Trump’s vision of the presidency is (1) for him and only him to be in charge, and, (2) to steal as much as he can. Issue orders, grab money, luxuriate in flattery, erect monuments to oneself. And start a war to show how tough you are.
But that’s no way to lead a nation through the hazards and difficulties of war.
Now the war is ending on disadvantageous terms for the United States. We will lose.
Trump has been tweeting and shouting all weekend about how the Iranians have agreed to a negotiated settlement to the war and they have given him everything he wanted.
In fact, no such thing has happened. It looks as though the Strait of Hormuz will be opened; the British and perhaps French navies will help Iran clear mines; Iran will charge a fee for passage; Iran will say nothing about nuclear weapons and will keep all their enriched uranium.
Trump’s problem now is how to deceive the American people and the world into believing that the war he lost was really a big win, the biggest ever, so big you cannot believe it.
Trump is about to discover that, indeed, nobody does believe his bullshit.
Face it, Trump started the February 28 war because of his own personality, not for valid reasons. And what is that personality?
Trump is arrogant. Think how often Trump mocks his predecessors as “dumb” and praises himself as “smart.” Trump’s predecessors were not and are not “dumb,” and he is not smart, not at all.
Trump is reckless. Trump is not a plan-ahead guy. He plunges into desperate adventures without any clear endgame in mind. What really was Trump’s plan on January 6, 2021? He had no plan In 2021, Trump provoked violence and hoped it would all somehow work out. He followed the same approach again in 2026.
Trump hates procedure. The planning process is exactly that – a process that is designed to bring to the surface all possible considerations then to plan for them. Trump is not that smart or disciplined.
Trump is panicky. For all his bluster and boasting, Trump cannot take the heat.
Trump is gullible. As Trump’s present secretary of state observed back in 2016, Trump is most fundamentally a con artist. But Trump is often a self-defeating con artist who falls victim to his own con. Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” from Iran. Instead, he’s negotiating an exit that concedes most of Iran’s demands and leaves Iran in a more dominant position over Persian Gulf oil traffic than it occupied before the war. But Trump seems genuinely to have convinced himself that he’s won a mighty victory, and he seems truly baffled that others will not fall for his flim-flam.
Trump can’t lead. Trump’s method of governance is command. He cannot work across party lines, and he cannot speak to any part of the American nation beyond his MAGA base. A war leader, however, must be a national leader. Trump can’t lead a thirsty horse to water.