prior to Russia launching an attack to take back Eastern Europe.

I don't believe Russia has the resources to take back Eastern Europe. If the reports are true, the war with Ukraine has seriously degraded their military assets. Degraded assets wouldn't necessarily stop them from trying but success is far from assured. On the other hand, I don't have a sense of just how far the Europeans would push given that Russia has nukes. They just may be content to play defense.

How many Americans will flee the US when Trump starts active conscription here?

Ironically, that may bring the war to an end sooner. It will be reminiscent of the 60's and its Vietnam War protests.

-- and didn't give the administration a chance to attempt to implement it. ...

I guess this means that the Trump administration can have the military roll up to polling places on Election Day and nothing can be done in advance to prevent it. By then it will be to late. The damage will have been done!

TWINPAC

I think the Iranians know enough about him now to know that even though he may withdraw, it won't be shamefaced and defeated. THEY will have to be the ones to attribute such attributes to his withdrawal/defeat. Some in the American media will amplify their claims as shipping through the strait returns to normal.

Some of the biggest losers in this will be the oil producers in the Middle East; the Saudi's especially. With Iran and Oman collecting tolls, Middle Eastern oil will become more expensive; especially compared to the Venezuelan oil expected to come online in a few years. Also, the frailty of the Middle Eastern oil supply is going to give a nudge to renewables and encourage the development of alternate sources. Either way, the world is done with dealing with the uncertainly of the oil supply emanating out of the Middle East.

To be clear, I am completely opposed to the US government owning private companies.

"Owning" a company is different than "having a stake in" a company. I have no problem with the government having an enduring stake in a company if the government has made an investment in the company. As with any investor, the government should expect a return on its investment other than the taxes paid by the company; taxes which the company will eventually try to avoid. If the company turns out to be successful, the government makes even more money than can be used to help the American people.

This is one of the few things that Trump has gotten right!

The warning not to attack any NATO countries would not have been necessary if Trump hadn't shown such contempt for NATO suggesting to Russia that the US was not 100% in lock step with its allies. Trump and his the people around him are such shallow thinkers. Its as if they act on impulse without giving any thought to 2nd and 3rd order effects of their actions.

He didn't have a choice. He was in a war that he couldn't win and therefore had to "declare" victory. His next move is to escort a few ships through the strait but to eventually withdraw allowing Iran and Oman to collect tolls all the while continuing to declare "mission accomplished". Enough of the faithful will believe him so satisfy his ego.

I hope all of those files have been digitized and the server(s) they are stored on backed up frequently. That will make it a bit more difficult for Trump to cart them away when his term ends.

Its the spending, anyone with half a brain can tell you that.

Spending is only half the problem. The other half is revenue; something conservatives don't want to discuss!

I heard some of the Q&A with Blanche this journalist failed in the response to his answer. It's as if the journalist was provided with a list of questions and was determined to get through the list without digesting the implications of the response. In this regard, the journalist is acting like a reporter. Journalists need to be more lawyerly when questioning members of the Trump administration. Not only must they anticipate a hostile "witness" they must be prepared with incite full follow up questions. In this case, then Blanche said that he can't proclaim that he would be independent of the president because the president may propose that he prosecute criminals and by being independent, he (Blanche) would not be upholding his oath of office. The immediate follow up should have been to site the failed prosecutions of Trump's political enemies, the former Olympian accused of vandalism, etc. Blanche should have also been queried as to whether or not the DOJ has a review process to determine if a person should be prosecuted (which of course they do) and to follow up with a question as to whether or not Trump's political enemies were subjected to the same process.

Journalists doing these interviews need to "game out" the various questions and responses so that they are better prepared to deal with the "to clever by half" lawyers for the Trump administration.