Trump's latest rant spells 'beginning of the end of the US': conservative commentator

A prominent conservative journalist and commentator was taken aback by President Donald Trump’s latest rant Tuesday morning, going as far as to say that the president’s remarks marked “the beginning of the end of the U.S. empire.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump erupted at the United Kingdom over its refusal to join the United States in its war against Iran. Writing on social media, Trump told the United Kingdom to “build up some delayed courage” and “take” control of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route where Iran has restricted access to U.S.-aligned vessels, and that the United States has been unable to re-open by itself.

Saagar Enjeti, a conservative journalist, commentator and podcast host, said Trump’s rant marked a major turning point for the United States.

“This unironically then is the beginning of the end of the US empire,” Saagar wrote Tuesday in a social media post on X to their more than 514,000 followers. “Militarily unable to collapse the Iranian regime from the air, sparking a global energy crisis for critical US allies and then telling them to go and fix the crisis we created.”

The U.S. war against Iran has reportedly sparked panic within the Trump administration as oil prices continue to surge and the administration’s war objectives appear increasingly out of reach.

While the Trump administration had initially sought to topple the Iranian government and prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon, achieving such goals has gone on to become “unlikely,” according to U.S. and Israeli officials who spoke with The Washington Post, with re-opening the Strait of Hormuz – which was open to U.S.-aligned vessels prior to the war – emerging as the war’s new “paramount objective.”

Trump has reportedly moved to consider ending the war without re-opening the Strait of Hormuz, administration officials revealed, speaking on the condition of anonymity.