Being the avid sports fan that he is, President Donald Trump ought to see that what the Iranians are doing to him is what boxing great Muhammad Ali did to George Frazier 52 years ago.
That was when the two fighters met in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle” to slug it out for the heavyweight championship of the world.
Held in Kinshasa, Zaïre (now the Democrat Republic of the Congo), on October 30, 1974, it was a great sporting event that was watched by a billion people around the world.
Frazier at the time was the quiet undefeated reigning heavyweight champion known for his punching power. Ali was the slick, brash former champion who had been stripped of his title for refusing to be drafted during the Vietnam War.
Ali, the underdog, knocked out Frazier in the eighth round and regained the title.
The knockout came only after Ali had worn the heavy punching Frazier out through Ali’s controversial but effective defensive “rope-a-dope” boxing ring strategy.
This consisted of Ali covering up as he lay upon the ropes taking and blocking Frazier’s punches to the point where Frazier, not Ali, became weary, punched out and exhausted.
There is no way, of course, that the fanatical Islamist rulers of Iran can defeat the U.S. It is only a matter of time before they go down for the count, so to speak.
Meanwhile, though, they — what’s left of them — along with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) are still standing after taking punch after punch “rope-a-dope” style.
They no doubt hope that, like Frazier, Trump, or the U.S., will get tired of punching away, particularly as Iran will not go down the way Trump planned, but is still standing, wobbly as that stand is.
But it is obvious that the Iranian leaders are counting on outlasting Trump and hoping for another Joe Biden or Barack Obama-like president who they can con, as they have done in the past.
Meanwhile, the public has become critical of the war as gas prices continue to soar and Republicans face losing control of the House in the upcoming November Congressional elections.
As important as Trump’s goal to deny Iran access to a nuclear bomb is, Trump must end this war soon through diplomatic or military means, neither of which has worked so far.
Part of the problem is that he is dealing with third-string Iranian messianic leaders who are so deceitful that there is no lie detector invented they could not pass.
Another question is that if the Strait of Hormuz was open to international shipping before Trump launched his war on Iran, which was so successful, how is it that the Strait is now closed?
Trump’s initial goal, along with Israel, was to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program, which is a favor to the world, destroy its ballistic missile program, and halt its financing of terrorist proxies.
These are noble goals, worthy of American leadership and support.
But forgotten in all of this, and all the talk and confusion over “memorandums of understanding,” are the long-suffering Iranian people who were slaughtered in December by the thousands by their own government for protesting the regime.
“Help is on the way,” Trump promised in January after an estimated 40,000 were killed during the popular revolt against the regime.
Where is the help? They are still being killed.
How is it helpful to the Iranian people if Trump works out a deal with another set of murdering Islamist jihadist thugs still in charge?
Maybe Trump should mention the Iranian people in the next memorandum of understanding.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com