Michael Savage Told Trump How to End the Iran War. Here's what Trump Did 

On his 84th birthday, conservative radio host Michael Savage used his syndicated show to do something unusual even by his standards: deliver a direct, public message to the president of the United States on how to end a war.

"We must advise President Trump as follows," Savage said on air. "Declare victory. Work out a minor deal. Don't do the uranium enrichment deal right now."

He went further, arguing that Iran's nuclear material was buried so deep underground, damaged by last year's B-2 bomber strikes, that it would take Iran years to reconstitute it. There was no urgency, he said, to resolve the enrichment question now. Declare victory, withdraw, keep negotiating quietly before the midterms. If Iran didn't come to the table, "then you go in after the election and you blast them into the stone age."

He also took a swipe at whoever was whispering in Trump's ear pushing for a harder linem a "talk show host," he said pointedly, who he accused of cozying up to the president at events. Coming from a talk show host advising the president on live radio, the irony was apparently lost on no one.

So did Trump listen?

Partly.

Trump did declare victory, loudly and repeatedly. He announced a "great deal" to end the war, touted what the U.S. military destroyed, and framed the agreement as a historic win. The immediate ceasefire Savage called for is materializing: Iran's Supreme National Security Council confirmed that military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, will end immediately and permanently, and that the naval blockade against Iran will end as well. A signing ceremony is set for Switzerland on Friday.

But on the uranium enrichment question, the very issue Savage said to leave alone, Trump went ahead and engaged it directly. In an interview with the New York Times, Trump said Iran would be permitted low-level nuclear enrichment. The draft memorandum of understanding includes commitments from Iran to never pursue nuclear weapons and to negotiate over a suspension of its uranium enrichment program and the removal of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

That's a long way from "don't touch it now."

Savage's broader instinct, that Trump should get out, claim the win, and revisit the harder questions later, does seem to capture at least the spirit of what happened. Critics and analysts have noted that the deal does not resolve critical issues, which have been set aside for further negotiations, and that the hawks can take comfort in the fact that Iran is far weaker militarily than when the conflict began.

But the enrichment framework is very much on the table, and critics, including from Israel and the UAE, the two countries Savage specifically said were pressuring Trump, are watching closely whether what's been agreed will hold.

Savage himself had broken with Trump earlier this year over the Iran conflict, asking publicly on his birthday broadcast, "He ran on the platform of no wars. And now we have a war. Who is whispering in his ear?" Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Laura Ingraham have raised similar concerns from the America First wing.

It's a strange political moment: the populist right, long the loudest cheerleaders for tough-on-Iran posturing, now finds itself urging restraint, while Trump, the self-styled dealmaker, pushes to get something signed before the midterms.

Savage wanted Trump to wait. Trump wanted a deal. Somewhere in the middle, a ceasefire was born.