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Who Really Owns Trump? -- Digby
https://digbysblog.net/2026/04/05/who-really-owns-trump/
Josh Marshall brings up another dimension to the Iran horror that isn't getting enough attention:
As Josh says, MBS leaked this to the NY Times for a reason: Trump is on notice.
He is rapidly decompensating, knowing that Israel AND the Gulf states have him in a corner, committed to something he now can't get out of and desperately wants to.
Trump has long believed that he can change reality just by lying about it repeatedly until people believe it's true. This is different. Reality is not bending to him and he doesn't know what to do. Right now he's just desperately dancing as fast as he can, hoping for a miracle.
On March 24th The New York Times published an article which reported that the Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has told President Trump that he needs to finish the job, overthrow the Iranian regime or render it so feeble that it cannot threaten anyone - the second condition likely being impossible without achieving the first. As the Times put it (emphasis added), "Prince Mohammed has conveyed to Mr. Trump that he must press toward the destruction of Iran's hard-line government."
[...]
The common thinking in the US is that President Trump either blundered his way into this mess or was goaded into it by Benjamin Netanyahu. There's a bit of truth to the second idea and a lot to the first. But it's MBS and the leader of the UAE along with other gulf princes who are really Trump's guys, much more than Benjamin Netanyahu. The way the Trump White House has interwoven US security, money and geopolitics with them runs much deeper. And, critically and relatedly, the Trump family's business ties with them are infinitely deeper.
As Josh says, MBS leaked this to the NY Times for a reason: Trump is on notice.
Trump whacked a hornets nest and MBS says now Trump needs to remove the nest. It can't be left in place. He needs to overthrow or defang the Iranian regime. The status quo is unacceptable, whatever nonsense of the day Trump may be saying about the Strait not being his problem.
He is rapidly decompensating, knowing that Israel AND the Gulf states have him in a corner, committed to something he now can't get out of and desperately wants to.
Trump has long believed that he can change reality just by lying about it repeatedly until people believe it's true. This is different. Reality is not bending to him and he doesn't know what to do. Right now he's just desperately dancing as fast as he can, hoping for a miracle.