One can believe that Iran's jihadist regime must be removed for global security, while simultaneously believing the Trump administration is too corrupt and incompetent to be trusted with that task. These seemingly contradictory thoughts are necessary for an adequate view of the situation.
While overwhelmingly destructive, a leader's impulsive shattering of established norms can sometimes expose that a specific process or regulation was inefficient and unnecessary. This creates a rare opportunity to reconsider and improve upon long-standing but flawed conventions.
The US has shifted from anchoring a liberal international order to signaling it stands for nothing beyond its own power and interests. This amoral, transactional stance has alienated democratic allies and eroded the nation's soft power on the world stage.
The specific religious ideology of a jihadist regime makes negotiation a "mirage." Unlike other nuclear-armed states, their potential acquisition of nuclear weapons cannot be managed through diplomacy or deterrence, making regime change the only acceptable long-term outcome.
Unlike the fringe figures of the past, today's antisemitism is being amplified by articulate, well-produced media personalities like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. Their ability to reach a global audience via sophisticated platforms presents a fundamentally new and more dangerous threat.
Recent, pointless-seeming wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a new version of "Vietnam Syndrome." This public and political aversion to foreign intervention makes it nearly impossible for the US to commit to providing crucial, early support in conflicts where it may be necessary, such as in Ukraine.