This war may be the biggest unforced error in the history of the American republic… and more sinister than the Gulf of Tonkin lie… and dumber than the Bay of Pigs debacle.

Blowing up children’s schools is enough to send any perpetrator to Hell. But watching the Israelis blow up Iran’s refineries, releasing cancer-causing agents into the air that will poison Iranians (and a good number of their neighbors) for decades? Spare me the excuse that this war is about freeing Iranians from their terrible regime.

And the notion that Iran is “giving up” by telling the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries it’ll stop bombing them in exchange for them throwing out the US? That’s a professional courtesy, which our Narcissist-in-Chief mistook as weakness.

Because if you don’t think every Arab country in the Gulf is now trying to figure out how to dump the petrodollar without getting nuked, I’ve got a bridge over the East River to sell you. The regional calculus has changed… forever.

I thought the Joke Biden had done untold damage to the US dollar by weaponizing it against Russia in 2022. And he did. But after this sorry episode, President Trump will be known to history as “Donald the BRICS-builder.”

Enough about foreign lands, because my friend, you’ve got a world of hurt and trouble coming straight to your hometown. With oil trading at $104 as I write this, everything is about to get more expensive—especially your commute. Petrol prices are already up over 12% here in Asti.

But wait, there’s more!

Let’s get to The Donald’s Domestic Destruction.

What You Were Promised and What You Got

Maybe we were all a bit naive when we believed the Republican manifesto. Or we just didn’t believe any foreign service had any kompromat on The Donald since the Russia Hoax was debunked and Julian Assange himself said he found no dirt on Trump.

So it was easy to believe we were going to get what we were promised:

1. Taxpayers would receive $2,000 rebate checks (not that I was in favor of this inflation-inducing idiocy).
2. Elon and his DOGE boys were going to find $2 trillion in waste, which would vaporize the deficit.
3. Income taxes would be consigned to history, with tariffs paying for everything.
4. Gas and electric bills would be down 50%.
5. The USG was finished starting wars.

Instead, we got:

1. No rebate checks (fine; he gets a pass on this one).
2. DOGE was eliminated instead of the deficit.
3. Tariffs make up about 5% of total government revenue.
4. Gas and electric bills are soaring. Oil is up 14% this morning.
5. The USG has initiated 3 new offensives (Venezuela, Ecuador, and Iran) with airstrikes hitting Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Nigeria, and Somalia. And from what I hear, in their disappointment, the Cuban diaspora is quoting Dickens: “Please, Sir, can I have some more?”

If this is winning, I’m as tired of it as you are.

It’s self-evident the administration didn’t plan this out properly. But it’s inexcusable they forgot these 3 important things while playing WarGames.

1. Oil is Globally Priced

Let’s revisit my favorite financial anti-hero, Marc Rich.

Before Marc Rich came along, the big oil companies controlled everything through long-term, locked-in contracts. Crude oil wasn't really "traded" so much as allocated.

Rich blew that up.

Starting in the 1970s, he turned oil into a live commodity that could be bought, sold, and rerouted to whoever was paying the most, sometimes while the tanker was still at sea. He didn't need to own wells or refineries. He had the financing, connections, and nerve.

The constant buying and selling he pioneered created a real-time global price for crude. Once the spot market existed at scale, futures contracts (such as NYMEX’s WTI in the early 1980s) were a natural next step. This was Wall Street's way of formalizing a game that Rich had already invented.

So even if you blow up an oil refinery in a place as far away as Iran, oil prices will rise in New York.

It’s ok not to know the history. It’s inexcusable not to know the consequences. And, quite frankly, it’s unforgivable to react like this:

What on earth is he thinking?

And if it’s happening in Texas, I don’t need to show you everywhere else in America.

Can you handle $5 per gallon? Because that’s where Zero Hedge thinks the national average is heading.

For a deeper dive on why this is happening, read Byron King’s great piece “Why Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing” on the Paradigm Press app.

But more infuriating than gas prices may be two other critical pieces of information that slipped under the radar while the bombs were bursting in the air.

2. H1-B Visas and American Jobs

Let’s face it: The Donald is no Il Duce. Mussolini would wipe the floor with Trump in the corporatism stakes.

How else can you explain how Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, is permitted to fire 15,000 American workers in 2025, and then invest $17.5 billion in AI (with a “b”) in his home country of India?

And this is the best part: India’s foreign ministry complained that the USG was taking too long to process H1-B visas for Indian workers who were stranded in… wait for it… India!

Unless and until The Donald gets on this, there is no hope of an American jobs recovery.

3. The Border

As if the first two weren’t bad enough, now Trump seems to have abandoned his border policy.

First, the President acknowledges that Americans may die in terrorist attacks inside America because of the Iranian action.

Asked whether Americans should be worried about retaliatory terrorist attacks at home, Trump acknowledged the possibility in Time magazine: “I guess,” he said. “Like I said, some people will die. When you go to war, some people will die.”

Call me crazy, but I would’ve cleared out the terror cells in America before venturing into the terrorists’ home countries and blowing them up. That’s even worse than not refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve before sending oil prices above $100 per barrel.

And remember when Trump opposed bringing the Afghans back who helped America in the war? He doesn’t seem to have the same problem with Iranians. Yes, they will now be given immunity and a place to stay in America.

Finally, your fruit will still be picked by illegal immigrants. Apparently, that’s fine now, too.

The President said, “You gotta lighten up on this. They might have come into our country illegally, but they're good people, and they’re cheap workers. They’re working now on farms, in luncheonettes, and hotels. We’re just focused on getting the murderers out.”

What?

Wrap Up

As far as I can see, there’s only one reason left to vote for Trump in the midterms: you’re afraid his successor will pick another Supreme Court Justice like Jackson.

Because the border is now open, your job is at risk of being relocated overseas, and inflation is coming back.

This is Donald’s Domestic Destruction. Your outrage is warranted.