Trump set off a 'shockwave' that will plunge America into recession: ex-GOP operative

Donald Trump launched his Iran war alone — and now, according to a scathing new analysis, every American is about to pay the price.

Political analyst and former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt argued in a new Substack column Friday that Trump's decision to attack Iran will wallop the economy, and America got nothing in return for it.

"The consequences of Trump’s decision — made by him alone — have set off an inflationary shockwave that will sink the American economy into recession for the achievement of establishing Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz," he wrote.

Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz was an international waterway through which 20 percent of the world's oil and 20 to 30 percent of its fertilizer flowed freely. Now, Schmidt wrote, it has become an "IRGC toll road," a chokepoint controlled by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces who are charging ships fees to pass through in Chinese yuan and cryptocurrency.

Iranian sovereignty over the strait, Schmidt argued, is the only concrete result of a war that Trump launched after polling his advisers one by one in the Situation Room — without Vice President JD Vance or intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard even present.

The economic consequences have cascaded, with energy costs spiking and oil markets rattled. The 400-tanker bottleneck persisting in the Gulf shows no sign of clearing.

"Their collective incompetence is exceptional, historic and truly unprecedented across American history," he said. "Never has so much idiocy been witnessed so clearly, quickly and easily. It is truly mind-boggling."