Recall 1938, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain conceded the Sudetenland to Adolph Hitler so the world could have “peace for our time.” World War II commenced a year later.
As it turns out, Neville Trump, er, President Donald Trump, is now working on “peace for our time” in the Middle East, ending a three-month war with Iran. Not everyone is happy.
To former Trump 45 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the deal Sir Donald is working on smacks of the deal Barack Obama worked out 12 years earlier, to wit, pay Iranian thugs to delay nuclear arms development until the current White House incumbent is long gone. Writes Pompeo on social media:
“The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world…. Not remotely America First. It’s straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region. Overdue. Let’s go.”
The problem is, that course of action will lead to huge defeats for Republicans in upcoming elections, probably through 2028 and maybe beyond. Trump is smart enough to know that his future as president depends on keeping control of the House, and to do that means lowering the price of gasoline, which in turn means ending the war ASAP.
The other problem is, it’s probably too late. It looks as if the GOP is doomed already to huge defeats in the midterm elections in November. Their only hope is to maintain control in the Senate. The House is long gone.
Anyway, I’m looking at the stock market futures in light of all this talk about peace, and I couldn’t be happier. My retirement account appears to be in line for some nice gains this week, and that addresses my “affordability” concern — whether my savings will pay for my existence in retirement.
