Trump on Whether He Will Bomb Iran: ‘You’ll Soon Find Out’

Trump on Whether He Will Bomb Iran: ‘You’ll Soon Find Out’

President Trump sure likes to keep people guessing.

Asked by reporters at the White House whether he plans to strike back at Iran over that nation’s shooting down of an American drone, the president responded, “You’ll soon find out.”

Trump gave the answer while awaiting the arrival of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for a bilateral meeting.

Iran claims the drone had violated its airspace before the shootdown, a charge the U.S. has forcefully denied. In the Oval Office just before his meeting with Trudeau, Trump claimed there was no question the drone was over international waters, calling that a fact that is “documented scientifically.” He also repeated his earlier claim on Twitter that “Iran made a big mistake” and repeated that the public “will soon find out” if he plans on starting a war:

He also suggested that the decision to shoot down the drone might have come from some rogue member of the military and was not authorized by the country’s leaders in Tehran. But in typical Trump fashion, he said, based on nothing whatsoever, that “it’s all going to work out.”

Trump does not really want to bomb Iran. He does not have the attention span to prosecute a war, nor does he have the fortitude. What Trump wants is to bully Iran into submission the same way he tried to bully banks, contractors and city governments into submission all throughout his career as a real estate developer.

Iran is obviously not caving in, and is in fact trying to call Trump’s bluff by goading him into doing something rash. There are a lot of factors that could still stop any further military actions, none bigger than Trump’s inherent laziness and habit of backing down when he can’t bully people into giving him what he wants.

 

Gary Legum

Gary Legum has written about politics and culture for Independent Journal Review, Salon, The Daily Beast, Wonkette, AlterNet and McSweeney's, among others. He currently lives in his native state of Virginia.

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