SELECTIVE READER

Trump Humiliated as His ‘Very Important’ Poll Flex Backfires

The president apparently didn’t bother to read too closely before trumpeting a weeks-old poll.

President Donald Trump made a “very important” Truth Social announcement Saturday to bolster support for his war in Iran.

But he used weeks-old data and apparently didn’t read what he was sharing too closely.

The 79-year-old president reposted an article about a poll finding that most Americans would rather keep Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons than end the war.

“This is where our Nation stands!!!” he wrote, attaching an article dated April 10, despite significant developments since then in the ongoing conflict and continued rises in gas prices, which have fueled public dissatisfaction.

The article was not only outdated, but it also cited only two figures from a Napolitan News survey: that 53 percent of U.S. voters said preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon is more important than ending the conflict, and that 60 percent said it takes priority over stabilizing energy prices.

ABOUT THAT FREEDOM...

Pentagon Pete Cornered on When Trump Folded on Iran

Sarah Ewall-Wice

Yet what the president appeared to overlook is that the underlying poll found the Iran war “stays very unpopular,” with 39 percent of voters in favor compared to 54 percent opposed.

According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll, the share of Americans who believe using military force against Iran was a mistake has risen to 61 percent, a level comparable to opposition seen during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s.

Still, in an early-morning Truth Social posting spree on Friday, the president focused on comparing the length of the war with Iran to other conflicts, including the Vietnam War, but appeared to make yet another error by posting a graphic that listed its duration as six weeks rather than its actual length of more than 10 weeks.

LAST DANCE

Trump Obsesses Over Ballroom as Iran War Ceasefire Unravels

Sarah Ewall-Wice

Trump, who has maintained that the conflict is necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining weapons of mass destruction while also offering various other, sometimes conflicting, justifications for the war, has continued to defend U.S. involvement despite public dissatisfaction and reported unease within his inner circle.

Play Video

The president’s aides are allegedly becoming increasingly worried about what consequences the war will have on the November midterms for the Republican Party if it doesn’t end soon, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

CROSSFIRE

Trump Melts Down as U.S. and Iran Trade Shots in Strait

Sarah Ewall-Wice

On Wednesday, the president boasted to PBS that the war has a “very good chance of ending, and if it doesn’t end, we have to go back to bombing the hell out of them.”

However, a senior Iranian parliament official appeared to disagree that progress was being made on a one-page memorandum to end the war. Responding to an initial Axios report on the document, he wrote that it was “more of an American wish list than a reality.”

The disruption of the Strait of Hormuz—through which roughly one-fifth of global oil passes—has created a supply shock that has driven prices higher worldwide, contributing to a decline in Trump’s domestic approval ratings and damage to the United States’ global reputation.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment but received no immediate response.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Wiktoria GuciaReporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.