Quote · The Bulwark Podcast
Maggie Haberman: A Gross and Messy White House
Where this was said
Trump and Iran: A Gut Feeling That Backfired
At 34:50 · chapter starts 32:00
Miller raises the Iran war and the surprising revelation that Trump was privately hawkish on Iran long before the conflict began. Haberman explains that Trump's view of Iran is rooted in his 1980s formative years — Jimmy Carter humiliated by the hostage crisis, Iran as the defining threat. When Netanyahu visited Mar-a-Lago after the Butler assassination attempt to make peace (Trump had been furious at Netanyahu for congratulating Biden in 2020), Trump made clear he would be far more aggressive on Iran in a second term. He was fascinated by Israel's pager attacks on Hezbollah and flush from what he saw as the clean, successful Venezuela operation — in which a foreign head of state was seized with no American casualties. He went into the Iran war expecting similar speed. His top military advisor Dan Caine warned him explicitly: munitions could be critically depleted, the Strait of Hormuz could be closed. Only JD Vance emphatically pushed back in the meetings. Trump went anyway. Now, Haberman says quietly, he wants out.
Trump has always been more hawkish on Iran than his own advisors, and he went into the war believing it would be over in days, the way the Venezuela operation was swift and clean. He was warned about depleted munitions and a closed Strait of Hormuz. He went anyway. Now he wants out.
Haberman reports Trump was always more aggressive on Iran than his own advisors, and told Netanyahu after the Butler shooting he would be far more aggressive in a second term.
