Yeah that is kinda my point - like everyone remembers Vietnam as this awful humiliation for the US, and no mistake we did get humbled pretty bad, but our vital national interests were not seriously harmed by the loss. As evidence, ah, we won the Cold War and Vietnam is now friendly ish.

April 08, 2026 - 01:54 UTC

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This on the other hand is just an outright loss in terms of our sources of national power, global reputation, and concrete security interests.
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Yeah, I'd agree with you. I think I misread your original post as overplaying the loss in Vietnam. This - handing control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran - is such a gigantic own-goal its incomprehensible. But in classic Trump fashion *most* of the pain will fall on others.
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