The New York Occasions editorial board delivered a damning evaluation of Donald Trump’s false claims concerning the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran in a weekend opinion piece — and warned how they may finally backfire on him.
Trump’s “stream of falsehoods” concerning the battle is nothing new, the board mentioned. “Mendacity is commonplace habits for Mr. Trump, in fact,” it wrote, noting simply a few of his many, many falsehoods over time. (Trump made greater than 30,000 deceptive or untruthful claims throughout his first time period, per a Washington Submit evaluation).
Learn the total opinion piece on The New York Occasions.
“But mendacity about conflict is uniquely corrosive,” the Occasions’ board continued, arguing it “creates a tradition through which lethal errors and even conflict crimes can turn out to be extra widespread” and finally “undermines American values and pursuits.”
The board acknowledged “there’s a affordable debate to have concerning the knowledge of this conflict,” which has to this point killed 13 U.S. service members, given what it described as Iran’s “murderous” authorities and its threats to folks at residence and overseas.
However Trump is “not making” that case, mentioned the Occasions, and is simply mendacity “concerning the causes for the conflict and about its progress, in an obvious try and disguise his poor planning and the conflict’s questionable foundation.”
Trump and MAGA world have given varied totally different solutions on varied totally different elements of the conflict, akin to what are its precise targets, how lengthy it should final and extra.
The Occasions’ board additionally pointed to previous conflicts — together with the Vietnam Battle and the 2003 invasion of Iraq — the place presidents “realized that falsehoods can boomerang on the leaders who inform them.”
“No matter short-term acquire Mr. Trump thinks he’s getting by mendacity concerning the conflict in Iran is way exceeded by the price, for him, the nation and the world,” it concluded.
