Trump wages war on Iran his own way: commander-in-chaos

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/14/trump-iran-war-chaos

“Mr President,” said a reporter. “You’ve said the war is ‘very complete’ but your defence secretary says, ‘This is just the beginning’. So which is it?” Donald Trump’s eyes darted left and right then down. “Well, I think you could say both,” he parried.

The confusing answer at a press conference in Doral, Florida this week did not befit a wartime leader armed with stirring rhetoric and a lucid plan. But it was entirely on brand for the 47th US president. The tumultuous style that Trump brings to election campaigns, dealing with Congress and global trade relations has now been imported to the theatre of war.

For as the conflict with Iran enters its third week, impacting nearly every corner of the Middle East and causing economic tremors around the world, Trump has emerged as America’s commander-in-chaos.

Jonathan Alter, a presidential historian who has written books about Franklin Roosevelt, Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, said: “He’s a chaos agent and that’s what he specialises in. He doesn’t think any further ahead than the next news cycle and so you get an on-again off-again zigzag foreign policy.”

Alter added: “He lies as easily as he breathes so to believe anything out of his mouth like, ‘we demand unconditional surrender’ – well, two days later, he won’t be demanding it anymore and he’ll pretend he never said it. His words are at some level meaningless except, because they’re backed by so much weaponry, they take on enormous importance.”