Trump on Attacking Iran: ‘There’s Plenty of Time to Do Some Dastardly Things’

President Trump blustered his way through some oblique threats to Iran just before boarding Air Force One in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Trump, as is his wont, used language calculated to sound threatening, if not downright apocalyptic:

“We have the strongest military in the world now. I think it’s a great sign of strength. It’s very easy to attack, but if you ask Lindsey, ask him how did going into the Middle East work out and how did going into Iraq work out. So we have a disagreement on that. There’s plenty of time to do some dastardly things.”

Trump was speaking about Sen. Lindsey Graham, a hawk who tweeted this week that Iran had interpreted the president’s lack of retaliation after a U.S. drone was shot down in the Persian Gulf this summer as “weakness” the nation could take advantage of to allegedly launch an attack this week on a Saudi oil facility.

Trump had fired back, claiming that not retaliating showed strength.

The president would like to appear as if he has the upper hand at all times. Hence the casual use of the word dastardly, which sounds like something said by the villain in a Wild West movie about a railroad baron trying to take over a small town. But it is a provocative and threatening word, meant to sound as if he is telling Iran that the country better comply, or else.

Two years ago it was “fire and fury” with North Korea. Trump backed down on that stance as soon as Kim Jong Un began meeting with and praising him. How he will handle himself when Iran does not follow Kim’s example is anyone’s guess.

Watch the video above, via CNN.