The only way to end this is to genuinely negotiate with Iran to get to an endpoint that doesn't threaten the people in power.

And that means Netanyahu et al. will also need to make serious concessions re Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria.

Unfortunately, I don't see that happening given the current reality in the US, especially the unwillingness of many Ds to recognize the issues re respecting Palestinian rights.

And even so, this will not be an easy negotiation.

(I'm saying this softly and with some trepidation.) I think at this point we maybe have to not think about winning and instead try to collectively (those of us who can, I mean) find a moral center and move from there. I personally try to use human rights as my center.

In this case, it seems to me that congress needs to assert their power to move us back towards the ideal of balance of power, so that's the thing that should be done.

But we're so far past when we all should have screamed STOP. I do think at least part of it is that we all accepted the framework of politics as a horse race. In that framework, winning is the only thing. After you win, then you govern. But that takes power away from the people, and we, imo should have agency at every step of the process. (We have been denied that.)

>Iran is empowered and, because a school was hit, has an argument that it is entitled to reparations.

I agree, but more likely general reparations will take the form of "tolls" for passage of the Straight of Hormuz, yes?

>The political situation is lose-lose as well.

>If Congress steps in, the war can be framed as "thwarted success." Trump. blames Congress for not letting him finish and “win.”

>If Congress ties Trump’s hands, it owns the resulting mess.

>If Congress refuses to step in, the war continues and the power of the Executive Branch continues to expand at the expense of the Legislative Branch.

Not sure I'd call this "lose-lose". The first two items are matters of "perception" only. This would be a major "stand up to #Trump moment", at least for #Dems. The perception of Dems as a party is already way down. It could help IMO.

Second, a more obvious issue is hinted in your third point. We have a #Constitution & #Laws for a reason. While there is some ambiguity, there is actually a Right Way to do things in the US most of the time. Shutting down an illegal #war is the right thing to do. It will save both $$ and lives in the long run. If this is perceived as "losing" then so be it!

Correct. I agree. The war was a stupid mistake. My point is just that getting out of this isn't so easy.

Very true. The word salad is usually quite deliberate.

Edit: Note that the ridiculous and nonsensical stuff gets quoted everywhere. His objective is to always be everywhere and this is one of the techniques.

But it certainly didn't go that way. So he pivots to making it someone else's problem.

So yeah, that tracks.

He is also smarter than people give him credit for. People mock his word salads and underestimate his cunning.

When Congress takes control, it will own the resulting mess.

That is why my argument is that the idea that Congress can end this is wrong.

@timo21

Trump inflicted.

I think people underestimate Trump.

I think he created a lose-lose situation for Congress and the Democrats.

'They' as in: it is not a one man's band.

As far as my global warming worrying self is concerned the best option is to electrify the global economy sufficiently to replace at least the 20% of global oil use (the amount that had been being shipped from the middle east.)

If the blockade doesn't matter, there's much less reason to bother maintaining it.

@Teri_Kanefield

IMHO Japan had a better chance of winning after Pearl Harbor than the US does of winning after this equally shabbily thought out sneak attack

illegal sneak attacks based on ego & over-confidence are not a recipe for success

Perhaps a domestic mass casualty event is what Epstein would suggest.

Right. And it's easy to see how a political trap was set for the Democrats and Congress.

I have always believed that people underestimate Trump. People like to portray him as an incoherent fool. I don't think so.

Thanks to the success of the libertarian revolution*, congress can’t do anything. We have no article 1 branch of gov’t.

*if they couldn’t have small or non-existent gov’t, then broken gov’t is the next best thing.