"People tend to talk big when they're insecure, spout nonsense when they're scared or panicked, and only start telling the truth when they calm down."

— Trump has perfectly played out the trilogy of human nature from the Iran war to now.
At first, he was so confident, boasting every day: "The Middle East bases have already surrendered! I wiped them off the map! I replaced their regime! 48-hour ultimatums! At most five days!" ... Typical panic-induced rambling. Even rogue imperialism can't escape human nature.
And what happened? After the Middle East bases were taken out, the Ford aircraft carrier in the fleet experienced both a toilet clog and a fire, Lincoln directly withdrew to over a thousand miles away, and the two major carrier groups ran faster than rabbits. Iran can control the Strait of Hormuz if it wants—Trump suddenly calmed down and said, "Who controls what, I’m leaving."
Even the U.S.'s most powerful assets like aircraft carriers can't rely on them now. And now they’re deploying two amphibious assault ships to land? Brothers, isn’t this just self-deception? What are they talking about? The carriers have already run away; how can the landing ships rely on them? Pure self-deception.
This war was originally a rush job, totally unprepared. Now, they’re still hard-headed, but also starting to lay the groundwork for retreat: "Win or lose, we’re pulling out." Clearly, they’re shifting the blame to Vance, hoping he’ll take the fall to keep the Republican Party's base intact.
Hegemonic bullies are the same—after using their three main tricks and getting counterattacked, they immediately reveal their true colors, caught off guard.
The Americans are fighting so abstractly.