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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / The Art of the Non-Deal

The Art of the Non-Deal

June 16, 2026 at 10:42 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Francis Fukuyama: “It is clear that Trump is being driven to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at virtually any cost by the domestic pressure from rising oil prices and inflation. Being unwilling to send ground forces to Iran, he has had few cards to play over the past six weeks to get further Iranian concessions. So he has chosen to back down and accept a return to the status quo ante from before he began the war on February 28.”

“The world will indeed be better off if the Strait is re-opened. Perhaps Trump’s hardcore MAGA supporters can be persuaded that he has negotiated a consummate deal and achieved a great victory. But everyone else will understand that the world’s most powerful country is being run by a feckless and ignorant president who will impose immense costs on both other countries and his own people if he thinks it will benefit himself.”

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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