The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Jerry Wilkerson
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, God? “Hell no! Why start now?” bellowed Donald J. Trump.
Full disclosure: Trump did not actually say those words. Yet we catch him lying every day, at night, and early AM. His family recognizes this. His wives are keenly sensitive to his deception. Americans and world leaders grasp all too well that Trump is a compulsive, habitual, pathological liar. When Trump lies, we all lose!
Trump mistakes his words and appearance for truth, actually believing what he says. His recent surrender in the failed Iran war is one of the most pitiful lies of his political career, and it’s a whooper: “We achieved everything we set out to accomplish — everything and much more!”
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Trump’s statement is demonstrably false. His Iran deal violates his own red lines on missiles, money, and uranium. Stunningly, Trump has alienated his base and many Capitol Hill Republicans over his “excursion” into Iran. Just another of Trump’s humiliating, costly disasters.
False statements carry consequences. One cannot ignore Trump’s war on truth. His 60-day Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) deadline is not a “footnote” to his agreement. It is where the real heat begins, and the truth will be told with no one else to blame.
The world knows exactly what Trump set out to accomplish. He laid out his objectives in plain terms when he launched his war on Feb. 28. “We’re going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally obliterated again!”
Trump ceded the war to Iran because of Iran’s gritty brinkmanship. Alarmingly, he taught Iran that threatening the Strait of Hormuz works for them, and they will undoubtedly leverage that in the future. Worse, Iran will stockpile more munitions and build new infrastructure with the $300 billion Trump pledged in his war surrender documents, after spending $35 million and many lives to destroy those Iranian munitions.
In Tehran, Esmaeil Baghaei, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, took a victory lap over Trump’s newly signed MOU, declaring that Iran “defeated two nuclear powers…we are truly a superpower now.” Most critically, Baghaei stated that the agreement preserves Iran’s ballistic missile program, a major win for Iranians. Trump’s MOU grants significant concessions to Tehran, allowing it to retain its missile capabilities and, more importantly, its enriched uranium stockpile. Baghaei reiterated that Iran’s ballistic missile system would not be subject to negotiations, adding, “Iran’s missiles are meant to be fired, not negotiated over.” Further insulting Trump’s position, Baghaei added, “Iran will charge fees for service in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Trump is an international embarrassment. There is genuine, visceral hatred of him worldwide. The United States has become a rogue nation, widely distrusted and increasingly reckless because of Trump’s inability to grasp basic foreign policy. Reality hits hard and always wins.
Republicans are abandoning Trump by the day as his health declines and body betrays him. King George III of England suffered from mental illness and was replaced by his son. George personified Trump when he said, “A traitor is everyone who does not agree with me.” How Trumpian.
The failure phase of the Trump presidency is underway, and he knows it. When The Donald feels cornered, he becomes even more dangerous. His tantrums detonate louder and longer in the White House, his dismantled, conflicted destruction zone. The verdict on Trump’s Presidency hangs in the air like a jumbo, limp blimp. Our democracy is under attack by a self-congratulatory, obsessive, lazy, fleshy, crude man.
So, this is Trump’s “Golden Age—the Promised Land,” with a broken man, alone in the White House. Even Melania vacated the mansion. He is disconnected from voters, losing power, and caring only about his legacy, his gold, and his money. Trump lived a life of self-engineered incompetence across business, politics, and family, marked by bankruptcies. At 80, he is reviled and detached.
But time waits for no man. Time is the father of every truth and reveals all. The final judgment on Donald John Trump remains unwritten.
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Jerry Wilkerson was a former press secretary to two U.S. congressmen and a correspondent for CBS NewsRadio Chicago and the Chicago Daily News. He has served as a police commissioner and is a Navy veteran.
