But this week brought America to the brink of an even worse state of affairs. The nation and the world came within a couple of hours, if not mere minutes, of a military conflict in Iran that had enormous potential to trigger a regional inferno in the Persian Gulf. The launch and recall of a U.S. strike on the Islamic republic was an inevitable next step in a policy that ripped up a working peace deal for a non-nuclear Iran and traded it for confrontation at the behest of Trump’s patrons — Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel — and to prove the “toughness" of the American autocrat. The rampant militarism and national pride of authoritarian governments is always a road to war. Do you really think Trump will turn out any different?