What Now?

The future of America First, and the world, hangs in the balance

What now?

That’s the question on everyone’s lips today, in one form or another, just like the day before.

What now for the Middle East?

What now for the world?

And what for Donald Trump and America First?

Israel’s attacks on Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities, like its attacks on the leadership of Hezbollah with those incredible exploding pagers, have been wildly—outrageously—successful. In a series of carefully planned and meticulously executed strikes, which included the establishment of forward operating bases deep inside Iran and the use of hundreds of spies, elite commandos, drones and other airpower, Israel decapitated Iran’s military leaders and the scientific community responsible for its nuclear program in one fell swoop.

And not only that, Israel also pre-empted the Iranian response and basically reduced it to nothing, before it could even get off the ground. Through careful intelligence work, Israel uncovered Iran’s emergency protocol and the location of the bunker where the heads of Iran’s military forces would meet when it became clear an attack from Jerusalem was inbound. So the Israelis hit the bunker at the perfect time, killing the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps air force and the heads of the drone and air-defense forces too.

For years, those urging restraint in curbing Teheran’s nuclear ambitions have warned that the Iranian response to a direct attack on its nuclear facilities would be overwhelming and bloody in a way that would shock and shame the warhawks and neocons and make a war completely unpalatable to the American people. This would not be another Gulf War I or Gulf War II. There would be attacks on US bases and allies in the Middle East. Sleeper cells and hitsquads would be activated around the world, including on American soil, and high-profile targets would be assassinated and sabotaged. Even if Iran didn’t have enough fissile material for a proper nuclear weapon, it could still make a dirty bomb and—heaven forbid—detonate that and kill tens of thousands of people and cause a terrible, terrible mess. We were promised destruction. If not Mutually Assured Destruction, then something pretty bad all the same.

At worst, Israel had planned to receive between 350 and 500 ballistic missiles in response to an attack. But instead, about a hundred drones were launched, mostly at Tel Aviv, Israel’s Mecca of bum-banditry, to little effect. The bump and grind and the chemsex parties were briefly interrupted as revellers scrambled for the shelters, but soon enough they were back on the dancefloors and podiums, bonking away like nothing had happened.

It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer audacity of it all. I spoke to a powerful friend in the Saudi government yesterday and their response was mostly awe and disbelief. “We’ll be studying this for years to come. This has totally changed the rules,” they said. I think my friend is right. I also think many Western patriots, even those who hate Israel the most, will be wishing they had a government that fought their nation’s enemies as hard and with as much verve, nerve and sheer ruthless efficiency as the Israelis have displayed fighting Hamas, Hezbollah and the Mullahs of Iran all at once.

Don’t get me wrong. As much as I believe a nuclear-armed Teheran is a bad thing—I don’t much want a theocracy, let alone an Islamic one, to be able to split uranium-235 in mid-air above a Western city or from the inside of a briefcase—it’s very clear that this is not what American patriots signed up for when they elected Donald Trump for a second time. America, willingly or otherwise, is being dragged into a war of a kind Donald Trump promised he would avoid as president, long before he came down the elevator on that fateful day a decade ago.

America is at a crossroads, and the fate of the America First movement led by Donald Trump hangs in the balance. What Trump does next—what he allows or disallows, what he permits openly or in secret—will define the success of his second term and his legacy. Besides the potential for World War III, a failure now will split Trump’s party and base and make it far less likely his ambitious domestic agenda will be achieved.

If Trump loses the midterms, you can kiss goodbye to the largest mass deportation operation in American history. The Democrats, crazier than ever, will be back in 2028. The floodgates will open once more.