As Trump’s war with Iran neared the three week mark, he and his regime continued to offer contradicting rationales for entering the war, as well as its goals and objectives. While Trump claimed to be surprised that Iran had blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran had bombed its neighbors, reporting indicated that military officials had warned him of both. Though Trump started the war without conferring with NATO allies, this week he asked, then demanded their help with reopening the Strait, then said he did not need them, then expressed outrage over their refusal to help, and threatened to pull the U.S. out of NATO, which he cannot unilaterally do. While Trump vented on NATO and other U.S. allies, he paradoxically had no public ill will against Russia, which was providing ongoing aid to Iran, including help with targeting the U.S. troops and assets. He even publicly defended Russia and Vladimir Putin on Fox News, while castigating Ukraine’s president, even as Ukraine was helping the U.S. and our Middle East allies with countering Iranian drones. Even more mystifying was Russia sending an oil tanker to Cuba, potentially breaking Trump’s embargo, and nary a word from Trump, the day after he claimed he would have the “honor” of taking over Cuba. On the home front, Trump’s campaign of retribution against his perceived enemies continued to stall out, after irate federal judges ruled against him, and even ordered his appointees to testify in court. Trump chastised federal judges and the Supreme Court for their ruling, leading Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, whose court’s ruling ironically made sitting presidents essentially untouchable, to ask him to stop. With Trump’s chaotic war of choice weighing on him, he and his regime resorted to a familiar tactic, blaming the media, casting them as dishonest and unpatriotic. Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth, who also banned photographers from his press briefings over what he thought were unflattering images, disparaged the media for how they were covering the war. Trump piled on. Then, in an autocratic move, Trump’s FCC Chair Brendan Carr threatened to revoke broadcast licenses of networks not providing favorable coverage. Trump, who ran as an anti-interventionist, found himself and the country increasingly isolated by the end of the week. Joe Kent became the first regime member to resign in protest. NATO allies snubbed Trump, after a year of his bullying them with tariffs and other threats. Even his own vice president seemed to be trying to distance himself from the war. Asked when he would end the war, Trump told Fox News that the war would end “when I feel it, feel it in my bones.” One man alone is in charge.
