Trump’s Shameless Iran Reversals

Almost everything in the Trump administration seems like an implausible pitch for a television show, containing so many oddball plot devices and weird twists that even the most creative showrunner would veto most of them. Wait, what? The president wants to invade Greenland? Marco Rubio is clomping around in the wrong-size shoes? And what’s this about Bobby Kennedy and a dead raccoon?But nothing compares to “the Iran war” as an off-the-rails subplot that defies comprehension: A major military operation that began with thunderous promises of regime change in Tehran and the remaking of the Middle East is now fizzling out with Vice President Vance gamely standing around in Switzerland while Donald Trump proclaims that Iran needs missiles and the new ayatollah’s emissaries demand more reparations. The whiplash is so extreme, the outcomes so ludicrous, that no sensible screenwriter would attempt to sell any of this as a coherent story.Four months ago, Trump promised the people of Iran that he was going to bomb their oppressors out of power, and that once the smoke cleared, they could take their government from the mullahs who have ruled them since 1979. Destroying the Iranian regime was clearly the goal from the outset, and Trump—spurred on by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—probably envisioned himself as the honored liberator of Persia.At least a few people in Trump’s inner circle tried to temper the president’s enthusiasm, but glory is a seductive drug, and Trump decided to forge ahead. In a video released during the first night of bombing, Trump affirmed that the regime would never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. But the final part of the message suggested that Iran’s past transgressions and future ambitions were all beside the point: The regime would cease to exist. Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropp