At a time when the war in Iran is entering its second month, American President Donald Trump is sowing confusion due to his penchant for embellishments, exaggerations, and lies.
Among his contradictions, he claims that the United States is already winning the war but needs to send thousands of additional soldiers to the Middle East. He has criticized other countries for not helping Americans before declaring that he doesn’t need them. He has threatened to “reduce to ashes” Iranian energy facilities if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, while also claiming that the United States is not affected by this.
Leon Panetta, who has served under Democratic presidents as Secretary of Defense, CIA director, and White House chief of staff, stated that the truth is often the first casualty of armed conflict.
“This is not the first administration to not tell the truth about the war. But this president has made it an almost systematic approach. On all subjects, he lies in some way about what is actually happening and broadly describes that everything is fine and that we are winning the war,” Panetta said.
Michael Rubin, a historian at the American Enterprise Institute who worked as an advisor on Iran and Iraq at the Pentagon from 2002 to 2004, says that Mr. Trump is the first president in recent history not to be constrained by rhetorical limits.
“This creates quite a bit of confusion,” he says.
Permanent U-turn:
For his detractors, the president’s style is a sign of a lack of coherent long-term strategy. However, for him, these contradictions seem to be the desired outcome, a method that keeps his opponents – and virtually everyone else – constantly on edge.
This approach was evident this week, just hours before he announced the second extension of the deadline imposed on Iran to reopen the strait. Asked what he planned to do about this deadline, Donald Trump replied that he did not know and had one day left to decide.
“On Trump’s scale, one day, you know what that is, it’s an eternity,” he said, eliciting laughter from his ministers.
But investors are not impressed. American markets had their worst week since the beginning of the war. For some on Capitol Hill, this casual attitude is more frustrating than amusing.
Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, regrets that Trump “keeps changing his mind and contradicting himself.”
“The administration is winging it. How can we trust what the president says?” he asks.
Republicans’ concern is palpable as a two-week break in Washington approaches. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said his constituents supported what the president had done.
“But most of my constituents are just as, if not more, concerned about the cost of living,” he acknowledged.
Republican Chip Roy, who sits on the House Budget Committee, says his constituents agreed to “blow some stuff up.” He has reservations about the prospect of troop engagement on the ground, adding that the administration has not provided enough details during briefings for legislators. These sessions, he says, only reveal information that is “read in the newspapers.”
Risk of discontent:
Republicans support Trump, but there are risks of discontent.
A survey conducted this week by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that the president risks disappointing his supporters if the United States engages in the kind of prolonged war in the Middle East that he promised to avoid.
While 63% of Republicans support airstrikes against Iranian military targets, according to the survey, only 20% favor the deployment of American ground troops.
This reflects the political challenges awaiting Donald Trump, who has not prepared the country for such a large-scale overseas conflict. If the war drags on or escalates, the pressure on Republicans could increase before the November elections as their majority in Congress is threatened. Some party members have stated that sending ground troops would be a red line that the president should not cross.
The administration will likely also need Congress’s support to obtain an additional $200 billion to finance the war. This amount, which Mr. Trump described as “welcome,” even as he claimed the war was “coming to an end,” would face a tough vote under any circumstances. But it presents particular risks for budget-conscious Republicans in this election year.
