So Here We Are

I know Scott Jennings tantrum got all the attention yesterday, but I want to talk a little bit about what I said that got him so mad.

The bottom line is: Trump’s war with Iran has failed. This has made it mentally strenuous for MAGA operators to defend it on TV.

For 8 weeks… https://t.co/wbjKtnHg3Y

— Adam Mockler (@adammocklerr) May 1, 2026

I know Scott Jennings tantrum got all the attention yesterday, but I want to talk a little bit about what I said that got him so mad.

The bottom line is: Trump’s war with Iran has failed. This has made it mentally strenuous for MAGA operators to defend it on TV.

For 8 weeks now, Scott has pointed to the U.S. destroying the 50 year old Navy and Air Force of Iran to try and prove we have won. This is dishonest for many reasons.

The point of war is not to kill your enemies and blow up their navy. That’s an infantile view of war that MAGA is pushing to trick Americans.

The point of war is to use force to extract political concessions from your enemy that benefit you on the world stage.

Trump has been unable to translate his military success into a SINGLE political concession from Iran. Not one. This is a failed war.

The Strait is closed. Iran won’t even negotiate. The enriched uranium is still in Iran with their blueprints stored in the Cloud.

So enter Scott Jennings. He has claimed weekly that victory is right around the corner with this war… but we have blown past the 4-6 week deadline set by this administration and have failed to get a single concession.

So I asked the simple question: “Can you name a single political concession we have gotten from Iran?”

He couldn’t answer. Never forget the weakness he showed when he had no answer for Trump’s mistakes.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, Iran has allowed for more leeway on their terms for negotiations with the U.S. over a lasting ceasefire agreement. Per the report, Iran has dropped the precondition that the U.S. end the blockade of the… pic.twitter.com/2w3EO2Cb7t

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) May 1, 2026

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, Iran has allowed for more leeway on their terms for negotiations with the U.S. over a lasting ceasefire agreement. Per the report, Iran has dropped the precondition that the U.S. end the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz before negotiating on a ceasefire and has also proposed discussing their nuclear program in exchange for a reduction of the U.S. sanctions regime. Iran has also reportedly signaled that it is prepared to return to the negotiating table in Pakistan as soon as next week

Not political concessions, but concessions for negotiation purposes. So how does Trump respond?

Trump on Iran:

I'm so busy with the Iranians calling trying to make a good deal and we're not going to let that happen. They've got to make a bad deal. Maybe we're better off not making a deal at all. pic.twitter.com/1ZN1UsVs3j

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 2, 2026

If "The point of war is to use force to extract political concessions from your enemy that benefit you on the world stage,” how is Trump doing? Any better than he was? It looks like he can extract the concession of restarting negotiations. But where does that get us? What is Trump going to get out of Iran that benefits the U.S. on the world stage? That makes this war worthwhile? Iran, reasonably, doesn’t want to be bombed; but America seems to think it doesn’t want to bomb them. Doing so, and threatening to do so, has resulted in an economic catastrophe on a global scale. 

So what does he do now? What changes?  How this end with any change in status from the status quo before Trump decided to start dropping bombs on Iran? That’s Mockler’s question. That’s the world’s question. So far, Trump has answered with empty braggadocio and childish petulance towards our allies which, as childish behavior always does, only hurts us.

Small wonder Jennings didn’t have an answer. The only answer is: nothing changes. And that’s a wholly unacceptable answer. How do we change that answer? 

That’s up to Congress. They can shut this fiasco down now. It won’t be pretty, or get any concessions from Iran, but it will stop the bleeding and begin the economic recovery. Not in time for the midterms, but that deadline passed before Trump started this little excursion.

Of course, the odds of that happening are zip and none. 

Mockler on Iran:

There's a stat that Americans have collectively spent $22 billion out of their pocket just on gasoline since this war started. That's money that could have been spent on health care, on child care, on a long list of things to reinvest into our economy. But… pic.twitter.com/whWBDVVZeF

— Acyn (@Acyn) May 2, 2026

Mockler on Iran:

There's a stat that Americans have collectively spent $22 billion out of their pocket just on gasoline since this war started. That's money that could have been spent on health care, on child care, on a long list of things to reinvest into our economy. But guess what? We're spending it on gas. So when you combine that with the tariffs, with the ACA subsidies slashing and with the fact that young people can't accumulate capital in the first place, then as young people would say, we're cooked. This war is cooking us right now.

There’s that, too. This is why I’m not so sure GOP redistricting is going to do a lot of good. The old models have been thrown in the wood chipper. What happens now is anybody’s guess, but the best guess is, it won’t be what the GOP expects. 

Well, unless they expect disaster. That’s most likely what’s coming.