Every time Trump appears poised to win, counterattacks emerge asserting that this is not the case. That he is in fact poised to lose. The attacks come from unexpected quarters: now it is The Wall Street Journal that has an article in the series “Trump in the madhouse”: He writes and shouts at staff for hours, and they must prevent him from entering the Situation Room, since he merely disrupts.
The description fits so poorly with what we see daily at press briefings at the White House and on the lawn outside or on runways: never has the United States had a president who has been more accessible to the press, including the part of the press that cannot abide him.
We have observed Trump at close quarters ever since the war began on 28 February, and of course long before, and have been able to compare his statements with what has actually unfolded. It would not have been possible for Trump to keep the ball in the air if he in reality fell flat on his face every day. Nevertheless, this is precisely what the media are trying to convince us of. They do not believe that we have eyes in our heads.
The Wall Street Journal delivers an attack that is cut entirely to the pattern of The New York Times. WSJ is a Rupert Murdoch newspaper. Perhaps he fears that Trump will manage to win the midterm elections if he succeeds in the Persian Gulf?
If Trump manages to make a deal with Iran whereby they relinquish the nuclear weapons programme, long-range missiles and proxy groups abroad, he will have secured a victory that renders him almost invincible. For on this victory he can build a new Abraham Agreement, an Abraham 2.0 that also includes Saudi Arabia. Then Trump will enter history as the great peacemaker, and that cannot be tolerated by Murdoch, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NRK and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Pope’s sudden outburst confirms that such a coalition exists which fears a Trump victory. They are no longer on the side of the United States, and thereby they expose themselves. Americans see them for what they are: well-poisoners.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, made important decisions regarding the war in Iran in a slapdash manner, without input from his advisers, and was eager for a ceasefire to deal with rising fuel prices, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Throughout the war, Trump was preoccupied with tactical figures such as how many Iranian targets were destroyed, and liked to watch footage of spectacular explosions in Iran, say American officials.
When he learned that two American pilots had been shot down over Iran, Trump shouted at his staff “for hours”, according to the report.
His team kept him away from the Situation Room, because “they believed that his impatience would not be of assistance”, according to a senior administration official.
Here there are certain talking points that recur. That Trump began the day by watching videos of the pulverisation of Iranian targets. That was how he obtained information about the war. That they had to keep him away from the Situation Room recalls the description in the Beast on 6 January 2021: Trump did not wish to be driven back to the White House, and attempted to take control of the vehicle. The witness Cassida Hutchinson has subsequently admitted that this was merely hearsay, and she is under investigation. Yet the media broadcast her testimony at full volume.
All these stories lead to a conclusion that Trump is uncontrollable and sooner or later must be placed in a straitjacket, physically or figuratively: removed under the 25th Amendment.
Trump has his own social media platform, where he tweets around the clock, as in his first term. But this time there is no one who can take him down. His opponents therefore play the ultimate card: God. They claim that Trump’s messages are blasphemous, and the Pope has intervened to lend weight to these condemnations.
After the second pilot was rescued in a dramatic American rescue operation, Trump issued a series of threats on Truth Social. On Easter morning, Trump wrote: “Open the damn strait, you mad bastards, or you are going to live in hell”, and concluded with “Praise be to Allah”.
Republican senators and Christian leaders called the White House that day, concerned that the president was using vulgar language and a Muslim expression on Easter Day, according to the report.
Trump told an adviser that he himself had invented the Allah phrase in order to frighten the Iranians to the negotiating table by appearing unstable.
His threat that “an entire civilisation will die tonight” a few days later was also made spontaneously, without coordination with advisers, according to government officials, and was another move by Trump to try to frighten the Iranians and induce them to agree to a deal.
The question is whether the Pope understands the framework within which he is operating, or whether he risks making a fool of himself. First come the Democrats and liberal media and wish America to lose the war in order to bring Trump down. Their intention is all too evident. The Pope has no distance from them and therefore falls into the same trap.
The media revert to familiar tracks: they portray Trump as weak. All the liberal media used TACO, that Trump threatened and then withdrew. This has been part of his negotiating tactic for years. Yet the media refuse to see it.
Trump’s frequent telephone interviews with the press were also not coordinated with his press team, which had advised him to reduce his media appearances because of the contradictory messages he was sending out. He followed the advice for a short time, but then returned to speaking with several media outlets every day.
His senior advisers pressed him to deliver a speech, but Trump was sceptical, the report states. “What was he to say? He could not declare victory. He did not know where it was heading,” reports the Journal. Eventually he delivered the speech on 1 April, but did not clarify how the war would end or do much to increase support.
Trump’s strength is that he speaks with all media. Even a child can see that. The message changes because the situation changes. Trump has delivered several speeches in which he addresses Iran. Journalists are like children: they want to know the programme for the war, whether it is on schedule and when it will end.
Whether Trump strikes or is struck: he is reproached because he governs the country. He is also blamed for the Democrats attempting to overturn the entire war. They prefer that the ayatollahs win.
As Trump’s deadline approached – whereby Iran had to agree to negotiations or risk their civilisation being destroyed – Trump was occupied with other topics, advisers tell the media, including the election campaign in the state of Indiana, the US midterm elections, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. As regards Iran, he asked his closest advisers, including envoy Steve Witkoff, simply to pressure Iran to enter into an agreement.
Trump has sought to shift attention to projects that lie close to his heart, including the renovation of the ballroom in the White House and the 250th anniversary of US independence, advisers say.
Trump has managed to juggle the war and a host of other matters for two months. He shows no mercy to NATO allies who sat on the fence.
It is clear that he must be brought down before he becomes too powerful.
It is The Times of Israel that has read the WSJ article. TOI is also a newspaper that is opposed to Trump and allied with the Democrats.