Unpacking Trump’s Rhetorical Flip-Flops on Iran

Yesterday I wrote that President Trump was withdrawing from his war in Iran. Then later this afternoon and last night he made a series of very bellicose and bombastic statements that the war is just beginning and that he could completely destroy Iran as a people, as a nation.

Today, I think Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told us the story because he’s now tailoring his daily briefing to Trump’s idea that this war is essentially over. A few more intense days and it will be over. So what’s going on here? I think we can really see this from oil futures. Oil rose dramatically over the weekend. I believe it briefly climbed to over $110 a barrel, then fell yesterday when Trump said the war is basically over, we’re going to wrap it up, and in anticipation of the G7 countries releasing oil reserves. Today this continues and it has fallen significantly below $80, so investors think Trump is making a taco here, i.e. Trump is still chickening out.