Donald Trump played a game of hypotheticals and then thanked himself in the third person as part of an attempt to deflect blame for his strikes on Iran.
During a Truth Social posting spree on Monday that lasted into Tuesday morning, Trump, 79, first made a dubious claim about the nuclear deal agreed to under the Obama administration.
“If I didn’t terminate Obama’s horrendous Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA), Iran would have had a Nuclear Weapon three years ago,” he argued. “That was the most dangerous transaction we have ever entered into, and had it been allowed to stand, the World would be an entirely different place right now. You can blame Barack Hussein Obama, and Sleepy Joe Biden.”
He ended the post with an all-caps pat on the back: “THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!”
But experts have disputed Trump’s theory, the New York Times reported, and likewise with a handful of his claims attempting to sell the war to the American people: that Iran had restarted its nuclear program, could build a bomb within a matter of days, and was building missiles that could reach the U.S.
Additionally, Obama warned that what is now happening could very well happen. The U.S., he said after Trump withdrew from the 2015 deal, could have to choose “between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East.”
Later Monday night, Trump imagined another scenario to try to boost his case for another Middle East war.
“The Radical Left Democrats, a Party that has completely lost its way, are complaining bitterly about the very necessary and important attack, by the United States and Israel, on Iran,” he wrote. “What most people understand is that they are only complaining BECAUSE I DID IT and, if I didn’t do it, they would be screaming — Why didn’t ‘TRUMP’ attack Iran, he should do it, IMMEDIATELY?"
“The fact is, whatever I do, they will be on the opposite side,” he added later.
Trump then shared a link to self-described Democrat Doug Schoen’s Fox News column supporting his Iran strikes, and to Larry Kudlow, his former National Economic Council director, giving the topic favorable coverage on Fox Business Network.
As of Monday, more than 550 people have been killed in Iran, according to the Iranian Red Crescent emergency service. In Lebanon, the health ministry put the death toll at 31, at least. A minimum of ten people were killed in Israel. Six U.S. service members have also died.
Also appearing on Truth Social was a White House press release urging Americans not to be “a panican” because “new victories pour in daily.” That release, however, was dated three weeks ago.
Just before midnight on Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social again, claiming the U.S. has a stockpile of munitions that has “never been higher or better,” but then added that it still needs more.
Without naming names, he said he was told on Monday that the U.S. has a “virtually unlimited” supply of weapons at the “medium and upper” grade.
“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies (which are better than other countries finest arms!). At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be,“ Trump said, noting that there is “additional high grade weaponry” stored in outlying countries.
Firing off insults, Trump continued, “Sleepy Joe Biden spent all of his time, and our Country’s money, GIVING everything to P.T. Barnum (Zelenskyy!) of Ukraine - Hundreds of Billions of Dollars worth - And, while he gave so much of the super high end away (FREE!), he didn’t bother to replace it. Fortunately, I rebuilt the military in my first term, and continue to do so. The United States is stocked, and ready to WIN, BIG!!!”
Trump also posted about a range of topics that had nothing to do with Iran. In addition to hyping Melania Trump’s speech at the United Nations Security Council and his administration’s effort to reduce prescription drug prices, the president announced he would be ending his boycott of the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner.
Trump said he came to his decision due to the country’s 250th anniversary and “the fact that these ‘Correspondents’ now admit that I am truly one of the Greatest Presidents in the History of our Country, the G.O.A.T., according to many...”
He didn’t say who.
The dinner is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, at the Washington Hilton Hotel. By then, the attack on Iran may be wrapped up; Trump said the war was projected to last “four to five weeks.” But, he added, the U.S. was capable of going “far longer than that.”
Trump was still posting at 12:30 a.m Tuesday. The president shared a video from January of Texas Republican Chip Roy questioning former Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Smith, a regular Trump nemesis, ran the probe into Trump’s handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property. Sharing an X post that claimed Smith “looks absolutely DEFEATED! LOCK HIM UP.!!!,” Trump added “Deranged Jack Smith should be brought to Justice, NOW!!!”
The 79-year-old was then feeling romantic, sharing fan-made clips of himself and Melania including an early interview on the Ellen show where Trump revealed his first words to his future third wife.
“I said ‘I want your phone number,’” Trump told the former talk show host who fled America after his second term as president. “Which is very crude but sometimes it works. You either get slapped or you get the number.”
