Donald Trump, who famously likes to cite Winston Churchill but is unfit to carry Churchill's bowler hat, should have heeded some of the greatest parliamentarian's words. Churchill said that a politician can be killed 'many times' by making rash predictions and by setting deadlines that are thereafter broken. 'There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away,' the longtime British prime minister said. 'It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.' Doing otherwise is 'criminal madness,' he reportedly said.
Trump's social media threats
Which brings us to Trump's use of social media to communicate threats and deadlines. It's not 'criminal,' per se, but 'madness' is a pretty good way to describe it. Nothing has been as deadly to Trump's political fortunes — not the use of the F-word online, not the price of eggs, not the genocidal threat to wipe out the entire Iranian civilization — as the U.S. president's repeated announcements of final, irrevocable deadlines, which he does not ever meet.
Deadlines come, deadlines go
Consider this list, which is only partial:
- First deadline: Trump sets a 48-hour deadline about the Strait of Hormuz. He says: 'If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST! Thank you for your attention to this matter.' Historians will note that, 48 hours after that 'exact point in time,' a fully open strait didn't happen. It's closed again, in fact. Also: Targeting their power plants is a war crime, say the experts.
- Second deadline: A five-day delay is announced to March 28. There have been 'VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS,' Trump proclaimed on March 23 in all caps. However: There are no discussions. At the moment, the Iranians won't even meet. Perhaps they are traumatized by all the all-caps stuff on Truth Social.
- A bunch of deadlines: Another day, another deadline. This time April 6. Talks were 'going very well,' Trump sunnily proclaimed. So the Iranians would be given a new eight-day extension. Asked by the media why the Iranians weren't as enthused about the discussions that were allegedly 'going very well,' Trump claimed the Iranians were 'afraid to say it.' (They're shy. Who knew, etc.)
- Things deteriorate further: Irritated, Trump gets back online on March 30 and thumbs out: 'If the Hormuz Strait is not immediately Open for Business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island.' Surprise surprise: That didn't seem to work so well. So on April 4, Trump declares that Iran has 48 hours to comply or 'all hell will reign down on them.' It didn't.
- Yet more deadlines: And yet more all-caps threats. Trump writes that a newly minted two-week ceasefire was 'subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.' It didn't happen — but our boy Donald generously went ahead with a ceasefire anyway.
- The latest deadline: A new one! Trump proclaims an unspecified new deadline because of 'the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured.'
Pleas from inner circle ignored?
'Fractured.' Apart from the fact that the same terroristic regime still runs the place; apart from the fact that they still possess 1,000 pounds of weapons-grade uranium; and apart from the fact that the Iranian regime is still murdering and subjugating their own people — apart from all that, the government of Iran is (checks notes) 'fractured.' Gotcha. Now, it is well-known that Trump likes to issue tough-guy threats on his nearly bankrupt Truth Social platform. He did it all the time with tariffs — threatening them against former allies like Canada on a whim and without any justification whatsoever. His tariffs are no longer considered constitutional, however. And his administration has started meekly paying back whatever was illicitly confiscated.
Meanwhile, the New York Times and others have reported that Trump's inner circle has repeatedly pleaded with him to stop proclaiming hard deadlines which he is later obliged to break. And that's not at all: Credible reports also have suggested that Trump's senior advisers have been keeping him away from critical moments during the war — such as the rescue of downed pilots in Iran — because they feared his social media-happy fingers will make a bad situation worse. All of that has now conspired to make Trump more unpopular than any president in recent years: He just keeps making dramatic predictions online that keep not happening. There's a reason they've started calling the U.S. president TACO, you know? You know: Trump always chickens out.
