Regardless of whether or not the Iran deal was a good one or a bad one, which could be debated ad nauseam, it is obvious the Donald’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the deal had absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the agreement or if Iran was violating its terms, as Trump claimed, without proof, in his announcement. The reason the Orange Monster pulled the U.S. out of the deal was because it had been negotiated by the Obama administration.

That was the reason and the only reason for Trump’s decision. There were no other considerations made. He did not evaluate whether it would be better for the U.S. and the world to stay in or exit. He made no evaluation of the consequences for U.S. and world businesses, or the political and economic consequences for the Middle East. Such considerations, which assume a measure of prudence and thought on behalf of the orange man do not and have never entered the vacuum of Mr. Trump’s brain.

Trump is obsessed by one thing, other than the gratification of his third leg and his narcissistic ego, and that is to eviscerate any memory, any vestige of the fact that the United States had a black man as its head of state. It’s as simple as that.

The political pundits can pontificate all they want about Trump’s actions, speculating about what geopolitical considerations might have been weighed in the decision of whether or not to remain a part of the Iran deal, but one salient fact remains: Trump squashed the Iran deal because it had been considered a foreign policy triumph of President Barack Obama.

Before Trump became President he vowed to scuttle the Iran deal without explaining why or citing anything particular about the deal that he found so objectionable. All he would say was that it was a very bad deal. He said the same thing regarding the Trans-Pacific Trade Pact (TPP), which he exited as one of his first orders of business upon entering office. Scuttling that deal gave China the green light to go ahead with its military ambitions in the region and to force the Pacific Rim countries, especially in Southeast Asia, who have a long resentment of China, to heel to China’s dictates.

The whole purpose of the TPP, again negotiated by the Obama administration, was to present a buffer to Chinese ambitions. Now, that buffer is gone. An opportunity to check China and exert American, western, liberal, democratic influence was wasted. And why? Because Mr. Trump could not stand the fact that the agreement had been negotiated by a black man. Was the agreement perfect? No, but no agreement ever is. It was, however, a solid effort to maintain American influence in Asia, which would have been good for the American economy and, obviously, the other signatory countries believed it would have been good for them and their economies as well.

The truth is Trump is quite simple to figure out and to predict what he will do. If you happen to have black or brown-skin, you can pretty much figure he will do anything he can to make your life miserable. His entire life has been spent in opposition in some fashion to people of color. In his mind, which is a generous term in his case, the fact of a black President was an intolerable affront to his conception of what the make-up of U.S. society should be. For Trump there is only one American society and that is a white society. Anyone who isn’t white is considered an interloper and not wanted. Trump’s primary motive and focus since gaining the throne of the American presidency has been the systematic expunging of any evidence that the country was once led by a person of color. Pulling the U.S. out of the Iran deal is only just the latest example of that obsession.

What will be the result of Trump’s latest strike against the legacy of President Obama? Certainly, it will not sit well with the Iranian government and people, and if the U.S. sanctions Trump re-imposed by his decision are adhered to by a good portion of the developed world, the Iranian people will definitely suffer, engendering ill will in their hearts toward the U.S. government, and, yes, toward its people. If Trump’s objective as some pundits argue is to effect regime change in Iran, think again. The current Iranian government and governing structure will not go gently into the night. Don’t forget, the current Iranian theocracy is a direct product of decades of American interference in Iran prior to 1979 and its support for a corrupt, ruthless, and very unpopular regime there, notably the Shah Reza Pahlavi. Like elephants the Ayatollahs and their surrogates, who rose up against the Shah in 1979 and have maintained control of the country ever since, have very long and bitter memories and will not take kindly to any effort to oust them from their perch of power and control.

Will Iran resume its nuclear ambitions? It’s quite possible, especially if the European countries adhere to the sanctions. What incentive would Iran have at that point to not resume its nuclear program? Will that make the world safer? With conflict between Israel and Iran in Syria escalating, there will only be further incentive for Iran to double-down on its efforts to perfect its nuclear capability, putting not only Israel in danger but the entire region, the consequence of which could easily spread throughout the world and to an inevitable catastrophic world-wide nuclear conflict.

As a result of the Iran deal negotiated by European countries and the United States under the Obama administration, there was at least the beginnings of some dialogue between the U.S. and Iran as well as the opening of commerce between the two countries, always a helpful mechanism to keep the bombs at bay. Now, that dialogue will end. American companies that had secured contracts for their products with the Iranian government will lose those contracts, costing them billions and costing thousands of jobs. How does that make America great again when it’s nominal leader effectively harms the interests of its own manufacturers?

And what of American influence in the Middle East? Like it or not Iran is a major player there. It cannot be ignored. Trump’s decision to snub Iran will not convince that country’s leaders to sit down with or listen to U.S. negotiators; quite the contrary. And where there is a vacuum of American influence it will be filled by other players, notably Russia and China that will have long-term repercussions for American business interests and influence in the Middle East.

And all of this could happen because of one man’s fixation and enmity toward people who happen to have more melanin in their skin than he does. If it weren’t so absurd, it might actually be comical. Unfortunately, there is nothing funny about someone with such odious ideas and beliefs who has so much power to influence so many people’s lives and so adversely. There is only one word to describe such a situation: tragic.