Will Trump attack Iran to show how tough he is?

[bigtree]

...actually Trump is most likely threatening Iran today in all caps because there's something damaging coming up that he wants to distract from.

Still, it's amazing how there's always a bizarro-opposite tweet from the past.

[Zoonart]

1. There was an unverified rumor running around Helsinki...

right after the summit that Bibi Netanyahu had been conferenced in by Putin and Trump and that Trump/Bibi basically gave Putin Syria in exchange for standing back and or helping in an Israeli/USA attack on Iran.

Again... just a rumor. We will never know.

[bigtree]

3. right, we still don't know what deal he made in secret with Putin

...Syria being just one of the concerns.

If Syria was on their plate, so was Iran.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. He might, but the really scary thing is that "the people" have never managed to stop a war...

once started.

In my lifetime we've had the horrible, like Viet Nam, the stupid, like Grenada, and the pointless, like Gulf II but no matter how we fought against them, they went on.

It's as if the country robotically goes to war when called.

It might be noted that Iran is larger than the combined areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where we've been jerking around for too many years. And it's all mountains.

If Trump really, really wants a war to prove he actually has a scrotum, this is not the place to do it.

[bigtree]

6. can he wage that war without Israel?

...the prevailing wisdom has had Israel taking the lead after a U.S. green light.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. You think Israel can do any better? They have other things on their plate...

and Bibi might be insane enough to try, but I can't imagine it would do anything but enrage that whole part of the world.

Even if the Sunnis smirk and privately want Iran to go down, they can't publicly support a war against them by their bigger enemy. Can they?

[bigtree]

8. wrong take

..my understanding is that if there was to be an attack on Iran, it would need to be led or initiated by Israel.

That makes it as dubious a prospect of happening in the future, as it was yesterday. Also, for the reasons you cited.

In no way do I support any of this aggression toward Iran. Why I have to even say that...DU.

[sarcasmo]

4. Wag the Dog. With the Manafort trial starting Wednesday, the White House needed a distraction.

Now do posters understand how crazy all caps looks?

[bigtree]

9. that has to be part of it

...but he looks absolutely panicked here.

I have to think indictments (hopeful thinking that it is).

[sarcasmo]

14. Agreed, Trump is panicked, wait until Tuesday and Wednesday.

[oberliner]

5. Bolton would be thrilled

And he might even win McCain over.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

10. Trump wants in the WARTIME President's Club.....

Ronald Reagan had Grenada and Falkland Islands.
Bush 41 had Gulf War 1
Bush 43 had Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trump wants North Korea and Iran? FOLLY!!!!!

CANCEL the damn Military Parade! This country cannot celebrate bloodshed at that cost.

[DFW]

11. I doubt it

Republicans are cowards at heart. They never attack countries they think will shoot back (Iraq was a miscalculation, not an exception). They like to attack places like Grenada (Reagan) and Panama (Bush I). Bush Jr., for all his talk of the Axis of Evil, never came close to invading North Korea or Iran (only time I ever won a bet with Wes Clark). The only reason to invade Iran--a country that already has a huge dissident movement--would be to make Putin happy. Republicans don't like rows of body bags on page one of American newspapers. Fox won't show them, but the rest of the media will.

With all the America-friendly opposition within Iran (I have some Iranian friends in Germany that go back regularly), plus all the business we do with them (you don't see it in the papers, but we do), the only effect of an American invasion of Iran would be to unite the country against us. Gee, I wonder who would like that? Hint--he's got a REALLY cool palace he works out of some 2000 miles just to the northwest of Tehran.

[kimbutgar]

12. Will the US Miltary take the order to mobilize for a stupid war to please twitler?

I know there are a lot of right wing supporters but a war that will be catastrophe of epic proportions? I feel there would be some pushback.

[GoCubsGo]

13. Yes. He would definitely wag the dog.

I believe we are witnessing the first motions of the wagging.