Nah, Trump doesn’t want this to escalate. Exactly the opposite in fact. He wants to hit Iran, then call a ceasefire, so he can say that he boldly applied a mixture of force and diplomacy to resolve the situation (you know, the one that his constant enabling of Isreal and his pull out from the Iran nuclear deal created). He’s looking for a quick win, not a protracted conflict.
This seems counterintuitive because of the obvious similarities to the George Bush playbook. Start a war in the Middle East, become a wartime president, get re-elected/made president for life. But it’s not 2001 anymore. American attitudes have changed. In particular, the right have really soured on the whole war in the Middle East thing. America regularly cycles between World Police and Total Isolationism, and right now MAGA is leading the charge deep into an Isolationist era. They see foreign wars and foreign aid as the same bucket; money spent on people who aren’t them.
So Trump is trapped between his base, who have no interest in another forever war, and his need to put at least one win on the board for his absolute disaster of a presidency. The optimal out for him here is a quick resolution, which is why he is absolutely losing his shit over Isreal constantly escalating the situation, and Iran having the sheer audacity to strike back despite his oh so clear instructions.
Nah, Trump doesn’t want this to escalate. Exactly the opposite in fact. He wants to hit Iran, then call a ceasefire, so he can say that he boldly applied a mixture of force and diplomacy to resolve the situation (you know, the one that his constant enabling of Isreal and his pull out from the Iran nuclear deal created). He’s looking for a quick win, not a protracted conflict.
This seems counterintuitive because of the obvious similarities to the George Bush playbook. Start a war in the Middle East, become a wartime president, get re-elected/made president for life. But it’s not 2001 anymore. American attitudes have changed. In particular, the right have really soured on the whole war in the Middle East thing. America regularly cycles between World Police and Total Isolationism, and right now MAGA is leading the charge deep into an Isolationist era. They see foreign wars and foreign aid as the same bucket; money spent on people who aren’t them.
So Trump is trapped between his base, who have no interest in another forever war, and his need to put at least one win on the board for his absolute disaster of a presidency. The optimal out for him here is a quick resolution, which is why he is absolutely losing his shit over Isreal constantly escalating the situation, and Iran having the sheer audacity to strike back despite his oh so clear instructions.