McCullough's analysis, such as it is, has two problems: one is Trump's mercurial personality, which hardly supports the notion of steady resolve, particularly with his eye on the mid-terms. The other is that so long as Trump does not switch the goal to regime change, and put some sort of boots on the ground, maybe arming regional militias rather than committing American forces, maybe judicious commitment of US troops, they can almost certainly hold on until inauguration day in 2028, when they will most likely get either the uber-isolationist J.D. Vance or a business-as-usual democrat as their counterpart in America, vindicating their strategy.