President Donald Trump has made the stunning assertion that he would have led the U.S. to victory in the Vietnam War within weeks.
Speaking as his conflict in the Middle East entered another day, the five-time draft dodger also declared he had “all the time in the world” to end the war with Iran and warned people not to rush him as peace talks resume in Islamabad.
“I would have won Vietnam, very quickly. I would have won Iraq in the same amount of time that we we’ve won here,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box.
The Vietnam War ran from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975. It was immensely costly in terms of both economics and casualties.
Trump was able to avoid being drafted for the war five times through four education deferments and one medical deferment for bone spurs in 1968.
But to reassert his point, the president pulled out a list of wars, and compared their time frames.
“I just looked at a little chart. World War One: four years and three months. World War Two, six years. Korean War, three years. Vietnam, 19 years. Iraq, eight years. I’m five months,” Trump said, despite the fact the Iran conflict is now in its seventh week.
“I mean, people can play games. The Democrats, they said, ‘well, we should have done better.’ No matter what - if I did it in one week, people would have said I should have done better.”
Trump’s comments came as the White House scrambled to project control over the conflict.
Vice President JD Vance is due to land in Islamabad within hours, leading a high-stakes U.S. delegation alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
But uncertainty clouds the talks ahead of the scheduled end of a two-week cease-fire between the two countries on Wednesday.
Iranian officials earlier threatened to boycott the negotiations altogether following the U.S. seizure of a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
However, Trump insisted on Tuesday that he is on the brink of making “a great deal” as he pushed back on growing concerns about the need for an immediate offramp to the crisis.
“We lost 13 men, and that’s terrible - I wish we didn’t lose one - but if somebody would have said we’ve done this and obliterated that country, obliterated it, and we lost 13 men? People would have said that’s not possible to have done that,” he said.
“So we’ve done a great job and I don’t want to be rushed by people who are treasonous, as far as I’m concerned.”
Trump also suggested that the U.S. would be unwilling to extend the two-week cease-fire with Iran if it expired without a deal in place.
“I don’t want to do that,” he replied when asked if he would allow for the cease-fire to continue if progress in the talks was being made.
Trump decided to join Israel to strike Tehran on February 28. Since then, at least 13 US service officers have been killed as part of the conflict, gas prices have soared, and Republicans have become increasingly panicked about their election prospects as the midterm elections loom in November.
Meanwhile, a new poll released over the weekend showed Trump’s approval rating sinking to the lowest point of his presidency, with only 37% of Americans approving of Trump’s performance.
