It is a bad day for America when its leader loses credibility, not only with our political foes, but with the American people themselves.
Unfortunately, that is what has happened with Donald Trump’s erratic actions and rhetoric revolving around the conflict with Iran.
This column gave Trump great praise for being a rare president who was willing to do more than just talk about the Iranian threat, but was willing to actually use America’s vast military resources to prevent the uber-religious zealots in Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon that they would very likely use on American citizens.
He bravely bombed two of their nuclear centers where an atomic weapon was being constructed.
When it became clear that the Iranians were trying to rebuild, he joined forces with the Israelis and struck again. The initial strikes were brilliant in taking out dozens of top Iranian leaders and crippling their navy and air force.
His embargo had them on the ropes, and it was just a matter of time before the regime could potentially collapse through a crippled economy and internal insurgency.
But for some inexplicable reason, President Trump took his foot off the pedal. He suddenly became leery of finishing the job.
It became apparent that he was becoming desperate to strike a deal.
He became obsessed over the price of oil rising and short dips in the stock market. Above all, he became queasy about the negative impact this could have on the midterms.
And he signaled all of this to the Iranians with his back-and-forth comments that he would blow them into oblivion one minute, followed by a peace offering the next. To add to our woes, the deal VP Vance put together was an abomination and a sellout to the Iranians.
When it was clear to Trump that the Iranians were no-good dirty liars, something a wiser president would’ve known months earlier, he said, “This time we really mean it. We’re going to keep the attack going until they bend.” But he allowed the Iranians to play him again and again.
The Iranians would reach out to third parties and say they want a deal and the president would fall for it, just as Charlie Brown would fall every time for Lucy moving the football.
The clear proper strategy for Trump to follow would have been to simply keep the constant military pressure on the Iranians until they finally reached an agreement from those with the proper authority to sign a real deal.
Instead, they would deny any concessions Trump tweeted about hours earlier, claiming that there was no deal and they were not giving an inch.
The problem with Trump going back-and-forth with his pledge to bomb and his pledge to obtain a peaceful solution has now made the average American’s eyes glaze over anytime he tweets anything. We no longer believe what he says.
More alarmingly, neither do America’s enemies
There’s still time for the president to salvage his damaged legacy from this debacle. But he must stop talking so much. Start leading with his actions, not with his contradictory words. Start showing strength as he did early on and stop with the capitulation, which is something we would’ve expected from Joe Biden.
And for goodness sake, never agree to any Iranian demands for tolls, regardless of how they package it.