290
‘They hold the cards now’: Trump allies fear Iran is slipping beyond the president’s control
(www.politico.com)
Trump and Hegseth should use AI about it.
this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2026
290 points (98.0% liked)
politics
28935 readers
1999 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
"wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please". -Machiavelli
It was so easy to steal America with Elon's help. Surely stealing Iran and all of its oil will be much easier.
Time for our totally not completely manipulated stock market to inexplicably go up!
Watching the markets the last few weeks certainly supports the notion that the markets are decoupled from reality.
Ya pretty much since Covid. It’s hard to have a free market when all the capital is in the hands of a handful of people.
Way before that, actually. At the very least, since GFC of 2008. Traditional valuation models died long ago. My vague belief is that the only deciding factor for markets now is the amount of capital free for investing (and that multiplied massively through QE and covid handouts). So we have trillions of dollars sloshing around looking for a home. Be loud as Musk and it will flow your way, regardless of what you are actually producing. Hence the unhinged valuations of several top companies.
The sad thing is that even after this war decimates the US economy and leaves america as a complete laughingstock, the MAGats are going to happily vote for the next Trump.
Losing Vietnam didn't teach them anything, and neither will this fiasco.
Decimated is only 1/10th. Trump likes to use it a lot, but doesn't know what it means.
Decimated does come from the practice of killing one prisoner in ten.
And it has come to be synonymous with 'devastated.'
I was using it in the sense of 'severely maimed.' Losing a hand or a foot won't kill you but it is pretty bad.
The funny thing is that I first read the word in a spy thriller, where an agent realizes his boss has been replaced with a double when the phony misuses the word.
The orange blob has done enough dumb things to mock him for without using archaic definitions as gotchas.
happily vote for the next Trump
You mean Trump himself? There's no chance in hell he wouldn't try to run again if he hasn't kicked the bucket by then.
It's pretty unlikely he'll make it until then and if he does die I'm not sure who will be his successor (definitely not charisma black hole JD) but if not then he's too proud to give anyone else a chance.
MTG played it pretty smart.
She retired from Congress and isn't running in November. I predict she will be omnipresent as a pundit and set herself up nicely for 2028 GOP Convention.
He has plenty of successors in waiting.
I don't think MTG has a chance, she's alienated too much of the republican party. Also, she's a woman. They never do well, especially not in the republican party.
It's the Paul Ryan gamble.
The equivalent of pulling your funds out of a market before a crash and hoping to buy back in low.
She's hoping trump goes down and then she can fill the void
Yup, both the Paul Ryan and stock market metaphors are apt.
But taking the Paul Ryan comparison to its conclusion is probably also apt - he never had the chance to buy back in low, because he didn't factor in that this particular market has no bottom. The only rational move with the GOP, ever, is to just cash out and leave forever.
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(1 replies)
She's dumb enough to lead the GOP.
He could run as VP...
They're going to frame it as "See? The most powerful navy in the world is struggling, imagine how worse a threat Iran world be if Trump hadn't intervened! He's a tactical jenius!"
load more comments
(3 replies)
even after this war decimates the US economy
War has traditionally been a boon to the American economy, as the US workforce is heavily integrated into the Military Industrial Complex. The surge in state spending under the Trump administration, combined with the construction boom from AI, is what's currently keeping us out of recession. And domestic oil exports only benefit when countries like Kuwait and Qatar can't export fossil fuels.
Losing Vietnam didn’t teach them anything
It's the Max Bialystock strategy. You win by losing. Another multi-decade long military engagement means multiple trillions of dollars invested in equipment, technology, and private contractors.
Iran, Ukraine, Venezuela, I guess Cuba is next, maybe we get to Nigeria or North Korea down the line... the wars never end and the profits never stop flowing.
load more comments
(3 replies)
We clearly just kicked [Iran’s] ass in the field,
hahahahahahah
“Thanks to a detailed planning process, the entire administration is and was prepared
hahahahaHAHAHAHAhahahahaha
President Trump knew full well
HAHAHAHahahaaaahahahaaaa.... oh man...
any disruptions to energy are temporary and will result in a massive benefit to our country and the global economy
hahahahahhahaAHHAHAHAHAHaaahhhahaha
Iran is slipping beyond the President’s control
I’ve become more critical of the way I’m reading headlines lately and this one stuck out to me. The implication is that a sitting leader of one sovereign nation should have control of another sovereign nation or that the latter nation should be “subservient” to them. It’s really interesting how the build the intended power dynamic with that one sentence.
Definitely nothing to do with the editorial bias of Politico's owners...
I read it differently. That sentence makes it sound like the “President” is actually a competent leader whose plans are falling apart, rather than the dangerously stupid puppet that he is. All media outlets keep sane-washing him like he has plans to begin with, is capable of strategic thought, and is somehow actually trying to do any kind of good for anyone but himself and his handlers.
America is rat-fucked until the people can establish at least one media outlet that isn’t indifferent to all the evil being perpetrated against them.
If anyone in any responsible position, listened to that 45 minute CNN interview where he repeatedly contradicted himself would give him some Seroquel and send Grandpa back to the Rainbow room for his evening mush.
I read it as control of the situation, particularly his self perceived control of the war. Weird for a headline to play to that. Your critique is valid, the headline is poorly written.
Yeah, pretty sure it's meant to mean [The war in] Iran...
load more comments
(7 replies)
Hold the cards? That orange shitgibbon has a handful of Uno cards while everyone else is playing poker-- he's not even playing the same game. He needs to be put in a home for criminals with dementia then sealed in.
Anyone saying he plays 3D chess needs to understand that's a stupid thing to do when the game is checkers.
He is not playing chess.... he is eating the pieces.
HE NEVER HAD ANY CONTROL TO BEGIN WITH! Trump has about as much control of Iran as he does with his bowels.
Special Military Operation 2: Desert Boogaloo
slipping beyond the president's control.
Much like his ability to not shit his pants.
Strait of Hormuz => Strait of Hormlose
This is SILLY because Trump OBVIOUSLY took us to War with FULL Knowledge of Who and What he was Up against! Trump would NEVER Risk American Lives so Silly like That! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
Time to pivot to Cuba!
I'm actually shocked that he hasn't already declared victory and pulled all ships from the area.
I’m actually shocked that he hasn’t already declared victory
He did do that part
Media and Congress extremely complicit in dysfunction against peace and negotiated settlement with Iran.
DNC would prefer the political win of "Trump defeat" but Adam Schiff called Iran "the enemy" this week, and Schumer was apoplectic about "Trump's plan to TACO with (ominous secret) deal with Iran" during last "excursion". Demonic pig fucking zionazi unanimity just wants to bicker about "plan coherence/success metrics".
Rand Paul, normally (voted recently) against war, repeated Trump's biggest lie of all. "There is no Iranian leadership to negotiate with"... and so somehow, "our only option is boots on the ground or inspired revolution." Iran has a UN and a Geneva mission.
Media could strongly challenge the absurdities. "Either US was serious about nuclear negotiations, or it was always a ploy for Israel surprise attack and genocidal expansion ambitions". Since Iran was attending negotiations, there is an offer to Iran they will accept to "sell" enriched uranium to US. Politico/OP, like other media and even diplomatic allies, is categorically complicit in avoiding all reasonable offramp exposure/pressure.
I mean, the US, for all its big guns have never won a war without Britain and/or France riding along to do the hard work. All the US knows how to do is make big explosions real good. That's not war, that's just state terrorism.
wasn't it a British PM that told Eisenhower, you bring the brawn, we'll bring the brains ?
view more: next ›