April 21, 2026
Scenes like these are shocking Americans back home, many of whom have not been paying close attention to Donald Trump's trade wars, hot wars, trash-talking wars, and money wars. One of Donald's wars is, strangely enough, a direct war on the US military. Equally strangely, it may be the only one he will win.
Not feeding your deployed soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen is the ultimate career ender. Napoleon's ill-planned war with Russia, and poorly-timed retreat from Moscow over 200 years ago comes to mind. Starving men and women fighting to defend their own nation under attack is one thing. Not feeding the men and women we have sent halfway around the world to fight a stupid war for Israel, expecting a four day excursion, is something entirely different. And the coffee has run out too!
When we speak of Napoleon and Napoleonic tendencies, we sometimes use the pseudo-psychology of small men with something to prove. Trump is not a small man, but he has suffered all his life from believing he has something to prove. Unfortunately, his efforts to prove that he is good enough, even to be President of the Great United States, will be remembered as our late-stage imperial nightmare.
Fifty some days of hot war with Iran has not turned out as the brilliant minds in the White House and Pentagon expected, and the tactical scrambling extends beyond confused and contradictory Truth Social posts. Not long ago, a failed attempt to land special forces near Iran's nuclear energy facility at Isfahan and/or Natanz to "take the dust" blew up and - for public consumption - morphed into a daring rescue of two American airmen from a downed F-15 fighter. Wikipedia contains the exact government narrative, but the real story is more horrible. Many Americans are still waiting, weeks after the triumphant rescue for the names of these two airman, interviews with them and their excited and proud families back home, or a televised presidential or Secretary of War visit to these two recovering men in their hospital rooms. Trump may not even know who they are, to this day. A few days ago, he told a reporter, on the steps of the White House, "They're fine." No medals or visits to the White House for these guys are expected, or perhaps even possible.
The day before this failed military operation into Iranian territory, several important Army leaders were suddenly escorted out of their offices. The fired officers were Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George, head of Army Transformation and Training Command, General David Hodne, and the Chief of Army Chaplains, Major General William Green, Jr. Everyone knows why, but we don't know the weighting. My bet is 50% on refusing to support the Isfahan raid, 20% on these guys continuing to report unwelcome news about how well the Christian Nationalist indoctrination of the armed forces is going, and 30% on their persistent concerns about the US Army's general ability to fight a land war in Asia without trained bodies, beans and bullets.
One wonders where the US Navy floats in this debate - given they've been in the news for no flush commodes, fires in the laundry, and no food or coffee on board. And we can't forget the mis-use of the expensive Navy Tomahawks on Minab. Incidentally, the world knows the names of those responsible officers, as Americans wait patiently to hear from the ones we "rescued" two weeks ago. We also wait patiently to hear more from "suddenly retired" Naval Admiral Alvin Holsey.
The US-Israel war on Iran is an air and naval onslaught of destruction, by the side that expected a few days of bombing would prevail against a country known for thousands of years as the place other empires go to die. The "enemy" is a country filled with scientists, mathematicians, teachers and philosophers, in addition to being renown defenders of Islam and of Iran proper. While past and present US administrations were assaulting the Middle East and the rest of the world, riding on the fraying US dollar and a lot of political hot air, the Iranians were learning, studying, preparing. It is a wise path for all of us, in a post-US imperial world.
The wars of Trump and Hegseth are however serving valuable purposes, despite the bloodshed, global economic strain, and waste of our national credibility.
First, as the Trump Squad actively destroys both US military capacity and command discipline, we Americans will have an unparalleled shot at truly altering the composition and design of the US military from an unaffordable expeditionary colonial force to a defensive people's army. The new composition will be designed, in part by those Trump is currently failing to rescue, arm and feed right now. In other words, the new Pentagon will be able to pass audits, and its budget and its mission will be spare and tight.
Second, Trump's wars, and his social media presence, is forcing the very decentralization of global power and finance he fears. His systematic attacks on and seizures of global oil production, and intended control of waterways and military markets are all aimed at preserving dollar dominance, in a world that knows better. The dollar era is over. Trump is inadvertently sharing this news with the world by the minute.
Third, future war with China is unlikely, rather than imminent. The current and future condition of the US - its overweening and expensive bureaucracy, impossible-to-pay national debt, and massively consumer-oriented economy - means we need China and we like China, notwithstanding the latest National Security Strategy.
Fourth, Israel as the cheerleader and contriver of regional wars, is now seen by most Americans as a danger to the US, a lying murderous country that expects support that it refuses to earn. What Israel has done and is continuing in Gaza, and now in southern Lebanon, is criminal devastation funded by an unpopular president and more unpopular US Congress. It is inevitable that Israel will be cut loose from both US politics and military co-dependency in coming years. As things get worse for the average American, he and she will seek savings and scapegoats, and treating Israel like every other ignoble country we deal with gives a lot of bang for that buck. Netanyahu and Trump deserve an award for doing what no previous President and Prime Minister could do - and even a well-timed assassination here or there will not change the future in this regard.
I'm still concerned about what our pirates will eat, until Trump channels Vizzini, and realizes his dream of US and Israeli empire in Asia is a dead end. I'm thinking that raid of the cargo ship seized off the Coast of Oman will be focused on edibles and drink, and they will find very little.
Someone wrote a book on what the Buccaneers of America ate back in 1678. It might be a good read for what is left of our Navy leadership in its new role as global buccaneer. And we already know what the DC pirates eat - shorts bought 20 minutes before the next Trump tweet.