When Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took the podium to talk about Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day it was expected to provide details on sanctions (and which countries helping Iran would be targeted) and other measures that would cripple Iran. Given what was NOT said it’s clear Trump’s threats were hollow all along. China, which has provided weapons to Iran and has benefited the most from the war didn’t get a single mention. Russia we’ve just learned has provided drones to Iran which they’ve used to attack us. It seems they too aren’t going to be a part of Economic D-Day. So it’s fair to say we have another instance of Trump talking tough only to ‘Go TACO’ (Trump Always Chickens Out) in the end.
In this article from Alternet we learn that Bessent didn’t really provide much information at all. I guess given the fanfare someone had to get in front of the press and announce something and Bessent was chosen to play the fool on Trump’s behalf. Alternet cites distinguished professor of strategic studies Phillips O’Brien is author of the bestselling book War and Power. It’s a look at the history of how wars have been won and lost. Regarding today’s press conference O’Brien posted just prior to Bessent stepping up to speak:
“We are about to witness a fascinating moment. If the U.S. is serious about sanctioning those doing business with Iran, they will first and foremost have to hit China. If Bessent comes out and does not promise to go after China, it will be a total fold.”
As I’ve already said Bessent didn’t mention any sanctions against China. Again, China is clearly an ally of Iran and has provided not just weapons but as the biggest customer for Iran’s oil would seem to be the prime target of Trump’s much ballyhooed action. Like many I didn’t think Trump had the guts to take on China. I’ll bet you didn’t think he would either. TACO. While Alternet’s article didn’t get into the fact Russia has been providing drones to Iran but Putin is still Trump’s pal it’s also no surprise they didn’t get talked either. In fact, as already mentioned little of substance was said. From the linked article:
In fact, Bessent didn’t offer many specifics about who would be targeted with sanctions at all. While he asserted that the U.S. would “sever every economic lifeline” for Iran, his conference was short on details, and according to the New York Times, he even “acknowledged that it was more of a warning shot than anything as concrete as the invasion to liberate Europe during World War II.” As the Times noted, “It was not clear what the United States could do to further disrupt Iran’s flailing economy without inflaming tensions with China, the world’s largest buyer of Iranian oil.”
It’s bad enough that Trump served up another big TACO but this one didn’t even have any filling! No doubt Trump will huff and puff and say details will be forthcoming in “a couple of weeks” or some such nonsense. However O’Brien has Trump’s number:
“For now we have our answer from Bessent’s press conference,” O’Brien posted in its wake. “A total fold by the USA. They turned an economic D-Day against Iran into a sanction Little Bighorn for the USA.”
Ouch. However, comparing ‘blonde’ Trump to another dumb blonde dude, the infamous George Custer is an apt comparison. Custer too ignored sound advice and established ways of doing things that were known to work and led himself and his men into disaster. It was a humiliating end for Custer and while Trump won’t die on the hill his political fortunes sure might. So Bessent tried to do some early spinning to stave off the TACO talk and make it look to the rest of the world like we still had at least a little bit of common sense left. Bessent said we’re giving other countries a chance to remedy ‘bad behavior’, and even posed the question “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?” He doesn’t but his boss seems hell bent on doing so.
Perhaps Bessent decided to fall on his sword to protect Trump, to give him an off ramp to the whole Economic D-Day insanity. He attempted to take on some of the humiliation headed Trump’s way. Whether it works in the long run remains to be seen. For now there are those like professor O’Brien calling things accurately:
“Today’s humiliation by the U.S. government in refusing to sanction China over its deep business dealings with Iran proves one golden rule,” noted O’Brien afterwards. “The Trump administration will only take action to hurt democratic allies, never dictatorships/authoritarians.”
I wish I could say Trump has by now messed things up about as much as can be done. Alas, life taught me long before I became a Marine Grunt that no matter how bad things are they can always get worse. Let’s just work our butts off to retake control of Congress in November and scare enough Republicans in the process (2028 isn’t that far off!) into helping us mitigate Trumpian damage.
