President Donald Trump spent Tuesday morning whining and fuming that leaders in Iran and Israel were not lining up behind his efforts to coordinate global diplomacy via his social media network.
Speaking on the White House lawn to reporters, Trump said that he was “not happy” that Israel fired on targets in Iran after he had announced that a ceasefire agreement had been reached between the two nations.
“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the fuck they’re doing,” Trump angrily yelled to reporters before walking away.
His public display of anger and ineptitude followed hours of premature announcements and strange online postings.
On Monday night, Trump declared, “Israel & Iran came to me, almost simultaneously, and said, ‘PEACE!’” He followed that up a few hours later with the claim that a ceasefire agreement had been reached.
But at 6:50 AM ET on Tuesday, Trump issued an all-caps warning to Israel via his Truth Social account.
“ISRAEL. DO NOT DROP THOSE BOMBS. IF YOU DO IT IS A MAJOR VIOLATION. BRING YOUR PILOTS HOME, NOW!” he wrote, adding his full name and title to the end of the post.
The Trump post came after Israel accused Iran of violating the terms of the ceasefire. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his nation would respond to Iran’s alleged attacks.
“I have instructed the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], in coordination with the Prime Minister, to continue the intense activity of attacking Tehran to thwart regime targets and terrorist infrastructures,” Katz said.
The Israeli government later confirmed that strikes on Iran had occurred, despite Trump’s ceasefire claims.
After the back-and-forth with Israel and Iran and his White House meltdown, Trump later claimed again that peace had been achieved and urged Congress to pass his legislation cutting Medicaid coverage for millions.
“Now that we have made PEACE abroad, we must finish the job here at home by passing “THE GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” and getting the Bill to my desk, ASAP,” he wrote at 10:07 AM ET on Tuesday.
Following Trump’s decision to attack Iranian nuclear sites over this past weekend, the United States has stepped firmly into the middle of the Iran-Israel conflict. The escalation follows a campaign season in which Trump claimed he would limit American involvement in international warfare.
Trump’s actions regarding Iran run contrary to public opinion. Polls before and after the strikes have shown that most Americans do not want to be militarily involved in the situation. Trump was reportedly goaded into the attack after absorbing hours of Fox News coverage of the crisis and getting personally lobbied by conspiratorial Fox News host Mark Levin.
Trump is attempting to negotiate high-level diplomacy via his social media account. Conflicts in the Middle East involve complex issues involving history, faith, and global politics of supreme importance. But here is Trump, trying to post through it all and expressing infantile anger when things don’t go precisely the way he thinks they should.