Dateline: Nothingdoingville, April 21, 2024

A few days ago, Biden and one or two allies announced sanctions against Iran for its attack last weekend against Israel. But rather than restricting oil exports, which Iran needs to maintain and grow its war machine, Biden whiffed. Oh, the sanctions sounded like something but, in reality, there was nothing in that something.

Biden’s sanctions were against manufacturers and key players in Iran’s homegrown drone program. Big deal. The drones were the least effective weapon in Iran’s attack. They were taken down like sitting ducks in a shooting gallery. And many of those sanctioned are already the targets of sanctions. So much for deterrence.

Biden’s persistent feeding of Iran’s oil industry is like throwing chum to sharks. He’s given billions of dollars in handouts to the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. Six billion for the return of five hostages, ten billion for humanitarian uses – a restriction that is impossible to enforce and ridiculous to say. And, of course, there’s his refusal to enforce the oil sanctions already on the books. Go figure.

Biden’s weakness on the international stage is humiliating and threatening to our national security. His ‘don’t’ to Iran on the eve of its attack against Israel was futile and embarrassing. Ditto for his directive to Israel to forgo retaliation.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are in disarray.  Their purist v. pragmatist political slugfest in the House is hammering their slim voting majority into a bloody pulp. And then there’s Trump. He’s barely palatable to most GOP’ers. As he continues to scowl and shoot his mouth off about everything, voters are repulsed. Whether they will hold their noses and vote for him in November is anyone’s guess.