Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, discusses the increasing “desperation” of U.S. strategy, Iran’s long-term economic control over the Strait of Hormuz and growing “hawkishness,” and the dangerous possibility of nuclear warfare:

Garrett Graff writes:

Are we really this inured to unhinged comments that “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell” doesn’t even warrant a full 24-hour news-cycle?

In a sentence that would have surprised the me of not that long ago, I’m going to let former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green eloquently explain why this should matter to us: “Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness. I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.… Trump threatening to bomb power plants and bridges hurts the Iranian people, the very people Trump claimed he was freeing. … Our President is not a Christian and his words and actions should not be supported by Christians. Christians in the administration should be pursuing peace. Urging the President to make peace. Not escalating war that is hurting people…. This is not making America great again, this is evil.”

At one level, Trump’s Easter morning tweet was consistent with two weeks of threats about attacking civilian infrastructure — he’s set, reset, moved, and repeatedly delayed a deadline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz “or else” he says the US will target civilian infrastructure like power plants in Iran, which would traditionally be a war crime. As Allison Gill traced yesterday, Trump’s initial deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait was March 23rd , then he reset it to March 27th , and then March 30th . Then, after his directionless Oval Office address on April 1st , the new deadline was April 4th . Then today at 7 a.m. — on Saturday, he tweeted, “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign [sic] down on them.” Then as of his Sunday tweet, the deadline is now Tuesday night at 8 p.m.

The constantly shifting deadlines and increasingly unhinged make clear that Trump is lost at sea. [Continue reading…]