Trump’s 6 craziest Iran war statements

The president's own words reveal how badly he's mishandling the war he started on February 28.

War is a good time for the American president to deal straight with the public, convey a sense of mission and lead the nation in a cause people can believe in.

Well, that’s the way it used to be. Donald Trump is a different kind of president, so the Iran war he launched on February 28 includes the same dissembling and incoherence that characterize the rest of the Trump presidency. If it wasn’t a war, it would be funny.

Since it is a war, Trump’s lies and dodges affect trillions of dollars’ worth of assets every day, with investors parsing Trump proclamations for clues on whether the war will end soon or drag on. Asset prices soar and plunge on Trump pronouncements that turn out to be feints.

A majority of Americans opposed the war from the outset, probably because Trump did nothing to explain why it was necessary or worth any sacrifice. Opposition seems likely to grow as gas prices pass $4 per gallon, a stock slump persists and the costs of the war seep deeper into everyday life.

As the war enters its second month, it’s obvious Trump didn’t anticipate or plan for the trouble Iran would be able to cause. These six statements capture Trump’s shoddy handling of the war, and hint at the messy outcome that might be coming:

Imminent threat: “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.”

This was the second sentence of Trump’s February 28 statement announcing that the war had begun. It puzzled analysts at the time because Iran has no weapons that can reach the United States and there was no reason to think a terrorist attack was in the offing.

[$4 gas hurts, but not like it used to]

It’s clear now that this was a bogus justification for attacking Iran. Joe Kent, a top Trump counterterrorism official, resigned in mid-March in opposition to the war, writing in a statement, “Iran posed no immediate threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel.”