According to some sources, the world is now ending because President Trump declared a ceasefire in the Iran war. The Iranians won. We’re all going to be speaking Persian. The IRGC is going to preside over the entire Middle East. Or — President Trump is doing something smart, and people are deliberately misunderstanding. America has to be strong. That’s been President Trump’s message the entire time he’s been running for office. And it will be strong. It was Trump’s message in 2016. It was his message in 2020. It was his message in 2024. It is his message today. And that’s what his legacy will have to be if he is to have any legacy at all: A stronger America. Period. That’s what Americans want. It’s a revitalized vision of America as the global leader, the strongest power on Earth, which means two things: First, America as the free leader of the world, with robust free speech, a strong social fabric, and a booming economy filled with innovation. And second, the leader of the free world, as the dominant military power, capable of deterring threats and ensuring freedom of trade and American security, and the security of our allies across the planet. That’s the vision. That’s what America ought to look like. This is what conservatives have always thought. That’s what we think today. But that’s what President Trump’s enemies on the Right now oppose. They want a weaker America. They’re posing as America First. What they actually are is America Toast. They say it openly. They say all the time like they want America to retreat from the world; we’re already too weak; we’re bloated, and we’re falling apart, and that the best American future actually looks like France — a country declining, pathetic, amoral, addicted to welfare programs, importing mass labor from third world countries thanks to a ridiculously flabby welfare state. A social fabric that is no longer workable. These are the people who seem to think the best global future is one in which China and Russia run two-thirds of the planet.  Iran has been deeply wounded over the course of the last several weeks and brought low. The notion that Iran bestrides the Middle East like a colossus because they have the capacity to fire some drones at ships in the Strait of Hormuz is asinine. That doesn’t mean it’s not a problem. It is a problem. But this bizarre notion that Iran somehow is the big victor here is crazy, propagandistic nonsense. Let’s start with how much damage we’ve actually done to Iran at this point. Centcom Commander Brad Cooper stated yesterday: Less than six weeks ago, more than 50,000 of America’s sons and daughters in uniform launched Operation Epic Fury and embarked on a mission of profound consequence. We set out to dismantle the Iranian regime’s ability to project power beyond its own borders. And we clearly accomplished this task. Iran has suffered a generational military defeat. The United States and Israel systematically destroyed Iran’s ability to conduct large-scale military operations for years to come. This is correct. General Dan Caine described the extent of the Iranian defeat: Since the beginning of major combat operations, the United States Joint Force has struck more than 13,000 targets, including in that 13,000 more than 4,000 dynamic targets that popped up on the battlefield and were immediately addressed thanks to the exceptional command and control system and intelligence, acumen and agility of our joint force. Centcom forces destroyed approximately 80% of Iran’s air defense systems, striking more than 1,500 air defense targets. More than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities, 801 way attack drones for storage facilities. All of these systems are gone. We’ve devastated Iran’s command and control and logistical networks, destroying more than 2,000 command and control nodes and degrading their ability to target U.S. and friendly forces. I’ve been saying for weeks that no matter how the war ended, Iran has been truly crippled. The idea that barely surviving and pressuring the Strait of Hormuz is somehow a sign of Iranian strength is pure garbage. That’s a sign of Iranian weakness. They could have done this any time over the past 20 years. The reason they didn’t is because they understood it was basically the last gasp of a dying regime. The reason you try to seize global trading and alienate all the Gulf allies and China — which receives oil from the Strait of Hormuz — is because you are weak, not because you are strong; a last-gasp attempt to grab some sort of leverage. If what President Trump said when he announced the ceasefire is true. Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and outstanding issues such as nuclear development were being negotiated. He later said there will be no enrichment of uranium. If the president received a deal in which the nuclear program is finished, and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, that would be the end of the conflict. That’s been the president’s case for a long time. We have degraded their ballistic missile facilities. We have killed all the heads of the IRGC. We killed the Ayatollah. Their navy is gone. Their military has been heavily bombarded. When I say that this is a win-win, here is what I mean. There are a few good reasons why you do the ceasefire. First of all, you show goodwill that if the Strait were to reopen and Iran were to negotiate an end to its nuclear program, that would be the end of the war, which is what Trump has said from the beginning. He never called for regime change; he called for a difference in regime change behavior. Either they’re going to prove it, or they’re not going to prove it. This is also a signal to China. In the ceasefire negotiation, Pakistan is a cut-out for China. Pakistan is basically a Chinese proxy at this point. China was begging the United States to stop here because China has been deprived of some 37% of the oil that is coming through the Strait of Hormuz. They are the largest single recipient of all oil from the Strait of Hormuz. 33% of all of their oil imports come directly from the Strait of Hormuz. Thus, the United States, as a goodwill gesture to China, is offering Iran a path out. If Iran doesn’t show the goodwill to take it, what is China going to do? Is China going to be thrilled with the Iranians for continuing to choke off the Strait of Hormuz? The idea that Trump is going to give up the ghost, that he’s going to leave without achieving some status change in Iran’s nuclear approach, or that the control of the Strait is going to be left completely to the behest of the Iranians, beggars the imagination. It doesn’t make any sense because it cuts directly against the purpose of President Trump doing this, which is a stronger America. There would be a knock-on effect if Iran were able to maintain complete control over the Strait and the United States just walked away. Iran would be greatly weakened, but it would send some pretty bad messages, such that any country could talk the United States into abandoning core national interests over shutting down serious trade routes. China might take notice of that, because if China takes away the lesson that shutting off a trade corridor such as the Taiwan Strait — which carries 20% of all global maritime trade — is leverage against the United States sufficient to deter us from our core national interest, that’s a problem. It would also mean, because China is far stronger than Iran, that any country with a few drones and ballistic missiles and some geographic proximity to a choke point could wave off the most powerful force on planet Earth. And that would be very bad for President Trump’s legacy because in the near future, Iran could theoretically rebuild and then claim real victory over President Trump. The problem for Iran is that if they reopen the Strait, then they’re going to have to concede that they are very weak, and if they’re very weak, they might fall. The president of the United States has made it very clear that the United States has a lot of leverage here. We have economic leverage. We’ve got military leverage. What he’s trying to do is make sure the American people are safe and strike a deal that’s good for the American people.