President Trump appeared to debunk a month’s worth of his own administration’s propaganda efforts when he admitted to the media that in fact, he has “no indication” that the Islamic Republic of Iran is plotting some kind of attack on America or American interests in the Middle East.
Trump on Iran: We have no indication that anything's happened or will happen. But if it does, it will be met obviously with great force. We'll have no choice pic.twitter.com/XEZFyFjzzr
— POLITICO (@politico) May 20, 2019
His comments fly in the face of the messaging that John Bolton, the State Department, and prominent Republicans have been promoting for weeks. The anti-Iran national security hawks have been peddling cooked intelligence and prematurely jumping to conclusions in a deliberate effort to heighten tensions and possibly trigger the conflict with Iran that National Security Advisor John Bolton has been pushing for since the 1980s.
Just received a briefing from National Security Advisor Bolton about escalating tensions with Iran.
It is clear that over the last several weeks Iran has attacked pipelines and ships of other nations and created threat streams against American interests in Iraq.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 20, 2019
Once again it bears repeating, @potus is NOT setting up war with #Iran. Faced with steady,consistent & credible stream of information indicating serious threat from #IRGC proxy forces, he has positioned U.S. military in the region to defend Americans & respond to any attack
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 20, 2019
A war with Iran would be a cataclysmic conflict that even Iraq War cheerleader and perennial warmonger Max Boot predicts would be the “mother of all quagmires;” for Bolton and the rest of the Iran hawks in Congress to be caught being so fast and loose with the truth with on a matter of such high stakes and with so many lives at stake should be an indictable offense.
On top of that, as CNN’s Chief National Security Correspondent noted, the president’s words are yet another devastating blow to the administration’s credibility and our international reputation. While assuming that the Trump team is lying about everything at all times has been the most productive way to engage with government statements over the past few years, to see this kind of pathetically amateur and shamelessly duplicitous approach to international relations from some of the most powerful men in the world is absolutely terrifying to consider.
How ironic is it that it’s Donald Trump’s own inability to self-filter that is keeping the public abreast of what’s really going on behind the scenes in Washington.
This is truly consequential. There is no consistent national security message or policy-making process. Iran. Venezuela. Russia. China. North Korea. @PressSec or @realDonaldTrump need to explain. https://t.co/mTsCVZ3Rcn
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) May 20, 2019