What did Donald Trump do today?
He smirked through a video announcing the deaths of American servicemembers, then refused to explain himself.
Trump released a video today confirming the deaths of three American military personnel at an airbase in Kuwait. During the brief remarks, Trump alternates between two modes of speaking. In one, he reads relatively normal and diplomatic language directly from prompter, though in a sing-songy cadence. In the other, he riffs on what he's just said, speaking in what for him is a more natural voice but also smirking and shrugging as he says things like "that's just the way it is" about the deaths of American servicemembers.
Trump's comments about the dead servicemembers begin at 1:50 in this video.
In spite of having just launched an attack that seems likely to lead to massive instability in the Middle East if not outright war, Trump mostly hid from actual contact with the media today. He refused even to answer questions without a prompter about the slain servicemembers, something that may be unprecedented even for Trump, who has repeatedly angered family members of those who lost their lives in military service with callous or insensitive remarks.
Neither Trump nor his administration has been willing to commit even to a clear statement of what he's trying to accomplish, nor how anyone will know when or if his objectives have been achieved. He did make one shocking admission, which is that the figures he was most hoping would assume control over the Iranian government had been killed in the same attacks that took out Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
It's not clear what effect this will have on his plans for a post-attack Iran because, again, it's not clear he had any in the first place, and certainly none he has been willing to share, beyond the slim hope that certain specific elements of the political opposition will somehow seize power from the military itself amid the chaos of sustained missile and bombing attacks.
Why does this matter?
- The only reason to act like you don't care about American military deaths you're responsible for is if you don't care.