Letter to J. D. Vance

2,000 words

Dear Vice President Vance,

Since this is an open letter, please indulge me as I spell out some things that you surely know but which some readers may not.

Donald Trump has done the impossible. He has created a global humanitarian and political crisis, yet he has managed to get most of the world to tune it out simply by lying about it continually. Trump has now announced that a “deal” with Iran is imminent 39 times. This is what Steve Bannon called “flooding the zone with bullshit.”

The only reason to take the latest announcement seriously is that Iran and Pakistan are also speaking about it. They, at least, have some credibility.

Every intelligent person knew what would happen if the United States tried and failed to overthrow the Iranian regime. Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz, creating shortages and price spikes in oil, natural gas, fertilizers, and other crucial industrial commodities, which would create economic hardship and political instability all over the world, including the United States.

What we didn’t know is how effectively Iran could retaliate against American bases, Israel, and the Gulf states. But, in all fairness, they did warn us. Trump just chose to ignore them. After all, his warnings are mostly hollow.

We also didn’t know the extent to which America’s agreements to defend the Gulf states were bluffs. The US simply can’t sustain a strategy of countering swarms of cheap Iranian drones by firing off gold-plated missiles.

When faced with shortages of interceptors, the US showed the world what a feckless ally it is. When interceptors became scarce, Washington immediately prioritized Israel over the Gulf and the Gulf over the Far East.

The Gulf states quickly learned that lesson. They turned to Ukraine for anti-drone defense technology. If they were smart—and they are smart enough—they also began secretly negotiating with Iran. They have now become Iran’s de-facto allies in seeking a swift end to the war.

Once the war is over and rebuilding commences, the Gulf states will surely reevaluate the petrodollar. In exchange for American protection, the Gulf states agreed to price petroleum exports in dollars. For half a century, this has allowed the US to maintain solvency while running up enormous debts. Without the petrodollar system, the US will end up paying much more to service its national debt, forcing it either to cut spending or devalue the dollar.

How does one win a war? By coming out more powerful in the end.

Iran won this war. Iran will emerge from this war as the regional hegemon, with control of the Strait of Hormuz. The Gulf states will align themselves with Iranian policy in the region. That will be good for Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Palestinians, and very bad for Israel.

You can buy Greg Johnson’s Is America Doomed? here.

The US lost the war. The US failed to destroy the Iranian regime. It failed to protect its allies and client states. America failed not just in the Gulf, but globally, because its expensive, high-tech arsenal has proven no match for cheap drones and rockets. It also failed globally by demonstrating that it will sacrifice its obligations to other allies and clients to protect Israel at all costs, because Israel First. Finally, losing the petrodollar will significantly weaken America long after Gulf exports are restored.

Iran is not the only winner of this war. The biggest winner is probably China, which is really the only global rival America should care about. China became more powerful simply by staying out of the fight while America punched itself in the face repeatedly.

This is pretty much the worst-case scenario for the war. Trump started the war because he chose to believe the best-case scenario: quick, clean regime change after killing Ayatollah Khamenei and other senior regime leaders (under a flag of truce).

There was virtually no chance that this scenario would work. It was stewed up with bogus intelligence by the Israelis, who wanted America to destroy Iran and don’t particularly care about the political and humanitarian costs to non-Jews, i.e., most of the planet.

Everyone in Trump’s cabinet knew better. But Trump chose to listen to the leader of a foreign country who wanted war with Iran and does not care about America’s long-term interests. You all swore oaths to serve America’s interests. But none of you had the guts to stop this disaster.

Countless deaths and untold suffering were caused by people looking at a bogus plan and thinking, “It sounds terrible, but the guy next to me seems to think it will work, so let’s hope for the best. Besides, rocking the boat will be bad for my career.” Unfortunately, the guy next to him was thinking the very same thing. And so on, all around the table.

This blend of stupidity, wishful thinking, cowardice, and putting personal interest ahead of the common good is at the root of most political disasters.

The Iran War began 107 days ago. It should have been clear that the war was lost by the end of the second week.

What’s worse than losing a war in two weeks? Prolonging it by more than three months because of Trump’s psychological inability to admit defeat.

The world has suffered three needless months of death, anxiety, and compounding economic and political instability, while Trump hoped and prayed, lied and coped, blustered and retreated—in front of the whole world, no less, on Truth Social—in the insane hope that this time, doing the same thing would produce a different result.

Trump is clearly a pathological narcissist. He is literally willing to let millions suffer rather than admit that he made a serious mistake. He must maintain a positive self-image at all costs (to others).

He’s also an abusive narcissist who enjoys creating fear, tension, and drama around him.

In fairness to Trump, he’s probably also just terrified to say no to the Jewish war lobby.

These are not traits of a good leader.

Why have you allowed this evil to fester for more than three months?

You can buy Greg Johnson's The White Nationalist Manifesto here.

As with the Iraq War, the Iran War was simply Israel activating its American golem to destroy one of its enemies with fake weapons of mass destruction as the pretext.

Trump is clinging to this pretext with white knuckles. For Israel, all this suffering is easy to justify: Iran is an enemy, and non-Jewish lives mean nothing. For Americans, however, such suffering could only be justified by warding off nuclear war.

But at this point, all talk of Iran getting a nuclear weapon is moot. The primary purpose of nuclear weapons is to deter regime change, and Iran has shown that it already has the conventional means to destroy the Gulf and crash the global economy. Any continued talk of the Iranian nuclear threat is just pandering to the adult diaper demographic who watch Fox News.

What’s dumber than starting another war over fake weapons of mass destruction? Trump’s latest peace plan, in which the United States will be paying $300 billion (basically, $1,000 per American) to bribe Iran not to build nuclear weapons that it wasn’t building in the first place and that it no longer needs to deter regime change, since it now has conventional means.

$300 billion because Trump tore up Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran after chimping for years over Obama returning a mere $400 million of Iran’s money.

If paying tribute to Iran for peace has a “late empire” vibe, that’s because the Byzantines paid the Persians an enormous tribute for the Treaty of Eternal Peace in 532. This peace lasted less than eight years. The next war was concluded in 545 with another massive bribe. Then, in 562, the Byzantines signed the Fifty-Year Peace with Persia, along with more tribute. Shockingly, this peace did not last either, so new truces (and massive payments) had to be negotiated in 574–575.

Not to be outdone by the Byzantines, Trump should call this the Golden Treaty of Perpetual Eternal Peace.

I honestly don’t care about the American empire or the petrodollar, although I had hoped they could have been wound down in a more orderly and dignified fashion.

The reason I voted for the Vance-Trump ticket in 2024 is that (1) you weren’t Harris-Waltz and (2) I had some hope that a new Trump administration could save America: close the borders, begin mass deportations, end anti-white policies, and start rolling back Leftist power in politics, academia, business, the media, the culture industry, the churches, etc.

Trump didn’t really know what needed to be done. But I hoped people around him did, which is why I specifically voted for Vance-Trump.

I hoped we would have four years of Trump with a Republican Congress just to get started, followed by eight years of Vance, followed by eight years of someone reliable. (Anyone but Rubio.) Twenty years of patient, diplomatic, but unrelentingly radical reform might have reversed the decline. It was always a long shot, but anyone who pulled it off would enjoy eternal glory.

The biggest impediment to saving America is now Donald Trump. Trump will always have sycophants, cultists, and shills. But there aren’t enough of them to save America.

Trump won because of voters who wanted peace, mass deportations, accountability for the Epstein class, and a rollback of Leftist insanity. Trump betrayed them. They won’t come back to him.

Even if Trump finally ends this war, the world may breathe a sigh of relief, but he deserves no thanks for belatedly stopping a war he should never have started.

If the Iran War really is over, that just frees Trump to blunder into another disaster.

He should be removed from office. He’s unfit for office. He’s acting crazy. He needs to go.

He needed to go a long time ago. With each day that decision is deferred, the costs grow and the benefits diminish.

My friend James O’Meara summed up the problem brilliantly with a quote from Nicholas von Hoffman, who got himself fired from 60 Minutes during the Watergate crisis for comparing Richard Nixon to “a dead mouse on the kitchen floor.” What Hoffman said applies to Trump:

The question is who is going to pick it up by the tail and drop it in the trash. At this point it makes no difference whether he resigns, thereby depositing himself in a sanitary container, or whether Congress scoops him up in the dustpan of impeachment. But as an urgent national health measure, we’ve got to get that decomposing political corpse out of the White House.

The people who put Trump in office will rally to a candidate who will deliver peace, prosperity, borders, remigration, accountability, and sanity. If it isn’t you, it will be someone else. Naturally, you’d have an advantage over other contenders in 2028 if you are already president.

You know what’s coming if Trump stays in office: a blue wave in the midterms; gridlock, impeachment, and chaos; and a Leftist president in 2028. This is why you’re talking about not running. This is why Peter Thiel is decamping to Argentina. I’d lay odds that Elon Musk will follow if the Left returns to power with a vengeance.

Unfortunately, most Americans cannot run away. Many of them elected you to look out for their interests.

Frankly, I am hoping you’ll stay at your post. I am hoping that you’ll take action to save your nation and your skin. Basically, your only chance is to convince 2/3 of Trump’s cabinet to back his removal under the 25th Amendment.

It shouldn’t be hard. The alternative for all of you is to hand the loaded gun of state power back to the Democrats in two years, then hope and pray they won’t shoot you with it.

It was wishful thinking and cowardice that got us into this mess. It will take realism and courage to get us out.