A magic wand

The mullahs saw it.

Franklin Roosevelt saw it years ago.

Trump didn’t see it.

Staring across the Atlantic Ocean, as Hitler bombed London in 1940, Roosevelt faced a hard fact: Hitler had to be stopped. But during World War I he’d seen a second hard fact: Parents, wives, got telegrams saying their child or husband had been killed, food got rationed, a litany of burdens fell on the shoulders of everyday people.

Roosevelt understood to endure a war everyday people need a blessing – the will to make sacrifices. So he went to work to convince people the price they’d pay to stop Hitler was worth it. He tried but failed. Then Pearl Harbor handed him the blessing he needed overnight.

Last year, we bombed Iran’s nuclear sites without a single casualty. No pain. No sacrifice. We raided Venezuela, captured Maduro. Again no pain, no sacrifice.

Pictures of Trump sitting in the war room at Mar-a-Lago, jaw set, watching the Venezuela raid, pictures of Maduro in handcuffs, were on TV, the internet.

Two victories surrounded him with fame.

But pride led to a temptation.

Looking at our army he saw a weapon like a magic wand he could wave and crush an enemy in days.

Pride whispered. He went to war with Iran.

But he didn’t convince people the price of the war was worth paying. Pain appeared: Gas prices shot up, the mullahs held on to power, and we didn’t have the will to make the sacrifice it takes to remove them: Putting boots on the ground in Iran.

So what happens next?

There’s a way out of the trap: Declare victory and walk away.

But that comes with a price too.

That’s a win for Iran – which makes its allies China and Russia bolder.