During the Easter lunch at the White House on April 1, Paula White-Cain, Trump’s religious advisor, compared him to Jesus Christ, highlighting the “Savior Lord’s” suffering from “trials,” “betrayal,” and “false accusations.”

If Trump’s supporters welcomed his comparison to Jesus Christ, who would politically crucify him if he fails? The answer will likely come not just from his usual adversaries, but from the very camp that put him in power, from the predicament he fashioned with his own hands, and from the storm that consumes its instigator, as it has consumed many before him.

Trump acted on the logic that Tehran was just steps away from surrender, assuming it couldn’t risk closing its vital artery, Hormuz—but in practice, it nearly did.

As long as the Iranian regime’s demand is to preserve its vital deterrent tools, pressure serves less to open the door to a settlement than to shut it.

Trust is a rare commodity among ideological regimes in the Middle East. Unless American military coercion yields a swift surrender, it only leads to a prolonged deadlock.

When Trump says, “whoever needs oil should open the strait,” he strengthens Iran’s position and puts oil‑importing capitals—desperate for supply—in a very weak spot against Iran, which has long sought to assert its dominance over Hormuz.

Then, how can these countries gamble with the role of policeman in the Gulf under the mutual bombing by the US, Israel, and Iran? Moreover, those who are meant to guard and enforce control!

It’s truly a surreal film! It’s hard to believe that Trump is ready to relinquish American influence in the Middle East and delegate its security to an international consensus between China, Japan, Europe, and Iran!

Here, the equation turns against its initiator. What begins in Washington as a “pressure on Iran’s artery” policy quickly becomes a crisis framed around “market stability” and “preventing an explosion,” abandoning America’s Gulf role. Hormuz becomes the epicenter, and Trump’s ultimate goals give way to minimal objectives: containment, de-escalation, temporary arrangements, and face-saving exits.

However, following the same crisis logic, ground entanglement occurs gradually. If Trump continues escalating without a reliable negotiation exit, he will find himself drawn into ground involvement. It starts with special forces, then support teams, specialized operations, defensive deployments, and eventually field presence and positioning that exceed his declared objectives. As long as Iran does not surrender, the scope of targets will continue to expand.

The man who built much of his legitimacy by mocking his predecessors’ “stupid wars” discovers that unchecked escalation brings him back to the very doorstep he promised his audience he would shut. Open wars drain great nations, wasting their political capital.

At that point, the true avengers will reveal their weapons. They will not be Tehran’s generals or soldiers in Khorramshahr, but rather Trump’s collaborators within America.

The main danger for Trump doesn’t lie in defeat, but in “imperfect success.” American voters don’t judge a president by maps, but by the bill: the dead, the spending, oil disruptions, unstable markets, and broken promises. In American politics, localized crises often escalate into full-blown domestic battles.

So far, Trump has offered 12 contradictory reasons for this war, set numerous shifting “deadlines,” and issued many vague threats. In doing so, he doesn’t fool his adversaries but confuses his allies and raises the cost of retreat. When a president becomes captive to his own image, he tends to escalate—not because it is the most viable option, but to uphold the gravitas of his words.

Meanwhile, crushed and weakened, Iran spirals toward total ruin under the weight of reckless ideological adventures, sacrificing its people for the “regime’s resilience” and deepening the uncertainty at its core. That too is an old formula for miscalculation.

The current American ground presence seems likely, but it appears to be the quickest path to a domestic crisis. It will never yield a clear American victory, yet it will strike at the very center of Trump’s political equilibrium.

When escalation and imperfect victory become strategic, ethical, and electoral burdens, his liberal opponents—and even allies within MAGA—will crucify him on the cross of crisis.

Politics offers no free gifts. Religious hypocrisy alone cannot shape fate. Whoever elevates themselves to the level of salvation also raises the ceiling of their own costs.