction for high inflation and the tariff disaster.

ben_w• 2 months ago

I think the gambit was Israel's (or possibly personally Netanyahu's), not the USA's:

On the basis that they have been recently talking about reducing dependence on the USA for military assistance*, I think they are aware of just how unpopular their actions in Gaza have made them worldwide, and in particular to voters in the USA. Even without being actively denied, there's also at least a strong risk** (to Israel) that Trump will be permanently distracted by repeated impeachment attempts starting in November, leaving no time for this. Either way, this has the potential to be Israel's last chance to use the American military for Israel's own objectives.

Netanyahu may have also made a person gamble here, rather than one in the national interest of Israel; he's already facing trial for stuff, seems to only be avoiding the courtroom by doing things he can credibly argue are of critical importance to national security and not simply by his position, and this may have been one last throw of the dice to get a good headline and good vibes going into their election; and/or start another war that couldn't possibly have him distracted by court cases (I can't say I know enough about the politics of the area to say if this was or wasn't why Iran was followed up with news about Israeli forces in Syria).

All Netanyahu had to do was push the right buttons, tell Trump it would be easy, state there would be any problems, and possibly tell Trump everyone would like him for attacking.

* https://www.nbcnews.com/world/israel/netanyahu-hopes-taper-i...

** Risk, not guarantee. Even if this was a 30% chance, if you were playing Israel in a wargame, would you take those odds?

magicalhippo• 2 months ago

The art of the deal in action.

And it's only been a year and a half, just imagine what he might achieve in the remaining two and a half!

tim333• 2 months ago

I read The Art of the Deal years ago, before I'd really heard of Trump and thought this is cool. I was disappointed to find later on it was ghost written. If only the real Trump was more like the one in the book.

__patchbit__• 2 months ago

Maybe they can deliver to Trump the daily intelligence brief on a 45 minute golf course walk and talk at sunrise.

dtagames• 2 months ago

https://archive.ph/TMkrM

Trump's Endgame Is Surrender

Related Stories