The prophetic John Mearsheimer accurately described America’s war against Iran on February 17th — before the U.S. invasion on February 28th.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
4 April 2026, posted by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9o5eiyKsOs
“Prof. John Mearsheimer: How Trump Has Boxed Himself Into a Corner on Iran”
Judge Napolitano – Judging Freedom, 17 February 2026
15:39
MEARSHEIMER: Trump I don’t think is enthusiastic
15:41
about starting another forever war in
15:43
Iran. So I think if it’s just the United
15:45
States and Iran, you could work out a
15:47
deal. And by the way, as you like to
15:49
say, and I agree 100% with what you say,
15:52
Ukraine, excuse me, Iran does not
15:55
present a threat to the United States.
15:57
That’s the starting point. It’s not a
15:59
threat to the United States. So, you
16:01
ought to be able to work out a deal. But
16:03
the problem here is it’s not just the
16:05
United States or it’s just not the Trump
16:08
administration and the Iranians, it’s
16:11
the Israelis as well. And the Israelis
16:14
have a set of demands that go well
16:16
beyond putting limits on the nuclear
16:19
enrichment capability and there’s no way
16:22
the Iranians are ever going to agree to
16:24
those Israeli demands.
16:26
JUDGE NAPOLITANO: Is the um Iranian is the Iranian set of
16:32
negotiations
16:34
also a kabuki dance?
16:36
MEARSHEIMER: Yeah, there’s just no question about it.
16:38
I [laughter]
16:39
I see no way you’re going to work that
16:41
one out. NAPOLITANO: Well, do you think that Trump
16:43
has decided already whether or not he’s
16:45
going to attack, whether it’s to please
16:46
Netanyahu, to please the uh the lobby in
16:50
the United States or because he honestly
16:53
thinks this will bring about a
16:54
resolution to
16:56
whatever.
16:58
MEARSHEIMER: I don’t know what he’s thinking. Uh I
17:01
mean, I think that he’s really boxed
17:02
himself in here. Uh the problem is it’s
17:06
virtually impossible for any president
17:08
including Donald Trump uh to ignore what
17:11
Israel wants, and Israel wants zero
17:16
enrichment capability. Uh they want the
17:18
whole nuclear enrichment uh uh
17:21
infrastructure taken down. They want
17:23
Iran to eliminate all the ballistic
17:26
missiles it has that can hit uh Israel.
17:30
They want uh Iran to give up supporting
17:33
the Houthies, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Uh
17:37
and these are demands that there’s no
17:40
way the Iranians are going to accept. So
17:43
even if Trump can work out a deal that’s
17:45
satisfactory to him along the lines I
17:48
described before, uh it’s not going to
17:51
satisfy the Israelis. And uh the
17:54
Israelis have made it very clear that
17:56
they will attack uh Iran alone if that
18:00
is necessary. And of course, if they
18:03
attack Iran, there’s no way we don’t get
18:06
involved because we’re going to then
18:07
have to help defend Israel uh when the
18:10
Iranians start launching ballistic
18:12
missiles at Israel. and also we’re going
18:15
to get involved because the Iranians are
18:17
in all likelihood going to try to shut
18:19
down the straits of Hormuz and stop the
18:21
flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. Uh
18:24
so I don’t see what Trump can do. Uh and
18:28
just to take it a step further, as you
18:29
and I have talked about, he can uh
18:33
attack, you know, he Trump can have US
18:35
forces attack Iran, but that doesn’t
18:38
solve the problem. It’s not going to get
18:40
rid of the ballistic missiles. It’s not
18:42
going to cause regime change. Uh it’s
18:45
not going to end Iranian support for
18:47
Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hamas. Uh so
18:51
we don’t have a military option here. NAPOLITANO: Uh
18:55
so I I’ve asked this before. Why is it
18:58
that Iran, which has signed the
19:02
non-nuclear proliferation treaty, is not
19:05
permitted to have a nuclear weapon and
19:07
Israel, which has not signed that
19:09
treaty, is permitted to have a nuclear
19:12
weapon. Can anybody explain that?
19:13
MEARSHEIMER: Yeah, I can explain it to you. It’s very
19:15
simple. Israel has a special
19:18
relationship with the United States that
19:20
has no parallel in history. Israel can
19:24
do pretty much anything it wants and we
19:26
will give it unconditional support. Uh
19:29
with regard to all the countries that
19:31
live in Israel’s neighborhood, Israel
19:33
basically dictates to us that we have to
19:35
go to enormous lengths to make sure they
19:38
have no nuclear weapons of their own or
19:40
even a nuclear enrichment capability as
19:43
we have been talking about and that
19:45
those countries cowtow to Israel. uh and
19:49
we go to great lengths to help Israel
19:51
achieve those goals. That’s what’s going
19:53
on here. But you just have to understand
19:56
uh that there’s a special relationship
19:58
here between the United States and
19:59
Israel that has no parallel in recorded
20:04
history
20:06
NAPOLITANO: Here, uh, this is just in from the
20:08
Hindustan Times about 30 minutes ago.
20:12
Iran has sent shock waves through global
20:14
markets by declaring a round-the-clock
20:17
surveillance lockdown
20:20
over the strait of Hormuz, a vital
20:22
choke point carrying nearly 1/5th of the
20:24
world’s daily oil flow. The IRGC Navy,
20:29
that’s the Iranian Navy, announced full
20:31
spectrum monitoring across surface
20:33
vessels, drones, even submarines during
20:36
intense naval drills in and around the
20:39
Straits of Hormuz. So, the Chinese
20:43
import 1.4 million barrels of oil from
20:47
Iran a day. Are they just going to sit
20:51
back and allow the Iranian leadership to
20:53
be toppled if Netanyahu and Trump
20:56
attack?
20:57
MEARSHEIMER: No, they’re going to go to great lengths
20:59
to help Iran. And as I said to you
21:01
before, with the passage of time, the
21:04
Chinese especially, but also the
21:05
Russians are going to help the uh
21:08
Iranians more and more. And
21:11
that’s why I said to you a year from now
21:13
when we’ll when we’re talking about this
21:15
issue, right? It will be clear that the
21:18
China Russia dimension will be more
21:21
important then than it is now. But it’s
21:24
already important now. I want to make
21:26
one other quick point to you just to put
21:29
this whole uh crisis in perspective. I
21:32
believe that virtually every country in
21:35
the Middle East except maybe the UAE,
21:38
which is pretty closely allied with
21:40
Israel, but virtually every other
21:42
country in the Middle East, plus the
21:44
Chinese, plus the Russians, want this
21:48
war to not happen. The only country that
21:51
really wants it to happen is Israel. As
21:54
we’ve talked about, the Americans really
21:56
don’t want this war. Trump doesn’t want
21:58
to fight a war against Iran. He’s being
22:01
pushed down this road by the Israelis.
22:04
So, you see the remarkable power of
22:06
Israel simply because it has such a hold
22:11
over American policy makers. Just think
22:14
about it. Every country in the Middle
22:15
East except maybe the UAE is desperate
22:18
to avoid this war. The Chinese and the
22:20
Russians don’t want this war. Trump
22:23
really doesn’t want this war. Who wants
22:25
this war? Benjamin Netanyahu.
22:28
NAPOLITANO: Well, will he get the war that he wants?
22:32
Boy, it’s very hard to say. I go back
22:34
and forth on this one. Uh, on one hand,
22:37
I say this war can’t happen because we
22:41
can’t achieve our goals by striking
22:45
Iran. And furthermore, you have to take
22:48
into account what Iran can do in
22:50
retaliation. You were just talking about
22:52
the Straits of Hormuz and what the
22:54
consequences would be if that one heated
22:58
up. And of course, the Iranians are
23:00
going to launch ballistic missiles at
23:02
Israel as well. So, it’s hard to see why
23:06
it makes sense to start this war from a
23:08
purely strategic point of view. But
23:10
then, it looks like Trump has boxed
23:14
himself in. And furthermore, the
23:16
Israelis appear to be putting enormous
23:18
pressure on him uh to go to war against
23:21
Iran. And you know, can he disobey his
23:25
masters? I don’t think so. So that
23:28
pushes me in the other direction.
23:30
——
The following is addressed to understanding how Trump’s brain works, which has produced such results as was presented above:
Michael Wolff is a journalist who was with Trump during his 2016 campaign and was allowed into Trump’s White House during Trump’s first term and was allowed to speak with anyone there. Wolff published in 2018 his best-selling book about his conversations with Trump and his entourage, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Following are videos of him explaining how Trump’s brain works, and how the Trump White House works:
——
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DO_QulFjtHx/
Michael Wolff says that even Trump’s friends say he’s stupid.
——
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKVN36NvYjg
Joanna Coles and Michael Wolff: Inside Trump’s Head
5 February 2026, The 92nd Street Y, New York and The Daily Beast
Trump reads nothing and listens to no one, talks nonstop, often shouting, and blocks all information; told Wolff pre-2017 his top goal was to become the world’s most famous person, lives constantly with multiple TV screens, all the cable news channels, eats lots of ice cream (Haagen Dazs).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e86jT8Wc8Rg
Why Even Trump Insiders Admit He’s ‘An Idiot’ | Inside Trump’s Head
26 March 2026, The Daily Beast
Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles dive deep into the most unsettling question at the center of Donald Trump’s presidency: what’s really going on inside his mind. Sparked by a revealing clip and Wolff’s firsthand time in Trump’s White House, the conversation traces a chilling through-line—from early confusion among insiders to the blunt assessment that unlocked everything, reshaping how those closest to power understood his behavior. They unpack Trump’s resistance to information, his aversion to reading, and the coping mechanisms that may have fueled both his rise and his governing style, while exploring how performance, repetition, and instinct can override logic on the world stage. Along the way, they reveal how allies, critics, and even longtime confidants struggled to reconcile the contradictions, and how those very traits may have become his greatest political asset, driving a presidency that defies traditional measures of intelligence and leadership in ways that continue to reverberate far beyond Washington.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqi0q14H7GU
Trump Secretly Admits Top Goon ‘Is Crazy’ | Inside Trump’s Head
28 March 2026
Michael Wolff and Joanna Coles dive into a chaotic stretch where Donald Trump’s impulses collide with global consequences, revealing a president driven less by strategy than by instinct, ego, and narrative control. From openly contradicting his own stance on mail-in voting, to stamping his name on the dollar, Wolff and Coles track a pattern of behavior that prioritizes his personal dominance and short attention-span, over logical consistency. As the Iran war enters a volatile phase with no clear objective, Wolff argues there was never a real plan—only improvisation now spiraling into risk—while Coles probes whether there’s hidden logic behind the scenes or just confusion layered with bravado. The conversation sharpens around Trump’s reliance on storytelling to survive political damage, his fixation on grievance as midterms loom, and the growing cracks inside his inner circle, from RFK Jr.’s instability to rising doubts about key figures tasked with executing policy.
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MY COMMENTS:
The most powerful person in the world is a closed-minded narcissistic psychopath who won his position in a fake democracy, which is comparable to the pre-Hitler German Weimar ‘democracy’, and with perhaps similar results.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
