Trump Is Putting His Stamp on the World
Posted on: Mar 19, 2026 21:45 IST | Posted by: Nytimes
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The Conversation
By Frank Bruni and Bret Stephens
Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer. Mr. Stephens is an Opinion columnist.
Bret Stephens: Hi, Frank. I know we’d like to discuss other topics, domestic topics, but there’s this little matter of a big war in the Middle East. How do you see it going, and what do you think we should do?
Frank Bruni: Well, President Trump seems utterly taken aback by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz — which was predictable. He seems wholly aghast at our European allies’ reluctance to join this war, despite the contempt for those allies that he has almost consistently demonstrated. And he’s looking at the possibility of troops on the ground to confiscate Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, although he promised relatively swift, painless victory. How do you think it’s going, Bret?
Bret: Actually, pretty darn well, despite a drumbeat of criticism from commentators and some reporters who almost seem to want the United States and Israel to lose — probably out of political pique because they detest both Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
We went to war because we didn’t want Iran to get to the position where it could threaten the region, including its own people, with virtual impunity. Given the rate at which it was producing missiles and drones, it would have gotten there in a year or two. The steadily diminishing rate of Iranian missile and drone fire, down by roughly 90 percent since the war’s first days, suggests that the military campaign is working. Our casualties so far, thankfully, have been very few, and we haven’t lost a single aircraft to enemy fire.
Iran’s leaders are learning that there’s nowhere they can safely hide, which not only serves them right but also might help the next echelon of commanders be more open to meeting U.S. And Israeli demands to end their nuclear program and stop funding terrorist groups. And the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened as the United States steadily erodes Iran’s capacity to hold oil tankers at risk, though that might take a few weeks.
It took us nearly four years to win World War II. I don’t understand why so many people are collectively running out of patience after less than three weeks.
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