What if harsh and unprecedented sanctions against Russia and Turkey and Iran were just ratcheted up, on dramatic but irrational grounds?

What if the US mainstream media described these sanctions as good for US security, and as a sign of a maturing political leadership in the White House?

What if we had Congressional elections in November, and there was a chance of electing a wave of anti-Trump congressmen and women who would pursue impeachment hearings in 2019?

What if Vice President Pence was interested in growing the military industrial complex and fighting a war for the Holy Land?

What if an evolution of power in the Middle East led to a gold and oil backed understanding between Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Qatar that might compete with the more corrupt and decrepit alliance between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States?

What if infamous 2002-2003 fake-news and false intel purveyors like John Bolton, Doug Feith, Bill Luti, the Meyrev and David Wurmser were currently employed at the highest levels of the White House, advising Mr. Trump on his Middle East and security policies?

What if this guy, the founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), was being hired as a White House consultant?

What if we had a Secretary of State who understood the oil business, but we replaced him with a more combative and less trade-oriented Secretary of State?

What if the United States was now the third largest oil exporter in the world, and would somehow benefit from higher oil prices, brought on by embargos, sanctions on competitors, and disruption of sea lanes and pipelines?

What if two carrier battle groups were being deployed this month to the Straits of Hormuz?

What if the UK had already doubled its Naval presence at Diego Garcia?

What if, for the first time since the 1991 invasion of Iraq, Saudi Arabia offered major facilities and housing to US military forces, including these inbound Navy and Marine contingents?

What if, unlike in 1991 and the events that brought Osama bin Laden to the fore as a force opposed the US and Saudi policy in the Middle East, the Saudi Regime had just recently purged its house and consolidated its political control?

What if that same regime was dangerously mired in a war on its southern border to re-unify Yemen under Saudi satrapy and consolidate control over the Port of Aden?'

What if the longstanding western media blackout of the Saudi war in Yemen were to begin to unravel, and this humanitarian crisis could be used to justify a US-led regional military effort?