If that was the best case President Donald Trump could make for why launching a war against Iran was necessary, it’s clearer why he didn’t bother to make it before he started the war a month ago.
In a primetime address from the White House, a decidedly lethargic president argued both that the war was necessary — lest Iran rain destruction down on America and much of the world — and that the war is going great and will soon be over. If there is anyone not already on board with Trump’s war who would have been convinced by that speech, it’s hard to imagine who and where they are.
The speech featured many of Trump’s familiar rhetorical tics. The military, he said, has delivered “victories like few people had ever seen before,” while Iran was about to obtain “a nuclear weapon like nobody’s ever seen before.” Everyone, apparently, is in awe: “The whole world is watching, and they can’t believe the power, strength, and brilliance, they just can’t believe what they’re seeing.” And before you know it, the war will be just a memory. “We are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly. We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong.”
And the global energy crisis the war touched off? Not Trump’s fault, certainly.
This is a preview of Paul Waldman’s latest column. Read the full column here.
