After President Donald Trump announced the end of America’s war on the Houthis in Yemen, Houthi officials declared on social media, “Yemen defeats America.” For once, this was not the idle boast of terrorists for whom survival, no matter the cost, is considered victory. Donald Trump lost in Yemen.
How so? After all, the US carried out more than 1,100 strikes, killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and destroyed weapons and equipment, according to White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. The president himself saw things more clearly. He said, “We hit them very hard and they had a great ability to withstand punishment.”
The Houthis are not substantially weakened and are not deterred. How so? The original American plan was for an eight-to-10 month campaign against the Houthis. But the US couldn’t do it. In one month, the US expended $1 billion in weapons and munitions, it lost seven American MQ-9 drones, it lost two F/A-18 Super Hornets, it had to deploy two aircraft carriers to the region, plus Patriot and THAAD air defense, plus B-2 bombers — all at the expense of America’s strength in the Asia-Pacific region.
One top of which, the US used up precision munitions at a clip that could endanger an American military response elsewhere, such as in Taiwan. On top of which, the Houthis almost took out American F-16s and F-35 fighter jets. On top of which, the Truman aircraft carrier was almost hit.
Not to mention, along the way, Defense Secretary Hegseth put US military personnel at risk by sharing operational plans on a chat and the (then) National Security Adviser Mike Waltz shared this with a journalist.
The lessons here are clear and discouraging:
The US is not prepared to wage a single war long-term, let alone more than two wars at one time.
The US underestimates the sheer hatred that motivates terrorists.
The US has a short memory: the Saudis attacked the Houthis for years without winning, and Trump told his staff to take care of everything in 30 days.
President Trump’s off-the-cuff, reflexive style of leadership doesn’t always work. After 30 days at war with Yemen, Trump expected a complete victory. When it didn’t happen, he stopped, leaving his ally, Israel, in the lurch. Remember: Israel provides more intelligence to the US than all European countries combined. Israel needs the US — but the US also needs Israel.
More negative fallout from Trump’s off-the-cuff style: He turns on Ukraine’s leader in a brutal White House meeting — and to what end? Has Putin comes to the negotiating table? Has Putin even agreed to a 30-day truce? Has Putin stopped fighting? The answer to all three of these questions is no. That leaves President Trump, who entered office promising to end two wars in short order (Ukraine and Gaza), not having ended even one.
What seems to emerge here is a great discrepancy between Trump’s rhetoric and reality.
He will completely annihilate the Houthis, he says, but when it doesn’t work out this way, Trump folds, either because he has to (insufficient materiel) or because he’ll take a short-term gain without consideration for long-term consequences (with Israel).
Trump will bomb Iran like it’s never seen, he says, but when Israel is prepared to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump says no and heads to the negotiating table with nary a thing more to show for it than former President Biden’s interminable, sterile negotiations.
There are other discrepancies. The primary one on our minds: Is Trump’s support for Israel solid?
He heads to the Middle East on his first foreign trip abroad and asks Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel, but doesn’t go to Israel himself. He restores the steady flow of munitions to Israel, which Biden had slow-walked, but leaves Israel exposed to Houthi missiles (which, among other things, have shut down almost all air travel to Israel and radically reduced tourism and its economic benefits).
He boasts of liberating an Israeli-American hostage — surely a wonderful thing for which he deserves credit —but leaves open the question: If he supposedly has all this sway with Hamas, why did he settle for a single hostage released? Why did he not insist, at a bare minimum, on the release of the dead bodies of four other American hostages whom Hamas kidnapped and murdered? And why not more hostages? For a person who calls himself the supreme dealmaker on a global scale, the release of a single hostage doesn’t seem like much of a deal.
Perhaps the most basic question that remains is this: Will the Houthis no longer harm American ships? If they do stop, but continue to attack Israel and Israel-related ships, and if this leads to a greater military confrontation between the Houthis and Israel, then what?
After Trump launched 1,100 strikes on the Houthis and then commended them for their great ability to withstand punishment, Trump went on to say, “You could say there was a lot of bravery there.”
Is this the message that needs to be sent to Islamic terrorists? Is this a sign of presidential leadership? Is this a reassuring word for Israel and for all democratic and peace-loving peoples?
© IJN 2025
