What did Donald Trump do today?

He melted down over pressure that he says he isn't feeling to find some escape hatch from the Iran debacle.

For the second time in less than a week, Trump spent the better part of a workday crafting and posting an angry social media rant, insisting in four emotionally overwrought posts that he was not feeling any pressure to end the war with Iran, while simultaneously saying it would happen soon and demanding that the news media pretend that it was already over.

This is what Trump posted (shown here as a single connected text) between 1:35 and 2:28, while he was supposedly in a "policy meeting."

The DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as “The Iran Nuclear Deal,” penned by Barack Hussein Obama and Sleepy Joe Biden, one of the Worst Deals ever made having to do with the Security of our Country. It was a guaranteed Road to a Nuclear Weapon, which will not, and cannot, happen with the Deal we’re working on. They actually gave $1.7 Billion Dollars in “GREEN” Cash, loaded into a Boeing 757, and flown to Iran for Iranian leadership to spend anyway they saw fit. He emptied out all of the Cash from Banks in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Those Bankers said they’ve never seen anything like it before. In addition, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars was paid to Iran. If I did not terminate that “Deal,” Nuclear Weapons would have been used on Israel, and all over the Middle East, including our cherished U.S. Military Bases. The Fake News, like Lightweight Washington Post “Journalist” David Ignatius, loves to talk about the JCPOA, knowing that it was DANGEROUS, and a Complete Embarrassment to our Country. If a Deal happens under “TRUMP,” it will guarantee Peace, Security, and Safety, not only for Israel and the Middle East, but for Europe, America, and everywhere else. It will be something that the entire World will be proud of, instead of the years of Embarrassment and Humiliation that we have been forced to suffer due to incompetent and cowardly leadership! The Democrats are doing everything possible to hurt the very strong position we are in with respect to Iran. Despite World War I lasting 4 years, 3 months, and 14 days, World War II lasting 6 years and 1 day, the Korean War lasting 3 years, 1 month, and 2 days, the Vietnam War lasting 19 years, 5 months, and 29 days, and Iraq lasting 8 years, 8 months, and 28 days, they like to say that I promised 6 weeks to defeat Iran, and actually, from the Military standpoint, it was far faster than that, but I’m not going to let them rush the United States into making a Deal that is not as good as it could have been. I read the Fake News saying that I am under “pressure” to make a Deal. THIS IS NOT TRUE! I am under no pressure whatsoever, although, it will all happen, relatively quickly! Time is not my adversary, the only thing that matters is that we finally, after 47 years, straighten out the MESS that other Presidents let happen because they didn’t have the Courage or Foresight to do what had to be done with respect to Iran. We’re in it, and it will be done RIGHT, and we won’t let the Weak and Pathetic Democrats, TRAITORS ALL, who for years have been talking about the Dangers of Iran, and that something has to be done, but now, since I’m the one doing it, belittle the accomplishments of our Military and the Trump Administration. This is being perfectly executed, on the scale of Venezuela, just a bigger, more complex operation. The result will be the same. In my First Term, I built the Greatest Military our Country has ever seen, including adding Space Force. In my Second Term, I am properly and judiciously using our Military to solve problems left to us by others of far less understanding or competence. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! I’m winning a War, BY A LOT, things are going very well, our Military has been amazing and, if you read the Fake News, like The Failing New York Times, the absolutely horrendous and disgusting Wall Street Journal, or the now almost defunct, fortunately, Washington Post, you would actually think we are losing the War. The enemy is confused, because they get these same Media “reports,” and yet they realize their Navy has been completely wiped out, their Air Force has gone onto darker runways, they have no Anti Missile or Anti Airplane Equipment, their former leaders are mostly gone (This has been, in addition to everything else, Regime Change!), and perhaps, most important of all, THE BLOCKADE, which we will not take off until there is a “DEAL,” is absolutely destroying Iran. They are losing $500 Million Dollars a day, an unsustainable number, even in the short run. The Anti-America Fake News Media is rooting for Iran to win, but it’s not going to happen, because I’m in charge! Just like these unpatriotic people used every ounce of their limited strength to fight me in the Election, they continue to do so with Iran. The result will be the same — It already is! The Iranian leadership has forced hundreds of Ships toward the United States, mostly Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to get their Oil — Thank you very much! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Very little of this is new. Trump frequently takes credit for the existence of the U.S. military, declares himself the greatest president ever, and calls Americans who disagree with him "TRAITORS," including and especially the people who report the news he makes. 

Unfortunately, the lack of news here is a problem for the vast majority of Americans, and world markets, who have been waiting for any sign that Trump had somehow been talked into accepting the reality of the situation, or at least convinced to declare victory and go home in spite of the outcome.

In particular, the fact that Trump referenced the JCPOA, the multinational agreement that kept Iran nuclear-free until Trump withdrew from it in a fit of pique in 2018, is a bad sign here. It's no secret that Trump, who personally loathes former President Barack Obama, sabotaged the JCPOA to undermine Obama's foreign policy legacy. But the $1.7 billion he mentions—Iranian funds frozen in foreign accounts as a result of US sanctions that were lifted as part of the JCPOA—has been in the news again recently for reasons that have outraged Trump: as a point of comparison for the billions of dollars in new revenue streams Trump's war has potentially provided Iran. In fact, Trump has even hinted at offering his own vastly larger $20 billion financial incentive for Iran to table its nuclear program, though he denied it when asked directly. 

Iran's leaders, perhaps not feeling they had much to gain by bargaining with someone who posted and 816-word rant about how he absolutely wasn't feeling extreme pressure to make a deal, responded with a shrug and signaled they were prepared for a return to hostilities.

Why does this matter?

• People who are as accomplished at the "art of the deal" as Trump thinks he is rarely have public tantrums about how not desperate they are to make the whole situation go away. 

• No matter how often he says it, the American people are not Donald Trump's enemy, and him being president doesn't change that.

• Literally everyone and everything involved here is more important than Donald Trump's ego.