[elmer2]

Trump wasn't 'duped'. He did underestimate the level of involvement in Iran that would be required.

It is hurting China. Their economy has slowed to a crawl as a result of stalled oil and has delayed any real gains they had by at least a couple of years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/business/china-economy-gd...

Do you think Trump makes all of these decisions? Like all presidents, he has many advisors around him.

[randbyte]

Bibi tried many times. Every president before Trump understood the risks and refused the wild plan. Only Trump fell for it.

China’s factory outputs are in fact increasing. So is their export. You wouldn’t see this if they are energy constrained. China’s problems are weak consumption and deflation. It started way before this year and has very little to do with Iran.

[podocarp]

He was definitely duped by Benny. Him underestimating was part of the dupe. He did not just come up with this shit on his own. Someone fed it to him, and it's most likely Benny. And he slurped it all up. And yes, he made the decision, this is well documented. You can't just push the blame onto advisors. In that case Hitler would be innocent, he could just shove everything on his mad advisors.