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I am sure you’ve been reading about the so-called “Memorandum of Understanding” Donald Trump is signing to end his war of choice against Iran.

Only the “Understanding” reveals one indisputable fact: Trumps war was an unmitigated disaster.

Here are the critical points to which he has surrendered:

1) The Strait of Hormuz will re-open, but after 60 days Iran can charge “fees” for passage.

2) The US blockade will end immediately.

3) Iran reaffirms that it shall not seek or procure nuclear weapons.

4) The US Treasury Department will issue waivers and allow export of Iranian crude.

5) The U.S. agrees to work with regional partners to develop a $300 billion reconstruction account for Iran.

It is clear that the United States gets nothing but the Strait of Hormuz reopened that was already open before the war.

In regard to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Trump got less than the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the Obama administration negotiated in 2015 in which Iran agreed “never to seek, develop, or acquire” nuclear weapons, and also to allow regular unannounced inspections by international monitors, an agreement Trump nullified.

Trump also agreed to Iran selling its oil unimpeded, plus receiving its unfrozen assets that will be 300 times those Obama released.

All things considered, then, what Trump did was to start a war that has resulted in the second defeat the U.S. has suffered in our history, Viet Nam being the first, at the hands of a much smaller nation with a much weaker military.

So, yes, any way you evaluate it, this war was an unmitigated disaster.

But as bad as that is, and it is very bad, here is something you may not know that is worse. The overwhelming majority of Republicans stand solidly behind Trump’s war of choice: 85% according to the Quinnipiac University and Marist Polls. YouGov puts that number at 67%.

Now let that one sink in for a minute.

Interpret those numbers any way you may want, but the unequivocal message they convey is that Republicans today care much more about their party than they do about their country.

Of course, Republicans will counter that Democrats would do the same thing if it was a Democratic president, and they would be wrong.

Democratic President Lyndon Johnson escalated US involvement in the war in Viet Nam between the North and the South under false pretenses in 1965, just as Trump did in Iran.

The escalation grew dramatically, creating such a furor in the nation, and within the Democratic Party, that he was forced not to seek re-election in 1968.

That will never happen to Trump because Republican voters and Republican members of Congress support him no matter what he says or does.

The consequence of that level of partisanship is that it emboldens Trump to do whatever he chooses to do whenever he chooses to do it. The war against Iran is a sad and tragic example.

Republican support for Trump’s war, and the support they will ultimately give to the defeat and surrender he will try to spin to his advantage, means that the American political landscape has significantly changed.

We no longer have two major parties seeking to do what is best for the country from different perspectives on the role of government. Instead, we now have a Republican Party that will do what is best for Donald Trump before anything else.

This is precisely what polling data shows. 71% to 86% of Republicans approve of the job Trump is doing as president while only 36% of all Americans do.

Instead of an independent Republican Party of many voices to whom various factions listen, what exists today is a Republican Party under the complete and absolute control of one man who commands such loyalty that Republican voters are willing to support whatever he does, even starting a war that should have never been fought and one we ended up losing.

These are not ordinary times.

I confess I don’t understand how Republicans can so willingly sacrifice the nation’s interests and lose their own souls in the process to someone as disgusting as Trump.

What I do understand very well is that it is bringing shame on our country, and, unless Republicans suffer a major defeat in November, may well bring an end to the institutions that formed the Republic we as a people once pledge to make into a more perfect union.