Bill Kristol tears apart Trump’s 'messy' Wizard of Oz surrender

U.S. President Donald Trump's "memorandum of understanding" with Iran was put to the test when, on June 25, Iranian forces attacked commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the United States responded with military attacks against Iran. Conservative Journalist Bill Kristol examines the state of the "memo of understanding" in The Bulwark, arguing that Trump left Iran in a stronger position than it was in before the war.

"This military tit-for-tatting happened amidst a cacophony of competing understandings of the much-heralded memorandum of understanding signed two weeks ago," Kristol writes in The Bulwark. "It turns out that an agreement that Iran would 'make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels' is subject to very different interpretations of 'arrangements' and 'best efforts.' The United States thinks 'safe passage' should mean free passage. Iran thinks that if Iran can 'make arrangements,' it's allowed to — make arrangements. Who could have known there would be disagreement on this point? But the bottom line is that this is what a messy but unacknowledged surrender by the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Iran looks like."

The Bulwark uses a clever "Wizard of Oz" analogy to describe Trump's Iran deal. In the famous L. Frank Baum children's story, the "man behind the curtain" isn't really the all-powerful individual he pretends to be — and The Bulwark compares him to the "man behind the curtain."

"You could emphasize his personal role in bringing about this sad state of affairs," Kristol writes. "In this case, you might rather want to go middlebrow and cinematic, and quote from the climactic scene of the 1939 movie, 'The Wizard of Oz.'"

The "new normal" with Trump and Iran, Kristol predicts, will find the U.S. in a state of "surrender."

"It will consist of on-and-off military tit-for-tats; endless diplomatic squabbling and propagandizing; a Strait of Hormuz that is quasi-open but not reliably so, and is mostly so at Iranian sufferance; no resolution with regard to Iran's nuclear program; and at the end of the day an Iranian regime that is emboldened, American allies that are uncertain and dispirited, and a United States that is unable to exert its power or will decisively," Kristol laments. "It's not good. But it's where we are…. You could point out how unlikely it is that Trump can 'militarily complete' the job he started."

Kristol adds, "You could suggest that this latest instance of Trumpian bluster does more to highlight than to cover up his weakness in this moment. And you could emphasize how foolish and reckless was his choice to start this war. So, citing T.S. Eliot is apt: We are at an important, even world-historical moment."