Miranda Devine writes for the New York Post about two “great” ideas related to President Donald Trump’s war on Iran.
As we enter the fourth week of the Iran war (or “excursion”), here are two great ideas about how to deal with some of the consequences — both from outside the Beltway.
In fact, right in New York.
One idea, unusually, is from longtime President Trump critic and former swamp creature Richard Haass, now back in his hometown.
The other is from Wall Street guru Larry Kudlow, Trump’s great friend and former economic adviser.
Both ideas are elegantly unconventional.
In his Substack last week, Haass took a moment from trashing the president to suggest an alternative to boots on the ground for the prickly problem of opening the Strait of Hormuz, where tankers carrying one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas are being throttled by Iran.
Don’t send the Marines in to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s principal export terminal — just close the Strait.
“Open for All or Closed to All” is the preferred option for Haass, a veteran Bush-era diplomat and former president of the Manhattan-based Council on Foreign Relations.
That way, China and India will be incentivized to pressure Iran to get it open. …
… Republicans have no chance of getting the 60 votes needed in the Senate for a new military spending bill.
Kudlow to the rescue.
He outlined a neat alternative on his Fox Business show on Friday: Shoehorn the Pentagon spending, as well as the Save America election integrity bill, into a new reconciliation bill that requires only 50 votes, plus the vice president.
Everything requires money, so with a bit of lateral thinking, you can justify putting just about anything you like into a Big Beautiful Bill 2.0.
“The cleverest minds in Congress should put their heads together and generate a strong reconciliation package that will keep our military might and maintain proper voting laws,” he said.
