Please Click LIKE at the bottom of this commentary, and share it everywhere!! By Craig Andresen – The National Patriot – Commentary
A pragmatist is a person who approaches problems, decisions, and beliefs based on practical, real-world results rather than abstract theories, ideals, or emotions.
When it comes to the Middle East, there is no shortage of emotional responses, theories and ideals. I understand those points of view and while I certainly do NOT agree with such emotional anti Semitic views as expressed by the vast majority of the liberals, I DO stand with Israel, the Jewish people and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Netanyahu has wisely stated, “If Israel’s enemies put down their weapons today, there would be peace, If Israel put down her weapons today, there would be no Israel.” That is a very pragmatic view. It is based in historical reality. Since 1948 when Israel officially became a nation, they have wanted to live peacefully with their neighbors, but the fact remains, Israel’s neighbors have, for the most part, wanted Israel eliminated.
Each and every time Israel fought back, or retaliated, or responded in-kind to being attacked, Israel was scorned by their neighbors, and for that matter, by the incompetent dolts at the United Nations. How DARE Israel fight for their right to exist. How DARE Israel use their military as a response to the use of their enemies military efforts to wipe them off the map. How DARE they.
Israel has played the geopolitical appeasement game over the decades, giving up real estate for peace only to be the ongoing target of their enemies inside and outside of their own neighborhood. Far be it for me to delve into biblical texts and present them as word for word factual accounts of events but, what Israel has done since 1948 by giving away Israel’s land in bits and pieces has been the modern day version of turning the other cheek.
In fact, the most renowned Jew in history was, according to penned accounts, the epitome of a turn the other cheek guy, until he reportedly strode into a temple, flipped over the tables and ran the money-changers out with a whip. That day, for Prime Minister Netanyahu, and for the great nation of Israel occurred on October 7th, 2023. Enough was far more than enough and the world last great statesman had run out of other cheeks to turn.
Israel, and rightly so, went on the offensive against Hamas in Gaza from which the attack on Israel came. When Iran, and their other proxies joined in response to Israel defending themselves, Israel, again rightly so, went after the head of the Middle East snake, but things were different this time. While the U.N., many of Israel’s neighbors and the political left in our country falsely accused Israel of genocide, Israel stood firm.
The real evil was clear, and had been so for the past 47 years. Iran, and their chants of “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel,” had steadily been marching toward having their own nuclear arsenal…something every U.S. President said should never be allowed, and yet, aside from scattered pin-pricks and occasional sanctions, none of our Presidents did anything to stop Iran. In fact, between Obama and Joe Biden, nearly $8 billion in cold hard cash was delivered t the Iranian regime, not to mention Obama’s “deal” that paved the short-cut for Iran’s procurement of nuclear weapons.
Trump and Netanyahu, the U.S. and Israel together did what was for 47 years thought to be impossible…they bombed Iran’s nuclear ambitions back to the stone age, partnered up on intel and ended the Iranian regime’s leader’s ability to fog mirrors, and rained down military might the likes of which had never been witnessed by man. Iran’s navy was destroyed, Their air force was destroyed. Their ability to communicate, to use radar, and to even hold high-level strategy meetings was cut off.
Yes, Iran still had a good number of missiles and drones, but day by day, week by week, those numbers dwindled…not to zero…but dwindled. Iran’s ability to fund their cult of death and destruction based on oil, and extortion also was choked off, but the one thing that military power just can’t erase…was that 12-Shia death-cult theocratic ideology.
Were I to base by response on raw emotion, I would say bomb Iran until there is nothing left but a smoldering hole in the desert, but the pragmatist in me knows that the smoke would eventually dissipate but that repugnant 12-Shia ideology would still exist.
So, here we are, with a memorandum of understanding more commonly being referred to as a “deal” that not many people like and have strong emotional reactions to, but remember…it’s s framework…an agreement to continue to construct something that may, or may not lead to an actual deal. If this were the finished product – full stop – it would suck and I would have no problem saying so out loud…but that’s not what this is.
The pragmatist in me knows that Iran won’t abide by the deal because they never do. I have every pragmatic reason to believe that Iran will break the deal either on their own, or via their proxies, because historically…that’s what they do. When, not if, Israel strikes back, which I believe they should, and will, and rightly so, or if we do, and rightly so, Iran will claim the righteous, not they themselves broke the deal.
Again…historical precedent, and that leaves more questions than answers.
What about regime change in Iran?
Absolutely, I’m all for it but it will have to come from within.
How do we assist the Iranian people in such an undertaking?
We arm the Iranian freedom fighters.
Can it be done? Yes…it’s been done before in other places. Is it easy? No…it would be high risk, but if successful, it also has high rewards.
Could we have overwhelmed Iran’s militarily using a ground invasion?
Yes. Why didn’t we do it?
Well, that is perhaps the most complex problem of all, and it hasn’t been a lack of will from either Netanyahu or Trump in my opinion, rather it was a lack of political will from within our own halls of government. Remember the War Powers Act? Far too many nutless wonders on the right side of our political aisle sided with Iran’s smoke and mirrors proxy, our elected liberals The War Powers Act passed in the House, and hangs like a toxic cloud over what needs to be done to Iran in our senate. IF the senate follows the house lead and passes it, I believe Trump would veto it, but I also believe there’s a good chance the veto would be overridden by squishy republicans joining their Israel-hating colleagues.
If that happens, it wouldn’t just remove any hope of ending the Iranian reign of terror in this instance, the far-ranging affect would be that no U.S. President going forward would have the ability to put down a rabid regime anywhere on Earth…ever again…unless approved by those who may well side with our enemies.
So, what were President Trump’s real options?
Option 1. He could have kept the U.S. out of it completely hoping Israel could invade Iran on the ground and after would could well have been years, eventually effected regime change, but with Netanyahu facing ongoing power struggles from within his own government, that just wasn’t a good option as Iran would have completed their quest and used nukes against Israel…and Israel would have responded in kind.
That would have been a horrible option.
Option 2. Trump could have ignored political ill-will at home and sent in our ground troops, but that most likely would have triggered overwhelming congressional support for the War Powers Act resulting in an immediate end to any U.S. military operations against Iran, Iran building a nuke and…see option 1.
Option 3. Trump bombed Iran as hard as he could without using nukes for the allotted 60 day window, strangled Iran’s economy, ended Iran’s extortion in the Strait of Hormuz and try to engineer a diplomatic end to Iran’s war-making capabilities while allowing Iran to become their own worst enemy in the region. Obviously, while not ending in the utter destruction of the Iranian regime and a shift in government to the freedom loving people of Iran, it does preserve not only Trump’s. but any future President’s ability to engage when engagement is the moral high-road, while hoping enough members of the senate appreciate the his restraint to cool it on the War Powers Act.
Option 4. Trump could have just kept bombing Iran using last June’s Operation Midnight Hammer as the starting point. There are those who believe the Iranian regime would have been ended and the good people of Iran would have taken over, but that’s the emotional aspect of 20/20 hindsight. The pragmatic view is that 60 days are 60 days and had Trump opened the war on June 27th, 2025, the same nutless wonders in our halls of congress would have had their War Powers Act tantrum at the end of August 2025. We would have been where we are now, just 8 months ago.
Finally, this outcome isn’t what most on our side hoped for, it’s not what either Israel or the Iranian freedom fighters hoped for either, but given that death-cult theocratic ideologies don’t unconditionally surrender, and given the fact that our own house and senate want more control over military actions than the Commander in Chief…this tenuous, soon to be broken by Iran “deal” is pragmatically the best of the bad options available. That doesn’t mean that clandestine ops (ours or Israel’s) can’t still tip the scales by arming select Iranian people and providing them the necessary intel to affect real, and lasting regime change but is this memorandum of understanding, such as it is gets scrapped, as many on our side are emotionally demanding…what’s next?
Go back to bombing and have congress pull the plug then blame Trump and insist that things would have been different if he would have done all the things that would have triggered a congressional plug-pulling? Scold any and all who disagree saying “Trump should have never negotiated with terrorists” Well, I hate to say it but the great Ronald Reagan was the first President to row that boat with the Iranian regime…first making a deal to not destroy Iran if our hostages weren’t released by the time he took office, and again towards the end of his presidency in the Iran-Contra scandal.
Domestically, we need a Supreme Court ruling that finds the War Powers Act to be unconstitutional because as long as that cudgel exists, and as long as congress refuses to grow a set, our nation’s enemies know they only have to endure 60 days of military actions against them before any U.S. President is forced to call off the dogs of war. Yes, congress COULD declare war, but that hasn’t happened since WWII, and authorizations from congress for military action without a formal declaration of war are as feckless as far too many members of congress are nutless.
All the hand-wringing, pearl-clutching and gnashing of teeth by those driven by emotion will, in due time, prove to have been pointless because the pragmatist in me believes the “deal” will, sooner or later collapse, and the military beating of Iran will resume until the regime’s attitude improves.
That’s the bottom line.
Copyright © 2026 Craig Andresen / thenationalpatriot.com all rights reserved
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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Diane Sori’s latest Op-Ed at The Patriot Factor,
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RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS…LIVE!
Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 9th, from 7 to 8:30pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss ‘‘ ‘“The Dael,” – Pragmatism vs. Emotionalism’; and important news of the day. Tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com Click ‘LISTEN LIVE.’
