We’ve still got a consistently remarkably unhinged individual leading the foreign policy of the United States, and it’s not like President Donald Trump’s position’s powers stop at the point when he could actually cause bloodshed with his warmongering. This Monday, he lashed out at the media for supposedly reporting that the U.S. “was trying to set up a negotiation with Iran,” although it’s unclear what exactly he’s talking about, since he didn’t even try to tie his ranting to any particular report.
More relevantly for him, however, he used the occasion as another excuse to antagonize the country, angrily ranting:
‘The Fake News put out a typically false statement, without any knowledge that the United States was trying to set up a negotiation with Iran. This is a false report. Iran will call us if and when they are ever ready. In the meantime, their economy continues to collapse – very sad for the Iranian people!’
The supposedly collapsing Iranian economy is Trump’s own doing. His team withdrew from the monumental Iran nuclear deal signed towards the end of the Obama administration, a move which entailed the reinstitution of tough sanctions targeting exports like steel, copper, and aluminum. Concurrently, he’s waged a passionate campaign of aggression, threatening just this weekend to essentially wipe Iran off the face of the earth, shouting on social media:
‘If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!’
The rhetoric is similar to that which he’s previously employed in dealings with North Korea, which he also at one point threatened to annihilate — because that’s just a thing U.S. presidents do now, apparently. After spending a considerable deal of time ranting on the world stage about the country’s leader “Little Rocket Man” and the supposed grave danger they were in thanks to the power of the U.S. military, Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un met. Despite the fanfare the Trump team piled on that first — and eventually second — meeting, nothing much has happened; North Korea hasn’t denuclearized, there’s been no deal laying out a path towards denuclearization, and they’ve even been caught rebuilding a long-range rocket site.
Some experts in the media have suggested that Trump’s similar strategy against Iran constitutes an attempt to bring them to the negotiating table — which seems to be what Trump is countering, unable to allow himself to be presented as anything other than a tough he-man or something. Even if he is hoping for his antagonism to bring about negotiations, though, it’s not like he’s got some great track record.
Check out Twitter’s response below…
Featured Image via screenshot
