Donald Trump entered his war of choice against Iran without consulting global allies, but as he weighs an exit from the conflict, he is making it clear that he is expecting the world to help him fix the unintended damage that it has caused.
Trump is taking an increasingly annoyed tone toward Europe’s lack of support for the U.S.-Israeli war effort. He also is giving short shrift to the fact that his decision contributed to disrupting the flow of oil to global markets through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has managed to largely choke off even as Trump insists that Iran has been “decimated.”
He didn’t understand that he couldn’t make deals with individual countries in the EU in his first term and badgered Merkel about it repeatedly despite being told. So he doesn’t understand it, wilfully or otherwise … but he’s also surrounded himself with people that don’t understand it either.
People like Trump don’t use this type of talk to gain a better understanding or to communicate truth or ideas. They use it to get what they want, which is why his statements are jarring to people that pay any decent attention.
“The strait is fine” is to try to calm the stock market – but – “NATO needs to help the strait” is to get other people to fix his fuck up