According to the NY Times, Trump has been flummoxed over this Israel-Iran situation over the past few months, trying to talk Netanyahu out of his plan to strike Iran and couldn’t get it done. Netanyahu, like everyone else in the world, knows by now that Trump is a fool and that he can be easily manipulated into doing anything and then takes credit or casts blame depending on the outcome. He is completely clueless about national security and foreign policy and always has been. His “deal making” consists of saying one thing and doing another.
Anyway, here’s an excerpt and a gift link:
[O]ver the last several weeks, it became increasingly apparent to Trump administration officials that they might not be able to stop Mr. Netanyahu this time, according to interviews with key players in the administration’s deliberations over how to respond and others familiar with their thinking. At the same time, Mr. Trump was getting impatient with Iran over the slow pace of negotiations and beginning to conclude that the talks might go nowhere.
Contrary to Israeli claims, senior administration officials were unaware of any new intelligence showing that the Iranians were rushing to build a nuclear bomb — a move that would justify a pre-emptive strike. But seeing they would most likely not be able to deter Mr. Netanyahu and were no longer driving events, Mr. Trump’s advisers weighed alternatives.
At one end of the spectrum was sitting back and doing nothing and then deciding on next steps once it became clear how much Iran had been weakened by the attack. At the other end was joining Israel in the military assault, possibly to the point of forcing regime change in Iran.
Mr. Trump chose a middle course, offering Israel as-yet undisclosed support from the U.S. intelligence community to carry out its attack and then turning up the pressure on Tehran to give immediate concessions at the negotiating table or face continued military onslaught
Five days after Israel launched its attack, Mr. Trump’s posture continues to gyrate. The administration at first distanced itself from the strikes, then grew more publicly supportive as Israel’s initial military success became evident.
Now Mr. Trump is seriously considering sending American aircraft in to help refuel Israeli combat jets and to try to take out Iran’s deep-underground nuclear site at Fordo with 30,000-pound bombs — a step that would mark a stunning turnabout from his opposition just two months ago to any military action while there was still a chance of a diplomatic solution.
The story of what led up to the Israeli strike is one of two leaders in Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu who share a common goal — preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb — but who are wary of each other’s motives. They speak often in public about their strong political and personal bonds, and yet the relationship has long been beset by mistrust.
Interviews with two dozen officials in the United States, Israel and the Persian Gulf region show how Mr. Trump vacillated for months over how and whether to contain Mr. Netanyahu’s impulses as he confronted the first foreign policy crisis of his second term. It was a situation he faced with a relatively inexperienced circle of advisers handpicked for loyalty.
But he dos have Fox News to tell him what to do:
When he woke on Friday morning, his favorite TV channel, Fox News, was broadcasting wall-to-wall imagery of what it was portraying as Israel’s military genius. And Mr. Trump could not resist claiming some credit for himself.
In phone calls with reporters, Mr. Trump began hinting that he had played a bigger behind-the-scenes role in the war than people realized. Privately, he told some confidants that he was now leaning toward a more serious escalation: going along with Israel’s earlier request that the United States deliver powerful bunker-busting bombs to destroy Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordo.
If only Trump were president none of this would be happening.
This is very bad. Cross your fingers that Trump’s luck holds out one more time.