President Donald Trump has begun deploying a new word in his media blitz surrounding his war on Iran.
The president has been referring to his war as an “excursion” in multiple public appearances since the weekend.
He used the term when speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, describing his administration’s strikes on Iran as a “short excursion into something that should have been done for 47 years.”
“47 years it’s taken to do this, and no president had the guts to do it.”
He doubled down on his use of the unconventional term on Monday, using it multiple times at a gathering of Republican lawmakers and during a press conference in Doral, Florida.
“We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil,” Trump told his fellow Republicans, adding, “I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion. Short term. Short term!”
“This was just an excursion into something that had to be done,” the 79-year-old said of his new Middle East war. “We’re getting very close to finishing that, too.”
The president was later asked about his use of the term by a reporter, who asked, “You said it would be over soon. Are you thinking this week it will be over?”
“I think so soon. Very soon. Look, everything they have is gone, including their leadership. Two levels of leadership are gone. It’s obviously been very powerful, very effective.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump’s newfound use of “excursion” caught the attention of many, including CNN’s Jim Sciutto, who wrote on X, “Trump just used a new word for the war in Iran: ‘an excursion’.”
Right-wing influencer Nick Sortor also highlighted the president’s use of the term, writing, “President Trump repeats MULTIPLE times that Operation Epic Fury is just a ‘short term excursion.’ Let’s hope so!”
The president has previously used the term “war” when referring to his actions in Iran, despite the fact that he did not seek congressional approval before initiating the strikes. An attempt by Democrats in Congress to challenge Trump’s war ultimately failed last week as Republicans voted in support.
The president has largely avoided providing a specific timeframe for how long joint U.S. and Israeli forces will continue striking Iran, having previously said the bombing will continue for “as long as necessary to achieve our objective of PEACE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AND, INDEED, THE WORLD!”
The president was asked by ABC Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang on Monday how long Americans should prepare for the war to last considering the president has described it as “very complete” while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said it is just the beginning.
Trump responded, “Well, I think you can say both. It’s the beginning of building a new country... we could call it a tremendous success right now. As we leave here, I could call it. Or we could go further and we’re going to go further. But the big risk on that war has been over for three days. We wiped them out in the first two days.”
The joint bombing campaign with Israel began on Feb. 28, and has killed an estimated 1255 Iranians, including a school full of children, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior political leaders. Khamenei’s 56-year-old son has since been chosen as his successor.
Retaliatory strikes from Iran have in turn killed at least 20 people, including several U.S. service members stationed in Kuwait and another who was stationed in Saudi Arabia.
