Why Donald Trump Doesn’t Want to Talk About the War in Iran
There are several possible explanations for this: Perhaps Trump is already war-weary and finds weeks-old interviews from the Democratic governor of California’s book tour more interesting. Or maybe he’s worried that after years of promising to avoid the stupid and unnecessary screw-ups of former U.S. leaders in the Middle East, the conflict with Iran simply isn’t popular among his most die-hard supporters. It’s also possible that Trump is worried about how the war is going and doesn’t want to draw attention to soaring gas prices, falling stock markets and the chaotic geopolitical situation that the conflict has so far triggered. Or maybe he just thinks people viewing his social media would prefer to see memes of Democratic congressional leaders dressed in red devil costumes, like the one he posted Monday morning. The answer, of course, could be all of the above.
The official White House social media account, meanwhile, began posting footage of Operation Epic Fury as if it were a video game. In one video from Wednesday evening, images of missiles striking targets were interspersed with stock footage of a man carrying out a strike; the next shot shows animated bowling depicting “Iranian regime officials” being knocked out by a red-white-blue American bowling ball. Another video, released Thursday, plays even more explicitly on the war, which has so far killed seven U.S. service members and more than a thousand Iranians. There is also bowling in this one, but also archery, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf and tennis. This is how the world’s leading superpower celebrates its murderous power.
It is true that, in his numerous comments to reporters in recent days, the president has been much more voluble about the war, even if he has not been entirely clear about its goals, progress or likely duration. He called it a war, a major combat operation and, on Wednesday, “an excursion, a little excursion.” He suggested that the United States would take control of the Strait of Hormuz to ensure safe passage for oil tankers, and also that there was no problem with the Strait of Hormuz as it is. He made news by claiming that it was not the United States but perhaps Iran itself that sent an American-made Tomahawk missile to kill at least one hundred and seventy-five people at a girls’ school on the first day of the war. It doesn’t matter that Iran doesn’t have Tomahawk missiles.
Perhaps his most scrutinized statements are those regarding when and how the war might end. These, too, have been confusing to the point of absurdity. This week, Trump declared that “we won,” but also that “we’re not done yet.” He demanded unconditional surrender and regime change, and also denied that victory would require either of these things. At his rally in Kentucky, he talked about staying the course, whatever that course may be, almost as if he were trying to convince himself. “We don’t want to leave early, do we?” » he asked the audience. “We have to finish the job, don’t we?” »
In the past, perhaps the only reassuring thing that could be said about Trump was that he was not so reckless and unhinged as to drag the United States into another major war. After all, avoiding armed conflict was a fixed principle—besides the magically transformative power of tariffs—that he really seemed to believe in. As he ran for re-election in 2024, his two main campaign promises, besides mass deportations, were that he would fix the economy and not start any wars. Even his voters might have thought twice about granting Trump unlimited power of life and death over millions if they thought he could actually use it.
