The Spectator 🇺🇸

The March 30 edition of The Spectator just went to press. Featuring: 🔴 Christopher Caldwell 🔴 @LachCartwright 🔴 @KatarinaSzulc 🔴 @default_friend 🔴 @DouglasKMurray 🔴 @PrueLeith And many more. Subscribe below.

“The Democratic party, still in the grip of Woodrow Wilson’s messianic and moralistic phoniness, does not institutionally oppose the war in Iran, any more than it did the illegal kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro, George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq or George H.W. Bush’s invasion of Panama.” ✍️ John R. MacArthur on the outrageous cynicism of the Democrats on Iran spectator.com/article/the-de…

Christopher Caldwell: "Having Donald Trump as President probably resembles being a heroin addict: you undergo regular episodes of sweating terror and mortal danger, the end result of which is to get you – at best – back to normal. ... But now the President has pressed his luck. He has joined Israel in a campaign of aerial assassination and bombardment against Iran ...and has wound up trapped. American air power proved sufficient to kill Iran’s 86-year-old leader and dozens of schoolgirls ..."

Christopher Caldwell, the 800lb gorilla of conservative commentary, on the Iran war and the end of Trumpism

Spoke to Christopher Caldwell about his End of Trumpism piece here. You can watch here:

.@TheSpectator asked me to write their diary column this week about crashing/doorstepping/staking out (in true tabloid tradition) Rupert Murdoch's 95th birthday bash — spectator.com/article/crashe…

“When the reckoning comes, voters and elites will distinguish between those who embraced the war and those who refused.” ✍️ @reidtsmith: Joe Kent’s resignation was an act of political positioning spectator.com/article/joe-ke…

read genius @princessdiorama on the right’s alienation of women, today in the spectator! link below

The Arab autocracies of the Persian-Gulf region find themselves under direct attack from the Iranians, but do not respond in kind. The Chinese observe a core strategic proxy and key commodities supplier taken off the chessboard – for the second time in under 90 days – and refrain from direct engagement. The Russians watch a literal ally come under attack from their own signal rival, and do nothing except, perhaps, share targeting data. Only the Israelis, it seems, have a consistent record of perception and response to events, in the light of their own interests, throughout. Then there are the Europeans. The European Union’s foreign-affairs chief, Estonia’s Kaja Kallas, pronounced that “this is not Europe’s war, but Europe’s interests are directly at stake.” She’s half right. Europe has an Iranian war on its hands by reason of those interests, whether Europe cares to see it or not.

[Trump] has, as Caldwell says, “pressed his luck” and the consequences for his political legacy already look disastrous. For all America’s energy abundance, the instability in the Middle East – and Iran’s choking of the Strait of Hormuz – will mean higher gas prices at home, a concomitant inflationary spike, and perhaps a global economic downturn from which the US will not be immune. The President’s party will suffer as a result in November’s midterms as Trump’s Make America Great Again movement begins to unravel.

We’ve just put our latest issue to bed. Christopher Caldwell has written the cover. He argues that the Iran war will likely mark the end of Trumpism:

Our cover piece spectator.com/article/the-ir…

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The March 30 edition of The Spectator just went to press. Featuring: 🔴 Christopher Caldwell 🔴 @LachCartwright 🔴 @KatarinaSzulc 🔴 @default_friend 🔴 @DouglasKMurray 🔴 @PrueLeith And many more. Subscribe below.

Joshua Treviño: Iran and the crisis of the European mind The crisis of the European strategic mind is laid bare in the most stark terms. Incapable of discernment and action alike, it orients itself against the American antagonist - the one it knows will never do it real harm - rather than the Iranian one, which it knows will sow death and mayhem against itself given the chance.