In comments to reporters at the White House asking about the possibility of the US launching war against Iran, President Trump would only say “I hope not.” He did not elaborate on this, and other media reports which would seem to verify this position were quickly disavowed.
After over a week of US escalation and talk of war, President Trump has rarely spoken publicly about the matter, threatening to see Iran “suffer greatly” on Twitter but otherwise letting John Bolton and Mike Pompeo handle things.
On Thursday, however, reports emerged from the New York Times that Trump had told Patrick Shanahan he didn’t want the war, and then in the Washington Post told his top advisers that he prefers a diplomatic approach and was not convinced the time is right for war.
These stories both seemingly emphasize that he’s not rushing to war, but on Twitter, Trump angrily declared them the “Fake News Washington Post, and even more Fake News New York Times,” and insisted that he is very decisive on all issues, including on Iran, apparently precluding close aides from mistaking what the policy is.
Which is a problem, because everything coming out of the mouths of those aides would indicate that the US is practically already in the process of launching an Iran War, a conflict a number of US allies are very concerned about.
Again, there is simply a big gap here between the two versions of the story, that Trump doesn’t want a war, but that Trump is also making it very clear what he wants, and his advisers are all acting like that’s war.
Again, it’s a waste of time to try to decode Trump’s intentions from his tweets, which are entirely self-serving and based on whatever he feels at the moment after having read some news in some media somewhere. It’s irrelevant. Trump basically has no “intentions” – he just has reactions.
No one knows precisely to what degree he is under the thumb of his advisers. We know he’s not well-informed and his advisers keep him that way so he can be manipulated easily. His actions in Syria prove that. It appears he basically goes along with whatever his advisers say but occasionally demands something happen that they can’t directly refuse him, but then undermine his request. The negotiations with North Korea seem to reflect that pattern. He continues to talk about rapprochement with Russia but nothing actually happens in that direction except more sanctions.
Add to that the fact that Trump is clueless about the Middle East and it’s clear nothing can be gained by reading tweets or random statements to the press.
The main point is that no one can be certain what he’ll do once shots are being fired in some false flag incident organized under his nose by the Israelis and the CIA. Except we know it’s extremely likely he will support Israel no matter what and it’s clear he doesn’t like Iran. That’s a bad combination.
Is he pulling leaves from a daisy? War-No War-War-No War…..
We have a vacillating captain on the bridge. Bad.
Also:
No agreement yet with North Korea. Pilot error.
No regime change in Venezuela. Pilot error.
No trade agreement with China. Pilot error.
Let it be clear. A war with Iran will be another pilot error. It will have nothing to do with “Deep State” because only Donald Trump can order attacks on Iran. He is the pilot. Only Donald Trump can order the deployment of US military forces. Bolton cannot. Pompeo cannot.
A war with Iran will be 100% Trump’s war.
This is what you get when you elect a trust-fund kid turned tabloid fodder turned reality TV star with a fragile ego to be your President. He’s never run a successful business, he’s never successfully managed anything, he’s only good at creating a spectacle. Left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing, don’t trust the media – just listen to ME.
Reality-disconnected Trump Derangement Syndrome. The guy’s a billionaire. Made and lost and made again billions. Seek professional help. (Or just wait till 2024.)
Please. He dug himself into holes of debt from which he had to raise vast amounts of capital with an even bigger boondoggle over and over again until his TV job eventually saved him. I will grant him there is some kind of talent in that though.
Talent ? Perhaps, that’s what congress is trying to find out.
He claims to be a billionaire. He won’t release his tax forms. He famously lost over a billion dollars in a ten year time span, which allowed him to not pay taxes for a long period as he claimed his losses against any gains. Does a trust fund baby who inherits an NYC based real estate business from his daddy and then loses an average of $100 million dollars a year over ten years in a relatively small (small, vs a conglomerate like GE or WalMart losing 100 mil) business sound like a success story?
Do you believe any schmuck who claims to be a billionaire?
“I hope not” ? Crap. So I hold a gun to someone’s head then say, I hope it doesn’t go off ? Get out of town, way out.
I think Trump couldn’t commit until we stop moving assets into the region. Hard to flat out say no when you still aren’t done provoking.
So the “Commander in chief” has no idea how to stop his bully boys and the “free media” from destroying another sovereign nation???
btw Iran has clearly explained the likely real alternative!
If there is war it is definitely on Trump. He put these bozos in charge and those bozos answer to higher and longer lasting forces than the President himself. He will have basically have painted himself into a corner.