As US troops flock to danger, Donald Trump seeks ways to disentangle himself from the war on Iran. “We are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly,” he said in a 19-minute address at the start of the month. “It’s very important that we keep this conflict in perspective.”

What’s increasingly clear is that, despite its tactical successes, Operation Epic Fury is turning into a strategic quagmire and a political miscalculation. The President’s approval rating has sunk to -18 percent, the lowest in his second term. Among independents, Trump is on -45 percent, the worst recorded score of any second-term president. That is the perspective concerning the White House. This was supposed to be a jolly year, what with America’s 250th birthday. The President should be overseeing fireworks and celebrations, state ceremonies, UFC cage fights and so on.

Team Trump consoles itself with surveys that suggest voters who identify as MAGA are overwhelmingly in favor of America’s latest Middle Eastern adventure. “The CNN poll said that I’m at 100 percent,” boasted Trump recently. “And they’ve never seen that before, which is an honor. I was impressed that CNN would do that.” Why might a left-liberal network produce such a poll? Perhaps to suggest to the rest of the country that Trump’s supporters are fringe and fanatical.

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