The Art of Ripping up the Deal

The Iran nuclear deal reached in July will have catastrophic consequences for the world, Republican candidate Donald Trump has warned.

In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press today, the billionaire Republican candidate claimed the agreement was a “bad deal” that would give Iran too much strength.

“I would have told them up front you’ll never get your $150 billion back. They are going to be such a wealthy, such a powerful nation. They are going to have nuclear weapons. They are going to take over parts of the world that you wouldn’t believe. And I think it’s going to lead to nuclear holocaust.”

“It’s very hard to say, ‘We’re ripping it up,'” he said. “I would police that contract so tough that they don’t have a chance. As bad as the contract is, I will be so tough on that contract.” [Source: cityam.com and telegraph.co.uk, 8/16/15]

At least Donald Trump appears to understand how disastrous the nuclear deal with Iran is. To his credit, he says he would do everything possible to weaken it.

But why not rip it up?

If he became president, it would be his prerogative. No, presidents should not and cannot do that with laws they don’t like (even though Obama routinely does).

But the deal with Iran is lawless by definition. We’re making an “agreement” with open sponsors of terrorism who support “Death to America” chants in their nation’s capital as a government policy. They kill people, break things and support the beheading of infidels. The only law they recognize is Muslim Sharia law. They could not care less about America’s rule of law, much less individual rights.

These are lawless people. Their Islamic “law” is subjective, arbitrary and barbaric. It’s hideous beyond description, sadistic and masochistic (for those who believe in it) on the level of the Nazi and Communist regimes of our past, if not worse. Nuclear weapons in the hands of such people will not end well.

Refusing to tear up Obama’s deal provides dignity to the killers with whom we made the so-called deal. It calls people civilized who are not civilized, and who make no bones about this fact.

We all know that Iran will continue to build nuclear weapons with or without this deal. They will do whatever they want to do, so long as they’re in power. Negotiating and compromising are not what totalitarian religious dictatorships do.

But ripping up the deal would accomplish two things. One, it would make it less convenient and easy for the Iranian mullahs to develop and use nuclear weapons. Two, it would not give them the legitimacy of diplomacy they do not deserve.

Diplomacy is not for dictatorships. Diplomacy is for working things out with people and governments whose word means something. You reason and negotiate with people who share your basic terms and who, among other things, recognize your right to exist. Iran’s regime does not recognize the right of anyone to exist, other than fundamentalist Muslims who follow their law.

Armies, navies, and nuclear bombs are for dictatorships. Hopefully we will not have to use them. Arguably, we should have used them against the Iranian regime a long time ago, given their sponsorship of much of the world’s terrorism against America.

Dictatorships should know we’re both able and willing to use the full force of our power to stop them in their tracks, if they don’t cease and desist in their destruction against innocent people, including Americans, on a regular basis.

I’m disappointed but not surprised by Trump’s contradictory position. On the one hand, he tends to talk tough, and probably means it (unlike most Republicans, who rarely deliver on their tough talk). On the other hand, he lacks an ideological understanding of exactly why the very notion of a “deal” with a savage regime like Iran is both immoral and impractical, in the first place.

If Trump became president, it would be a statement from the voters that they don’t want this giveaway to Iran. America has become such a weak, self-sacrificial joke in international affairs. The last thing we need is to wobble if we actually gain an opportunity to reassert ourselves economically and militarily.

Go ahead, Mr. Trump: Shred the deal. It’s meaningless, and it grants civility and equality to the morally barbarous — and horrendously dangerous.

Your own words show that you understand how dangerous and ludicrous a deal it is. Back your words up with action.

Whoever wins the election next year, we had better hope this attitude prevails. Otherwise, some version of Trump’s prediction will most certainly, and tragically, come true.