Trump learns Iranians can be nationalists too

But on the other hand, the president appears to prefer chest-thumping bluster to actual war, especially when it threatens to get his administration bogged down in yet another endless, bloody slog in the Middle East. What Trump cares about, in everything, is not what’s good for the United States geopolitically, let alone what’s good for the people in the countries where we meddle militarily, but simply how things play at home. It’s all part of The Trump Show, and looking maximally tough at minimal cost is what he thinks will get him the highest ratings.

The problem is that regardless of what Trump wants in Iran, he is likely to get war — because he is so utterly parochial in his outlook on the world and so utterly lacking in the capacity to imagine himself into the way others see it that he can’t begin to grasp their motives. This is true even when the motive is nationalism — which is precisely the same one the president (rightly) credits with propelling him and his fellow right-wing populists to power around the globe…

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a free and independent state, too. That doesn’t mean that the United States (or any other country) needs to appease it. On the contrary, a world that’s given up on trying to get countries to abide by uniform rules of engagement and conflict resolution will be a world considerably more prone to military conflict. If Iran really is a threat to the United States, if its actions stand in the way of our pursuit of our national interests, then we may have to act against it.