Problems are piling high for desperate Donald Trump - he can't avoid it much longer

 Pressure is mounting on Donald Trump's and the United States's continued ability to wage war in the Middle East. The US president thought military affairs were so easy but is starting to find out that it is much more complex than he ever realised.

The Vietnam War draft dodger who recently posted an AI image of himself alongside Patton and MacArthur, began the year high on his own success. The capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro coming months after a bombing raid on Iranian nuclear facilities that the administration claimed had been "obliterated", left him feeling like an all conquering military mastermind but now the reality is starting to bite. Six months into the Iran war, Trump is looking for a way out, by any means, as problems grow like weeds all around him.

Last week, I wrote how the US administration had voluntarily tied its arms behind its back by firing thousands of missiles with no plan on how to replace them and the implications that has for the war and the world at large.

This week, reports emerged of US sailors attempting to throw themselves off the side of US aircraft carriers in the Gulf as they crumble under the strain of a record-breaking prolonged deployment with no end in sight.

USS Abraham Lincoln has spent more than 250 days and it hasn't made a port call in 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea. So it's no wonder mental health episodes amongst crew, shortages of basic supplies, water contamination and plumbing issues have blighted the aircraft carrier.

Not only is the impact on the 5,000 sailors onboard foreseeable, it strikes at the heart of the US administration's outlook on defence.

For all the bluster about "looking after American warfighters" blah blah blah, Trump, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and the rest of the acolytes at the heart of the US government, increasingly see American troops as playthings whose primary existence is not to protect the US constitution but to further the ends of the wannabe strongman currently in residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Trump might still believe that he is untouchable but the problems are mounting quickly and in such a way that even an accomplished fact denier like Trump will be unable to dismiss them as "fake news".