Iran's nuke program is more advanced than 4 years ago. Trump let Iran out of nuclear restrictions for no good reason, and damaged the Western alliance in the process.
Iran is also more powerful in the region, not less.
Utter failure, foreseen by many whose warnings were ignored.

With the Trump administration on the way out, here's a look back at what I wrote about their Iran strategy. When I say the failure of that strategy was easy to foresee, I mean I called it from the beginning (as did others).
Jan 6, before Trump took office.
https://t.co/sdrJUJoh8C
June 5, 2017: The Saudis and some Israelis want the US to go hard against Iran "in the vain hope Iran will capitulate," but capitulation won't happen so throwing away gains in pursuit of it would be a mistake.
https://t.co/khgXZnRqWS
July 20, 2017: Trump botched the Qatar crisis.
"Trump sees the situation as good guys (Saudis) vs. bad guys (Iran). But — and I can’t believe I have to write this — the Middle East is complicated."
The result: Qatar closer to Iran, Iran stronger in region.
https://t.co/jLJxkga7q4
Oct 5, 2017: The "Madman Theory" won't work on Iran
https://t.co/StayQYRUU6
Oct 8, '17: Scrapping the Iran deal will hurt the Western alliance
https://t.co/bcaMOkOT6m
Oct 14, '17: Trump's speech scrapping JCPOA misguidedly ignores Iran's domestic politics
https://t.co/48U06d5Xpx
March 18, 2018: Trump's Iran strategy is failing and that failure will become progressively more obvious, which means he'll come under increasing pressure to Do Something.
(Thankfully US v. Iran military confrontation has remained fairly limited)
https://t.co/hPjbObNURZ
May 8, 2018: The US withdrew from the Iran Deal, but it has no idea how to get a "better deal" because, unlike in 2015, Iran isn't under multilateral pressure. Even if you think Obama was wrong, we can't go back in time and recreate pre-deal conditions.
https://t.co/ltGOTzGzag
Sept 27, 2018: The US scrapping JCPOA without cause, besides letting Iran out of restrictions, is aligning JCPOA proponents against the US.
Bush and Obama built an anti-Iran coalition. Trump flipped that into sympathy for Iran and anger at the US.
https://t.co/d08fAMMvIv
June 19, 2019: To really pressure Iran takes an international coalition. The Trump admin acts like other countries should line up behind the US, and even though they agree on some anti-Iran goals, no one will join because none trust Trump's leadership.
https://t.co/nPzMGW5DAf
Jan 2, 2020: The (non-deadly) attack on the US embassy in Baghdad is very different from the 2012 deadly attack on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, and forcing the Baghdad attack into the partisan frame of "Benghazi" is a mistake.
https://t.co/widYhbeJn9
Jan 4, 2020: US killing Iranian general Qassem Soleimani won't lead to outright war, but will likely lead to Iran gaining more political influence in Iraq at America's expense.
(Looking at it a year later, that's exactly what happened).
https://t.co/ZjMtkXOzDt
After Jan 2020, I focused on COVID and the election, and didn't write a full article on US-Iran (though I tweeted about it a bunch).
Looking back, I nailed it every step of the way. So did others.
This failure was easy to see coming. Trump was warned. He did it anyway.
(END)

More from Trump

OK, #Squidigation fans, I think we need to talk about the new Wisconsin suit Donald Trump filed - personally - in Federal Court last night. The suit is (as usual) meritless. But it's meritless in new and disturbing ways. This thread will be


Not, I hope, Seth Abramson long. But will see.

I apologize in advance to my wife, who would very much prefer I be billing time (today's a light day, though) and to my assistant, to whom I owe some administrative stuff this will likely keep me from 😃

First, some background. Trump's suit essentially tries to Federalize the Wisconsin Supreme Court complaint his campaign filed, which we discussed here.


If you haven't already, go read that thread. I'm not going to be re-doing the same analysis, and I'm not going to be cross-linking to that discussion as we go. (Sorry, I like you guys, and I see this as public service, but there are limits)

Also, @5DollarFeminist has a good stand-alone thread analyzing the new Federal complaint - it's worth reading as well, though some of the analysis will overlap.
DONALD TRUMP IS SO RACIST ...

— that he restored and increased HBCU funding (which Obama cut permanently) and met with HBCU leaders to find more solutions to bring higher education to black communities!

— that he gave loans to black entrepreneurs when the banks wouldn't.
https://t.co/qiK2Ul7se2

— that Jesse Jackson praised Trump for helping him put together his Rainbow Coalition and for being a model for “people on Wall Street to represent diversity.”

— that he was awarded the 1986 Ellis Island Medal Of Honor alongside Rosa parks and Muhammad Ali for “patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and DIVERSITY”. They don't give these medals to racists. https://t.co/WliqZHc34j

— that he dated a black woman.

— that he donated to and did personal favors for Rev. Al Sharpton's National Youth Movement. https://t.co/nBTvLiO128

— that he helped sponsor and finance both of Jesse Jackson's presidential bids.

— that when a homeless black woman was found illegally living in Trump Tower he allowed this woman to stay for 8 years, and provided her with three meals a day, and fresh flowers once a week.

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