The Iran bombing shows how Trump creates chaos for others to create comfort for himself
The president seems to be running the nation by the seat of his pants, with lackeys playing catch-up as he romps giddily from one self-imposed crisis to the next.
“Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Those words, from President Donald Trump, reverberated in my mind when I learned Saturday he had ordered American forces to strike three sites that purportedly housed key elements of Iran’s nuclear program.
The American attack, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, involved B-2 stealth bombers, fighter jets, refueling tankers, and a submarine. Trump claimed in an address to the nation after the attack that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
Like many Trump statements over the years, that may not be true. Experts believe that Isfahan, where the majority of Iran’s nuclear material is assumed to be stored underground, suffered damage primarily to its aboveground structures.
Still, it’s not what Trump said after the strike that matters most to me.
From his endless barrage of social media posts, it’s clear Trump wants to leave the masses confused. However, that’s not the worst part. The truly terrifying thing is revealed in the answer he gave on Wednesday when he was asked if he planned to order the American military to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“You don’t seriously think I’m going to answer that question. Will you strike the Iranian nuclear component?” Trump said. “I may do it. I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Therein lies the problem. Nobody knows what Trump is going to do.
The president seems to be running the nation by the seat of his pants, with lackeys playing catch-up as Trump romps giddily from one self-imposed crisis to the next.
He seemingly creates chaos for others in an effort to create comfort for himself. He thrives in situations where his opponents are off balance, which is fine if you’re running a private business. However, when you’re the president, with the power to launch a world-altering attack like the strike on Iran, you shouldn’t be free to shape policy on a whim. You shouldn’t be empowered to operate in a vacuum. You shouldn’t be deciding the fate of millions of people on your own.
Yet, that’s what Trump seems to have done, all while engaging in a game of diplomatic sleight of hand.
The game began with the Trump administration starting negotiations in an effort to stop Iran from producing enriched uranium — a key element of a nuclear bomb. The talks quickly bogged down, as Trump complained about Iran’s “aggressive” stance and its refusal to compromise. Then, before talks could resume, Israel launched what it called a “preemptive strike” against Iran, with the stated goal of ending the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program.
The Trump administration, in a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, claimed that Israel had taken “unilateral action,” adding that American forces were not involved.
Yet, Trump wrote social media statements that seemingly took credit for the Israeli attacks, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said America and his country had been “fully coordinated” in the initial attacks.
As the double-talk continued, Trump claimed he would decide within two weeks whether he would direct American forces to attack Iran directly.
Trump didn’t wait two weeks. He gave the order within days, and since we don’t know whether Iran’s nuclear program was obliterated, as Trump claimed, there may soon come a time when American ground troops are called upon to fight in Iran.
These troops are America’s children, and no one should trust Trump to keep them safe, because the truest thing Trump has said in recent days is, “Nobody knows what I’m going to do.”