The president celebrated the progress of diplomatic talks with Iran. Whether those negotiations have actually happened is an open question.
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/pointing-to-talks-that-might-not-exist-trumps-iran-rhetoric-becomes-even-more-incoherent
The Republican’s erratic approach to the issue took an even more bizarre turn in recent days, starting with an online statement, published to Trump’s social media platform on Saturday morning that read, “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”
It was a jarring announcement for a variety of reasons.
On the one hand, the American president was talking about winding down the war and declaring a military victory, all while expressing relative indifference to the Strait of Hormuz. On the other hand, Trump was also prepared to target civilian energy supplies — according to many, a war crime — as early as Monday night unless Iran reopened the strait, which remains a waterway the Republican recently described as being “in great shape” and safe enough for ships to pass through. (The day before issuing the 48-hour deadline, he also told reporters, “You know, at a certain point, it’ll open itself.”)
On the other hand, Trump also wasted little time in abandoning his own deadline for the most dubious of reasons. MS NOW reported:
As the Iran war enters its fourth week, President Donald Trump on Monday announced that the United States has engaged in diplomatic talks with Iran and is taking a five-day pause on strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.
‘I am pleased to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,’ Trump wrote in an all-caps message posted to Truth Social.
As part of the statement, the Republican added that he has directed the Pentagon to
“postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period” because the talks with Iranian officials have been so “constructive.”.....
So when a reporter asked the president on Monday morning
which Iranian leader U.S. officials have spoken to, he refused to say. At an event soon after, he struggled to explain when, exactly, these alleged negotiations began. (He also hasn’t explained why his administration would talk at all to a country he expects an “unconditional surrender” from.)
Gerard Baker, a conservative member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, wrote via social media on Monday morning,
“The unsettling reality is that with this president, Americans in wartime are in the unprecedented position of having to suspect that the enemy’s version of events is more likely to be true than our own. We have become Baghdad Bob.”
Trump’s incoherence on the war was already a problem. As the fourth week of the conflict begins, it appears that problem is getting worse.
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