Trump: 'Attack so successful,' it botched the objective.

[bigtree]

Jonathan Karl @jonkarl
Pres Trump told me tonight the US had identified possible candidates to take over Iran, but they were killed in the initial attack.

"The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates," Trump told me. "It's not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead."

9:40 PM · Mar 1, 2026

...this is from an interview Jonathan Karl (ABC News) conducted with Trump tonight.

watch:

king of Scottsdale @blackgordongeck 4m
So you took out the leader to handpick a new regime, but you actually killed the regime you picked?

Failed operation. Failed presidency.


Politics Sloth (#1 reply guy) @SockDemFan 12m
“The attack went so well that it ended the only plans we had for regime change”

There is no backup plan…

Alexander Hamilton's Tears @Hamiltonstears
To review the bidding, Trump still has not articulated any plan for how he will accomplish regime change in Iran, but the inklings of the plan he sort of had were to somehow elevate (via airstrikes?) one of a few selected Iranian leaders (but not others) except they were all killed in the strike that killed Iran's leader.

Arthurz @ArthurzKV
So Trump had candidates for Iran's next leader but they all got killed in the strike—is this admitting the regime-change operation was improvised or just world-class timing?

[JBTaurus83]

1. Iran will be another failed state

And drag the region down with them.

[Jack Valentino]

2. I recently read that Iran's government is actually so 'decentralized'

that it is likely impossible to decapitate it through bombing alone,
even if we have in fact now killed off its former leadership---

and of course, there has never been a single instance in world history
of bringing 'regime change' through bombing alone,

without a 'ground invasion'.....

[bigtree]

5. they control the population with small arms and other simple brutality

...mostly unaffected by the bombs.

Guard still intact; some 600k between police and the military in a nation of 90 million.

Iranians haven't persisted because they've outright won every war waged against them. They persist because they're good at oulasting their opponents.

[Jack Valentino]

7. Trump's hopes of 'regime change' seem dependent on the Iranian citizens themselves,

who are mostly unarmed and thus helpless against their repressive government....


If they are actually serious about it, they would need to be planning to make large air-drops of small arms and ammunition to the Iranian civilians, at the very least.... but I've never heard such a thing mentioned, even in theory, by ANYONE....

[bigtree]

11. in my view

....his talk of regime change and having Iranians do it themselves is just his way of disowning the consequences of his destabilizing warring.

But you're absolutely right that he's made no effort to even organize a resistance, much less protect them, and that it would take a ground invasion of hundreds of thousands of troops to control any of that.

It's a canard, and he's very possibly just talking out of his ass here, as is usual for him.

Republicans only know how to break things. They don't know how to fix and build anything other than their own bank accounts.

[Jack Valentino]

13. Maybe someone should inform him about the history of Russia's invasion of Afghanistan---

and how the U.S. responded to it--- arming the Afghans--


but I seriously doubt that most people in his administration have any knowledge about that---
they probably all flunked U.S. history as HE clearly did
(unless his father paid off some teachers to 'pass' him!)

Yeah, he was actually an adult during that time---
but probably paying more attention to whom he could swindle or FUCK,
not paying any attention to current events at the time---

or he's too mentally incapacitated to have retained any memories about it by now....

Google:
During a July 4, 2019 "Salute to America" speech, President Donald Trump incorrectly claimed the Continental Army "took over the airports" during the 18th-century Revolutionary War. The comment, which suggested air travel existed in the 1700's, was attributed to teleprompter failure in heavy rain. The widely mocked, historical error occurred during a speech highlighting Revolutionary war history.

[H2O Man]

19. It reminds me

of the delusion that Cubans would rise up against Castro when rebels showed up at the Bay of Pigs. While some may have bought that, the guys selling it knew it was bullshit.

[unblock]

3. Peculiar definition of "success"

Very trumpian, of course.

[ForeGoneLegsBirne]

18. The Failure of "Success".

[Lifeafter70]

4. The stupid is strong in that one.

I would laugh if it wasn't so horrific.

[thomski64]

6. How many "sucker and loser" US have

perished to deflect from the Trump/Netanyahu EPSTEIN FILES??

[Jack Valentino]

9. This IS the 'Epstein files war'..... nt

[David__77]

8. He is playing second fiddle and fails to realize it.

[OAITW r.2.0]

10. Criminal Moron in Charge.

[Johonny]

12. The plan just seems to be Gaza on a bigger scale

Kills lots and lots and not really care about what comes next because they don't really want a next.

[Skittles]

14. if this was a Dem president the MSM would be SCREAMING about this

oh yes

[questionseverything]

15. I think it's objective is being misunderstood

He was happy 😊 we got the head dude and his line of succession

[BaronChocula]

16. What a ham-fisted hack

He needs about 40 IQ points to be considered mediocre.

[czarjak]

17. Mulligan?

[WarGamer]

20. 99% of those who read this misunderstand it.