Monday’s poll result is another head scratcher and sign of our political divide. (I’m always the first to say that our polls are not scientific, but still pretty damn interesting.) So, on Monday I asked if the U.S. is winning the war in Iran. More than 35,000 voted with 72+% saying “no”. I get the argument that in a battle of asymmetric warfare, the Iranians can never be defeated ala the Mujahideen who battled the Soviets in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Americans want instant gratification. Our enemies often seem to have unlimited patience. But still, 72+%? The poll result was itself asymmetrical when at least it warranted a more even divide. I’m not the only one who found the result surprising. Surely that explains an inquiry about the poll that I received from a writer for the Deseret News in Arizona and a column filed by independent journalist Stu Bykofsky, who was a longtime columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. Bykofsky wrote about the Monday result, in part saying:
Iran has lost control of its skies, the seas, its ability to fire ICBMs, its long-time Supreme Leader, almost everything but its bowels.
What am I missing?
Oh, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz.
That’s winning?
That’s akin to believing Japan was winning in the spring of 1944 when it unleashed waves of kamikaze suicide fighters that managed to sink U.S. ships.
Bykofsky’s surprise mirrors my own suspicion that at this point, some of President Trump’s detractors would rather see a U.S. battlefield defeat than give Trump a win. So today, I’m going there in asking: For those who oppose President Trump, which matters more: his political defeat or a U.S. victory against Iran? Today’s result will be very telling.
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