July has not been a good month for Donald Trump. So it appears the President decided it was time to pivot into dangerous territory. Get people to stop talking about Russia (it won’t work), have them forget the North Korea summit wasn’t the success he touted and instead get them focused on a potential war with Iran. Surely an all-caps tweet will do the trick.
To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018
CNBC outlines the events leading up to the tweet:
“Trump’s tweet followed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani cautioning the American leader on Sunday about pursuing hostile policies against Tehran, saying: ‘War with Iran is the mother of all wars.’
“You are not in a position to incite the Iranian nation against Iran’s security and interests,” the Iranian leader said, in an apparent reference to reports of efforts by Washington to destabilize Iran’s Islamic government. Still, Rouhani did not rule out peace between the two countries.
The heated exchange comes as tension between the two nations has increased since Trump pulled the U.S. out of a nuclear deal with Iran that was struck during the Obama administration.”
Frustrated by no progress w/NK; angered by negative push back post Helsinki, Trump is looking to vent, act tough, and change channel. If nothing else, Trump's ALL CAPS tirade reflect reality that US has no Iran policy. Empty/ridiculous US rhetoric in response to same from Iran.
— Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2) July 23, 2018
Trump's goal is to ensure we're always closer to war with either Iran or North Korea than he is to impeachment. It's that simple. https://t.co/aKoUiSGfFU
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 23, 2018
While the thought of war with Iran is somewhat terrifying MSNBC’s Steve Benen argues that “few know whether to take it seriously.” He says:
“Under normal circumstances, when a sitting American president threatens a possible war with a foreign adversary, it would be a development of great international significance. But Donald Trump’s presidency offers little in the way of normal circumstances.
It’s an awkward feeling. On the one hand, the Commander in Chief of the world’s strongest military is publicly raising the prospect of a deadly conflict, and it seems irresponsible to just shrug that off as background noise. On the other hand, most observers realize that Trump is an erratic amateur with the temperament of an elementary-school bully, who finds joy in chest-thumping bluster, and whose occasional tantrums frequently amount to very little.
The former suggests last night’s presidential tweets were important. The latter suggests we should roll our eyes and focus our attention elsewhere.”
As with many things Trump does, there is a tweet for that. In this case, there are at least four times where Trump tweeted that if his predecessor ever attacked Iran it would be for political reasons.
Trump has repeatedly depicted war with Iran an something a president would do for domestic political gain.
Here are four examples ? pic.twitter.com/JdR1qM0BM8
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 23, 2018
While it’s unclear whether to take Trump seriously we have to remember that Trump’s words can move the markets and today we are seeing one industry already feeling an impact. Reuters reports:
“Oil prices rose on Monday on worries over supply after tensions worsened between Iran and the United States”
A reminder – we had an agreement in place with Iran that had de-escalated hostilities. Trump withdrew against the advice of our allies and every sane member of his regime for no good reason. Another mess of his own making!
— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) July 23, 2018
Now that Trump had distracted us for a few hours by his psychotic threat to Rouhani and Iran….
Let's stop allowing him to distract. Back to Putin, Russia and treason.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) July 23, 2018
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