Will War with Iran Make Trump Feel Tougher? | Opinion

Having an insecure president during a time of crisis is a problem, largely because he’s going to say things like this when asked about possibly bombing Iran : “I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I'm going to do.”

That was President Donald Trump’s wildly problematic comment on June 18 .

First, President Dodo-head seems to think the decision to draw America into a potentially cataclysmic conflict in the Middle East is his alone ‒ you’ll note the use of the first person four times in two sentences. Apparently, Congress and the American public have no voice in such a decision. It all rests in the little hands of the Supreme Leader.

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Trump says, 'Nobody knows what I'm going to do.' No kidding.

Second, the man who oversees the world’s largest military probably shouldn’t be saying, “ Nobody knows what I’m going to do .” That sounds like something an unhinged dictator would say and … well, never mind, I guess that tracks.

Trump was speaking outside the White House, where he was having two enormous flagpoles installed . It was effectively an advertisement for male overcompensation, which makes sense in the wake of Trump’s poorly attended and morose military parade , the one he thought would cast him in the all-powerful-ruler light he desires.

Opinion: From massive protests to a puny parade, America really let Donald Trump down

The weekend and weakened parade was overshadowed by millions of Americans across the country protesting Trump and his king-like behavior .

Trump sent the Marines to be bored in LA

Before that, the president’s previous show of manly-man toughness ‒ sending the U.S. Marines into Los Angeles to address anti-ICE protesters ‒ also failed. Now, soldiers are just standing around in a city that’s doing fine .

Will the quest to quench this man’s insecurity ever end?

Trump stumbled disconsolately from his puny parade to the summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations in Canada on June 16, then left early the next day to return to Washington, DC, ostensibly to deal with the worsening crisis between Israel and Iran.

After getting home, Trump’s “dealing with the crisis” seemed to largely involve posting unhinged comments on social media, bizarrely advising residents of Tehran to evacuate and, despite claiming the United States isn’t involved in Israel’s ongoing attacks on Iran, boldly proclaiming : “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.”

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Trump raises flagpoles while threatening war

So are we in or are we out? It’s a reasonable question for any American to ask, and it’s one Trump clearly won’t answer, as evidenced by his “nobody knows what I’m going to do” comment during the apparently critical installation of new White House phallic symbols.

“These are the most magnificent poles made,” Trump posted on social media on June 17, the night before the flagpoles went up. “They are tall, tapered, rust proof, rope inside the pole, and of the highest quality.”

Great job, Mr. President. Americans are laser-focused on White House pole quality and are not at all concerned about you starting a war nobody wants ‒ a new Economist/YouGov poll finds "only 16% of Americans think the U.S. military should get involved in the conflict between Israel and Iran" ‒ without congressional approval.

Trump's sad-boy feelings will always override what's best for America

Trump is proving, as if we needed proof, that insecure men are dangerous. They act impulsively, with no focus beyond soothing their own tender feelings.

Dispatching troops against American citizens didn’t make Trump feel big. A military parade didn’t make him feel big. He didn’t feel big around other world leaders at the G7 summit, so he left and did some online hollering and saber-rattling.

And now? We wait to see if our capricious president needs to drop a bunker-busting bomb on Iran to feel big.

We wait to see if Trump single-handedly marches America into war, leaving us to suffer the blowback of his inextinguishable self-doubt.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's parade didn't make him feel tough. Maybe a war with Iran will? | Opinion