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Defanging Iran and its global terror network is a noble goal. That being said, what’s happening now is something else. If he wanted regime change, the time for President Trump to strike Iran was when protestors were dying by the tens of thousands. Instead, Trump followed Bibi Netanyahu’s lead into a forever war. Granted, the strike at the beginning that took out the Ayatollah Khamenei and other top leaders was a brilliant stroke. At the time, even Trump’s public comments seemed to indicate a two- to four-day foray. It’s now entering three weeks, and Trump is suddenly calling for an unconditional surrender, which will never come unless you obliterate every last Revolutionary Guardsman. I honestly believe that Trump thought the people would rise up as soon as the U.S. and Israel struck — that is, within two to four days. When that didn’t happen, Trump — as is his wont — dug in his heels and committed to a Bibi devastation-of-Iran plan. To save face, in other words. This is now smacking too much of previous U.S. ventures overseas to topple hostile regimes, going all the way back to Vietnam and Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), who kept pouring in the

On May 1, 2003, President Geroge W. Bush, aka “Dubya,” stood on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and proclaimed, with banner and words, “Mission Accomplished” in the U.S.-Iraqi War. Problem was, terrorist groups rose from the ashes and that conflict came roarin’ back. Dubya’s words were:  “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed … because the regime [of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein] is no more.” After this proclamation, fighting in Iraq continued for another eight years. Now, in Iran — so far, at least — we have not committed any ground forces, so presumably once Iran’s military might is no more, we can simply quit bombing and leave the rest to the people of Iran, which President Donald Trump has been urging all along. In short, Operation Epic Fury is not necessarily about U.S.-led regime change. That task is being left to the Iranians. Good luck, huh? Even if the remaining Iranian guardsmen have only rifles, they will have more than the population. They can mow down insurrections as easily as they are accustomed to. My point is, though I’m certainly not rooting against our success, is

Three days into the war with Iran and President Trump is sullen, refusing to talk to reporters, and clearly freaked out that matters aren’t going his way in Persia. He thought that, by now, he could find the Iranian male equivalent of Venezuela’s Delcy Rodriguez, the VP “turncoat” to Nicolas Maduro who is now running things to the beat of Donald Trump and crew in the South American nation. What a frustrated Trump is suffering from I’ve labeled “Turncoat Derangement Syndrome,” or another form of TDS, now virulent in many forms in the White House. (A little over a week ago, Trump succumbed to another TDS — Tariff Derangement Syndrome — when the Supreme Court stripped him of willy-nilly authority to raise tariffs whenever he saw fit, for whatever reason.) On the flight back to D.C. aboard Air Force One, Trump stayed locked in his cabin, not interacting with reporters. Deboarding Air Force One, he was still sullen and didn’t interact with reporters; the same happened when the Marine One helicopter landed at the White House. Shouts of “find my Iranian Delcy” could be heard emanating from the Oval Office as the president huddled with aides after his return from