IT is so obvious that Trump has no idea what to say or do about the Israel-Iran conflict that asking him about it now seems cruel.
Journalists questioning the president about whether the US will strike Iran and receiving answers like ‘I may do it, I may not do it’ have concluded this is a tired, befuddled old man who is way out of his depth and spouting nonsense.
Thomas Logan of the New York Times said: “You can’t just shove a microphone in the face of a bewildered senior and print their confused gibberish as a headline. It’s not right.
“It’s quite clear this attack took Trump completely by surprise and, as the elderly do, he’s struggling to catch up. And it’s personally complicated for him: he loves Israel but he’s against war, he hates Iran but they’re Putin’s allies. Even an agile mind would struggle.
“When he’s coming out with ‘I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do’ it’s basically a cry for help. He wants somebody to tell him what to do, but unfortunately his defence secretary is a unqualified alcoholic who’s fired all his advisers.
“So from now on we’re not printing anything he says on Iran unless it’s coherent policy. No more ‘I like to make a final decision one second before it’s due, you know?’ He doesn’t understand a word he’s saying and we know it.”
Later, Trump is expected to confuse Iran and Iraq, say the US has always been on the side of Hezbollah, launch into an irrelevant anecdote about a Jewish businessman he knew, tail off, change the subject to flagpoles and order a nuclear strike.
