Trump's Game Plan

For the moment, let's forget about Iran.

Childers sees a lot of good stuff in Trump's plan.

 ...After January’s Maduro operation, Latin American countries are learning that the US can reach into their countries whenever we want and pluck out the violent strongmen who have always confidently believed they can send drugs and terrorists through our formerly porous borders, co-opt our local politicians and judges, and set up shop here— without any consequences.

Well … fool around and find out. But it’s bigger than that. These “small stories” are an expression of a new hemispheric policy. We’re not just cracking down on domestic crime at home, we are policing the whole hemisphere. When you combine that with the President’s approach to Russia and China, you begin to see something immense emerging.

 Trump has been very firm with Beijing and Moscow in our part of the world. He’s rudely evicted them from South and Central America, the Panama Canal, and the Caribbean. But at the same time, he is also softening our positions on Ukraine and Taiwan, retreating from NATO expansionism in Europe, seeking trade deals with them, and courting both Putin and Xi with high-profile diplomatic outreach.

Wait— this is where it gets really good. Every bit of all that geoplitical reorganization is happening completely outside the United Nations’ “rules-based international order.” And we could add Trump’s remaking the Middle East in real time, the end of OPEC, and the Board of Peace.

Trump doesn’t have to “end the UN,” he is making it irrelevant. He’s not attacking the UN head-on. He’s building an expressway around the UN and strip‑mining its relevance....

Yah, well......with all that said, there remains this Iran thing.