Pottery Barn Rule Out, Trump’s ‘I Broke It, You Fix It’ Rule In

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WASHINGTON – A quarter century after retired general and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell warned against invading Iraq by citing what became known as the Pottery Barn rule of “you break it, you own it,” President Donald Trump is unveiling his own motto for his war on Iran: I broke it, someone else can fix it.

In a social media post on Tuesday, followed up with statements to reporters, Trump is walking away from any responsibility for the global energy crisis he created when he attacked Iran 32 days ago, particularly Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a full fifth of the world’s oil flows.

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“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT,” Trump wrote in a morning social media post. “You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”

He subsequently told the New York Post that “the strait will automatically open” when the U.S. leaves the area and told CBS News that if other countries want the oil, they should just go get it. “Let them come up and take it. They didn’t want to give a hand to anybody. NATO is terrible, and they’re all terrible. So if they want oil, come up and grab it,” he said.

And in an Oval Office photo opportunity later in the afternoon, he said he would likely end the attacks in “two or three weeks” after destroying all the targets he wants to hit. “In a fairly short period of time, we’ll be finished,” he said.

The suggestion that he is ready to wash his hands of opening the strait to unfettered navigation contradicts what he promised on March 3 — “the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible. No matter what, the United States will ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD” — and again on Monday, when he demanded that Iran open the strait “immediately.”

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“It’s a major geopolitical failure,” said Robert Kagan, once a senior State Department official in the Reagan administration and now with the Brookings Institution.

“If Trump TACOs now, the net effect of the war will be to give China unprecedented influence in the Gulf, and therefore over the world economy,” he added, using the shorthand for “Trump Always Chickens Out” coined by Wall Street traders when he backed down from his massive tariffs a year ago. “Substantially worse than the status quo ante.”

While Powell specifically denied calling his advice the “Pottery Barn rule,” pointing to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as the originator of the phrase, he admitted to warning former President George W. Bush about the responsibility for nation-building after an invasion. (Pottery Barn does not actually have a “you break it, you buy it” policy.)

Trump, who campaigned as a critic of the war in Iraq and American nation-building efforts there and in Afghanistan, has largely avoided talking about improving the lives of everyday Iranians and has instead claimed that Iran was an imminent threat to the United States while pushing a might-makes-right goal of confiscating that country’s oil.

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His decision to start a major war without consulting any of America’s traditional allies has inflamed the nation’s relations with much of the world. In recent days, Spain and Italy have refused to let the U.S. use air bases on their soil for attacks on Iran, while France has forbidden the use of its airspace for military flights to assist Israel, which is also attacking Iran.

While Americans have seen gasoline prices jump a dollar a gallon and truck drivers are seeing increases of about twice that for diesel fuel, Trump’s war is wreaking even worse havoc around the planet. Egypt has ordered earlier closing hours for businesses. China has stopped exporting refined petroleum products. Sri Lanka has declared Wednesdays national holidays, while Slovenia has become the first member of the European Union to impose fuel rationing.

It’s unclear whether Trump knows or much cares about the effects on other countries. Thus far, he has claimed that he expected fuel prices to rise much higher and the stock market to fall much lower in the United States and that he expects gasoline prices to fall “like a rock” when the war is over.

Still, with air attacks likely to produce diminishing returns and with the only remaining alternative to escalate further by deploying ground troops, Trump may finally decide to declare victory.

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“I think Trump is looking for a way out, not for strategic reasons, but for domestic political reasons,” said John Bolton, a longtime advocate of forcing regime change in Iran and one of Trump’s first-term national security advisers. “That’s always a mistake.”

“I anticipate he walks claiming victory and says the Europeans and the Gulf states have to sort out the strait,” agreed Jim Townsend, an analyst with the Center for a New American Security and a former staffer at the Pentagon and NATO.

At this point, Kagan believes, an unwarranted declaration of victory may well be the least bad of the options available.

“Because he could also go in on the ground, lose lots of Americans, commit war crimes, and still end up with that result,” Kagan said. “On top of destroying the alliances.”

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