What did Donald Trump do today?

He changed his position on whether it's a good thing to shoot protestors.

Trump was apparently awake at 2:58 a.m. this morning, and took the opportunity to post on social media that he would "come to the rescue" of Iranian protestors if the government of Iran "shots [sic] and violently kills" them.

There are protests happening now in Iran, over the country's dire economic situation. Unlike some previous uprisings in Iran, these don't appear to be aimed at toppling the government. That was more characteristic of the 2019-2020 protests during Trump's first term, which he largely ignored as some 1,500 Iranian citizens died.

Trump didn't say how the United States would "rescue" protestors—and nobody thinks he could. A ground invasion is inconceivable and airstrikes would only endanger protestors. Even Iran's government, which routinely uses Trump's threats and bluster as a foil against its population, didn't rise to the bait.

Trump himself has threatened violence against protestors many times when his regime was the target. He made a running joke of promising to pay the legal bills of supporters who attacked protestors at his campaign rallies, although he immediately broke that promise when someone took him up on it. His own Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, said that Trump's reaction to the George Floyd protests in 2020 was to ask whether the United States military couldn't be deployed to "just shoot them in the legs or something." 

This isn't the first time this week Trump has rattled the saber against Iran. Earlier, it was to warn the Iranian government of unspecified "consequences" if Iran continued to build up its nuclear program—the same nuclear program that Trump claimed six months ago was "OBLITERATED LIKE NOBODY'S EVER SEEN BEFORE" by telegraphed bombings of certain facilities. (As experts pointed out at the time, Iran was obviously capable of refining uranium almost anywhere, making the attacks on hardened underground targets mostly cosmetic.)

Why does this matter?

• Empty threats like this make the United States look weak. 

• You either believe shooting protestors is wrong all the time, or you don't believe it at all.