Trump’s Exploding Boats Scheme BACKFIRES - Then It Gets Worse!

Right, so Donald Trump has declared himself guardian of the Strait of Hormuz.Guardian. Protector. Toll collector. Apparently the man saw one of the world’s most dangerous shipping lanes, made dangerous by him of course and thought, yes, what this needs is branding.And a fee, bearing mind Iran was told it couldn’t do that. The orange one has decided he can though. Small thing Donnie, you still don’t control the Strait, but let’s no stop him from hoisting himself by his own demented petard.A 20% fee, no less, because naturally, if there is one thing global trade has been crying out for, it is Donald Trump standing at the mouth of the Persian Gulf with a clipboard and a card reader.But there is one other, rather significant problem with this idea, aside from the idea Trump would have a scooby about how to operate a card reader, he’s more likely to chew it I fancy, and quite aside from the whole who is in control here angle.Hardly anybody is crossing the Strait.MarineTraffic tracked only two tankers completing passage during one twenty-four-hour period. Two. Trump says the strait is open, Trump says America controls it, Trump says America is protecting it, but the ships appear to have missed that memo.Then two UAE-linked tankers were struck, one sailor was killed, eight more were injured, Trump’s scheme has been called piracy and not by who you might expect, and America’s latest contribution to maritime safety involved sending exploding robot boats towards Bandar Abbas.So yes, Trump’s Hormuz protection racket has suffered two fairly substantial blows.The ships don’t trust it.And quite a lot of the world think Trump is doing his best impression of a bright orange Blackbeard.