Trump has 'lost control of' his war — and it’s going to get worse: analysis

U.S. President Donald Trump with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, D.C., March 6, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

On CNN and MS NOW, it isn't hard to find political strategists — some of them conservative Republicans — who are wondering if U.S. President Donald Trump has "lost control of the narrative" when it comes to justifying his war against Iran. Many polls, they argue, are showing that the war is wildly unpopular among non-MAGA voters, and strategists are asking if Trump could be doing a better job selling the war.

But in analysis published on March 20, CNN's Stephen Collinson stresses that "the question is no longer whether" Trump has "lost control of the narrative" with Iran, but "whether he's lost control of the war itself."

"After the thunderclap opening of the conflict with the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei," Collinson explains, "Trump's team might have hoped to be in a better place three weeks in. Instead, the way out remains impossible to identify."

The CNN journalist warns that the blocking of a "vital oil shipping route," the Strait of Hormuz, "threatens to paralyze the global economy."

"Americans are already hurting, with average gasoline prices heading towards $4 a gallon," Collinson notes. "Things could get worse. Regional oil and gas installations across the Gulf region are under attack. Trump insisted Thursday, (March 19) he hadn't known that Israel planned to attack Iran's South Pars gas field…. Gulf states hit by days of missile and drone alerts are frustrated that the economic miracle exemplified by their futuristic cityscapes is in danger from a war their U.S. ally started that they didn't want."

Collinson continues, "Trump meanwhile is fuming that he can’t simply order Europeans to send ships to open the Strait. 'This is not our war,' German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said this week…. After starting a new war, Trump doesn't control how long it will last, where it will spread, how much it will cost and how badly it will complicate the lives of inflation-weary Americans. And it's in danger of defining his second presidency."

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