Donald Trump’s near miss in approving the bombing of Iran is the most frightening thing he has done to date. This is from a long list of unethical, undemocratic, nepotistic, and unfounded policies actions that he has taken since becoming president. This time he put the world at-risk.
Some are applauding his ultimate stand down decision but what is frightening is how many hours it took for the president to realize he would be killing people because they knocked our spy equipment out of the sky. CNN called the move to cancel the strike “Trump’s smart call on Iran”CNN. But, I do not see it this way. I see this event as Trump putting us dangerously close to war because he cannot think through foreign policy options and consequences on his own. Instead, he is reliant on the extreme war hawks he has chosen to lead foreign policy in his administration. In fact, it is reported that statements by Tucker Carlson of Fox News ultimately convinced Trump to stand down. NYTimes
What do these series of events tell me.
- Trump has no idea what he is doing when it comes to foreign policy
- He can be persuaded by his warmongering advisers to do something that would be really bad
- It took him hours to figure out the response was disproportional to the drone attack
- It took him hours to figure out that he would have the blood of 100-150 lives on his hands
- He may have only backed down because a Fox New anchor told him it would hurt his election changes.
If this series of events does not give you pause and make you question Trump’s competency as commander in chief, then you truly have been blinded by the big flag waving rallies, MAGA hats, and trash talking.
The tension with Iran feels oddly manufactured. First, Trump pulled out of the nuclear treaty with Iran but does not want them to exceed the cap on uranium stockpile levels. Given we pulled out of the deal, it seems duplicitous for us to expect Iran to continue to adhere to its terms. Second, there is some ambiguity regarding how strong the evidence is that Iran was behind the tanker bombings. Third, whose airspace was the drone in? Let us not forget that the US has a history of lying to its people to justify starting a war with a long standing foe. Remember the Gulf of Tonkin and the non-existent Iraqi stash of weapons of mass destruction.
Although Trump is moving more slowly now, he still intends to add further sanctions on Iran. This is not over, we are just in a lull.