Image Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / Contributor / Getty Images 
What now?
That’s the question on everyone’s lips today, in one form or another, just like the day before.
What now for the Middle East?
What now for the world?
And what for Donald Trump and America First?
Israel’s attacks on Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities, like its attacks on the leadership of Hezbollah with those incredible exploding pagers, have been wildly—outrageously—successful. In a series of carefully planned and meticulously executed strikes, which included the establishment of forward operating bases deep inside Iran and the use of hundreds of spies, elite commandos, drones and other airpower, Israel decapitated Iran’s military leaders and the scientific community responsible for its nuclear program in one fell swoop.
And not only that, Israel also pre-empted the Iranian response and basically reduced it to nothing, before it could even get off the ground. Through careful intelligence work, Israel uncovered Iran’s emergency protocol and the location of the bunker where the heads of Iran’s military forces would meet when it became clear an attack from Jerusalem was inbound. So the Israelis hit the bunker at the perfect time, killing the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps air force and the heads of the drone and air-defense forces too.
For years, those urging restraint in curbing Teheran’s nuclear ambitions have warned that the Iranian response to a direct attack on its nuclear facilities would be overwhelming and bloody in a way that would shock and shame the warhawks and neocons and make a war completely unpalatable to the American people. This would not be another Gulf War I or Gulf War II. There would be attacks on US bases and allies in the Middle East. Sleeper cells and hitsquads would be activated around the world, including on American soil, and high-profile targets would be assassinated and sabotaged. Even if Iran didn’t have enough fissile material for a proper nuclear weapon, it could still make a dirty bomb and—heaven forbid—detonate that and kill tens of thousands of people and cause a terrible, terrible mess. We were promised destruction. If not Mutually Assured Destruction, then something pretty bad all the same.
At worst, Israel had planned to receive between 350 and 500 ballistic missiles in response to an attack. But instead, about a hundred drones were launched, mostly at Tel Aviv, Israel’s Mecca of bum-banditry, to little effect. The bump and grind and the chemsex parties were briefly interrupted as revellers scrambled for the shelters, but soon enough they were back on the dancefloors and podiums, bonking away like nothing had happened.
It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer audacity of it all. I spoke to a powerful friend in the Saudi government yesterday and their response was mostly awe and disbelief. “We’ll be studying this for years to come. This has totally changed the rules,” they said. I think my friend is right. I also think many Western patriots, even those who hate Israel the most, will be wishing they had a government that fought their nation’s enemies as hard and with as much verve, nerve and sheer ruthless efficiency as the Israelis have displayed fighting Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs of Iran all at once.
Don’t get me wrong. As much as I believe a nuclear-armed Teheran is a bad thing—I don’t much want a theocracy, let alone an Islamic one, to be able to split uranium-235 in mid-air above a Western city or from the inside of a briefcase—it’s very clear that this is not what American patriots signed up for when they elected Donald Trump for a second time. America, willingly or otherwise, is being dragged into a war of a kind Donald Trump promised he would avoid as president, long before he came down the elevator on that fateful day a decade ago.
America is at a crossroads, and the fate of the America First movement led by Donald Trump hangs in the balance. What Trump does next—what he allows or disallows, what he permits openly or in secret—will define the success of his second term and his legacy. Besides the potential for World War III, a failure now will split Trump’s party and base and make it far less likely his ambitious domestic agenda will be achieved.
If Trump loses the midterms, you can kiss goodbye to the largest mass deportation operation in American history. The Democrats, crazier than ever, will be back in 2028. The floodgates will open once more.
Let’s not beat around the bush. The US was directly involved, to an unknown extent, in the strikes that took place on Thursday. Only a fool would think otherwise. At present, we don’t know the exact details, but we can be sure the strikes had at least tacit American approval. Trump has already admitted that he knew in advance; although Secretary of State Marco Rubio was quick to emphasise Israel’s actions were “unilateral.”
We’re being told the strikes were eight months in the planning, since last October’s tête-à-tête between Israel and Iran, and two Israeli officials are claiming America and Israel engaged in a clever bit of kayfabe in recent weeks, pretending Washington was against an Israeli attack in public, to lull the Iranians into a false sense of security—while negotiations took place to curb Teheran’s ambitions peacefully.
Note: None of this has been confirmed yet.
Even so, America’s history of arming, funding and backing Israel to the hilt means that America is “complicit,” as Tucker Carlson put it, whether we like it or not, and foreknowledge of the attacks, at minimum, is tantamount to approval.
On Friday, Carlson put out a scathing newsletter via his website titled, “This Could Be the Final Newsletter Before an All-Out War.”
“While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons to Israel, which Donald Trump just bragged about on Truth Social, undeniably place the U.S. at the center of last night’s events,” Carlson wrote.
The US is now “in deep,” he added.
“Washington knew these attacks would happen. They aided Israel in carrying them out. Politicians purporting to be America First can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it.”
Carlson understands the depth of the betrayal, and he’s angry. He should be. Everyone who voted for Donald Trump because they wanted an end to the pointless infinity wars in the Middle East has a right to be angry, too.
Buoyed by the success of its latest attacks, Israel may now press for its ultimate goal, which is of course regime change. The mullahs are weak, their defenses have never been more fragile, now is the time! We’ll only have to kick in the door, and the whole rotten edifice will come crashing down!
There are plenty of familiar voices in the US saying this right now—people like, yeah you know exactly who’s saying this.
If Iran does eventually summon a large-scale response, and especially if American lives are lost, the clamor for war will grow so loud it will be deafening. Iran could still strike back hard and in ways that are difficult to predict and counter, and could be very nasty indeed.
At present, President Trump still believes diplomacy can save the day, or so he says.
“We knew everything, and I tried to save Iran humiliation and death,” he told Reuters.
“I tried to save them very hard because I would have loved to have seen a deal worked out. They can still work out a deal, however. It’s not too late.”
I hope it’s not too late. I hope Iran can still step back from the brink. And more than that I hope Trump can.
Now is the time for every Trump supporter, high and low, to remind him of the promise he made the American people, of the reason why he sits in the Oval Office today and has a Diet Coke button and gummies on demand and a leggy blonde writing his Tweets for him.
From now on it will only be America First!
