If I learned anything growing up in the Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s it is this: When someone says they are going to kill you, you should believe them. Iranian leaders have been vowing, “Death to America” for four decades. Successive presidents have striven mightily to not only ignore their declaration but also to maintain it lacked the solemnity of true intent.

Why else would the smartest president ever, Barack Obama, through his sham legacy foreign policy accomplishment, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agree to cede Iran a secured path to developing nuclear weapons?

As a corollary, it is almost an aphorism to state that when someone keeps pushing, at some point, you must push back, or attrition will be your fate.

In this, the simplicity in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s combination statement/oath uttered in reference to an obscure phone call about military aid can’t be beaten. He said, “Nobody pushed me.”

Trump exercises great forbearance when it comes to military response. He did so with Iran. Even as it ratcheted up its provocations, he exercised due discretion. But Iran crossed a line, and nobody pushes Trump. When Iran killed an American, Trump killed dozens. In response, they tried to overrun our embassy and Soleimani became a smear on a road to historical infamy.

Qassem Soleimani was in a Baghdad meeting with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of Kataib Hezb'allah, his new pet militia -- mere miles away from our embassy, and immediately subsequent to the militia’s test-assault. They were there to plot and execute more terrorist attacks on America. Democrats ignore this.

One of these planned attacks was rumored to be a full-scale takeover of the embassy, as in Iran in 1979. Incidentally, 1979 was the year Iran began its war on America.

Democrats like to pretend Obama didn’t spend eight years burning down the world: Barry invited Russia back into Syria (after a 25-year absence); gave Syria to Iran and Russia; destroyed Libya (without congressional authorization); gave Iraq to Iran, while guaranteeing Iran a nuclear weapon (in a few years) through the JCPOA non-treaty; as well as financing its worldwide terrorism network (run by Soleimani) with a $150 billion gift. Plus, $1.4 billion in pallets of cash was paid as ransom for the return nine kidnapped and humiliated American sailors.

They also ignore that it was Barry who opened the floodgate of “refugees” and potential terrorists, now raping and pillaging their way across Europe, perhaps culturally transforming the continent forever (Barry was always big on “transformation”).

It’s almost as if Obama was working for Iran.

Trump’s assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis was a brilliant tactical move. Done on a quiet road near the Baghdad International Airport to minimize collateral damage, it was a decapitation of Iran’s military; it was Iran’s “Yamamoto Moment.”

Soleimani commanded the IRGC’s Quds Force, which is the primary instrument of control in Iran’s attempt at regional hegemony by establishing a Shiite Crescent land bridge to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as its weapon of choice to foment terror and exercise control over its satrapies, Lebanon, Syria, and now, Iraq.

General David Petraeus called Soleimani “our most significant and evil adversary.” He also said Soleimani’s elimination was bigger than bin Laden and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

After all, Baghdadi died like a dog in a cave after the demise of his “caliphate” and bin Laden was in hiding, spending his final days surfing the net for kiddy porn. Soleimani was king of the terrorist world. Yet as “austere” and “revered” Soleimani might have been, it didn’t matter to Trump, he counterpunched the Quds leader down the chute to hell.

Trump does not lead from behind, he kicks behind. With the killing of Soleimani, Trump has given notice to the mullahs that there will be no more tit-for-tat because from now on, America will do the escalating.

Somewhere across the globe Ali Khamenei and Kim Jong-un are destroying the SIM cards from their cell phones.

Of course, the Democrats and the media, having copyrighted the slogan, “Death to America” didn’t see it that way. The Democrats’ sole interest is partisan political advantage, no matter how damaging to America. And the media’s sole interest is advancing the interests of the Democratic Party.

They are up in arms about Congress not being notified before the attack. Yet, everyone knows that had Trump notified Congress, there would have been several Democrats on the phone to the ayatollah within minutes.

They’ve called the killing a “dangerous escalation.” Dismissing the fact that Iran has been waging war on America for 40 years, they claim America will now be subject to vicious Iranian reprisals.

Spengler says it best:

“Iran revealed part of its strategic capability in September when Iranian infiltrators used ground-hugging cruise missiles and autonomous drones to destroy Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia. Iran tested its “Khorramshahr “ missile with an estimated 2,000-kilometer range in 2017. It is not known how effective the weapon is or how many Iran possesses. It is possible that Iran has enough ordnance to swamp American anti-missile defenses at its Doha airbase or to overcome the air defenses on an American warship in the Persian Gulf.”

He added this:

“[Iran’s] September attack on Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia exposed the weakness of US air defenses. The Patriot anti-missile system can’t shoot anything flying lower than 60 meters, and Iran has low-flying cruise missiles. A successful strike against Doha certainly figures in American calculations.”

But he also noted the potential options available to Trump:

“If Iran were to attack Doha, America’s response likely would be devastating. Two dozen missiles or bombing sorties could wipe out Iran’s economy in a matter of hours. Fewer than a dozen power plants generate 60% of Iran’s electricity, and eight refineries produce 80% of its distillates. A single missile strike could disable each of these facilities, and bunker-buster bombs of the kind that Israel used last month in Lebanon would entirely destroy them. Without much effort, the US could destroy the Port of Kharg from which Iran exports 90% of its hydrocarbons.”

Iran is a bully. Like every bully, it was testing America’s limits -- pushing to see how far it could go. They ate Obama’s lunch for eight years -- they expected to do the same with Trump. There is a valuable lesson from the investment realm Iran would do well to heed: “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”

And -- Trump is no Barack Obama.

Please follow the author on Twitter @williamlgensert