"Iran Must Be Finally Defeated."
- 18.06.2025, 11:14
Trump likes to be a winner.
Will American President Donald Trump become a classic "hawk"? That's the question Charter97.org asked to Vladimir Fesenko, a well-known Ukrainian political scientist and head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research:
- Trump's post on Tucker Carlson appeared today because of his interview with Steve Bannon, an ideologue of Trumpism and one of the ideologues of MAGA (the famous slogan "Make America Great Again").
The problem is that the classic representatives of the MAGA movement are against US military activity in other parts of the world. And it doesn't matter here - Europe, Ukraine, even the Middle East, where it would seem the US has many of its own strategic interests, including support for Israel. But MAGA countered. "No need to meddle in anything. Not Taiwan, not Ukraine, not the Middle East. It's not our war," is their position.
But that's the MAGA position, and the position of classical Republicans is quite different. One has to stand up for the interests of the US. Otherwise, the U.S. will look like a wimp and a loser, and that will have a negative impact on America's international standing. And I think Trump understands this.
And there is another purely psychological moment. Trump is on the winning side. If the Israeli attack had failed and was not so successful, Trump would be actively in favor of negotiations.
Because Trump is not a man of war, he is in favor of negotiations, some peaceful solutions. But he likes to be a winner. And here is the success of Israel, it is necessary to demonstrate that this success was achieved thanks to the United States. Americans should be great. They have to show their greatness, so here Trump is taking Israel's side. Although before this, Trump was holding Israel back from a military attack. In addition, I think there is also a very important factor - how Iran was perceived both in the Trump administration and by Republicans, in the Senate, in Congress.
This I know from many testimonies of both our and American colleagues. Even in the early days of Trump's presidency, even when there was a transition period, it was Iran that everyone was talking about. The main object of irritation, of discontent is Iran.
Tehran was considered America's main enemy. China is the main strategic opponent, the main competitor, but the main enemy and irritant is Tehran. So to punish Iran, to destroy Iran is something that is very much to the liking of just such classical Republicans.
For them, Iran is a symbolic target. You know, as they used to say in Rome, "Carthage must be destroyed." To paraphrase that phrase for classical Republicans, "Iran must be finally defeated." Now they see that there is a definite chance for this to happen, and they want to put it into practice.
Trump seems to be leaning toward this very position. If it is possible to achieve victory over Iran, I do not exclude that this may encourage Trump and maybe make him more decisive.
Who knows, maybe there will be some positive effect here for Ukraine and for, let's say, strengthening the international role of the United States. Because Trump has clearly been dominated by isolationism. And now the victory over Iran, if it takes place, may change Trump, add adrenaline to him and create motivation for strengthening the international role of the US.