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Analyst warns ‘surprising’ new poll constitutes a ‘clear warning’ to Trump
President Donald Trump is falling further underwater with the American public after bombing Iran's nuclear sites over the weekend.
The New Republic's Greg Sargent noted in his Tuesday column that the post-bomb polls are being released, showing that Americans don't trust Trump to handle the attack appropriately. But for those who spent decades of GOP flag-waving and "freedom fries," repelling from support of a president during war is an evolution.
"For politicians and pundits of a certain age, it’s normally assumed that military action will unleash a 'rally around the flag' effect, leading the public to reflexively approve of the decisions by the 'commander in chief'—particularly if he’s a Republican—and automatically see criticism of him as unpatriotic," wrote Sargent. "But it’s unlikely that we’ll see a similar dynamic this time around."
He cited "a surprising new CNN poll" and a Reuters poll, which delivered a startling wake-up call for the five-month-old administration.
Reuters shows just 36% of Americans support Trump's bombing. Sargent asked, "Will this hold amid an enduring truce? I think it might. Paint-by-numbers pundits are assuming voters like war. Let's not assume this."
The CNN poll shows 56% of people are against the bombing, and 55% don't trust Trump to make the right decisions on Iran. The startling number of that group, however, comes from a whopping 62% of independents.
"People who lived through the run-up to Iraq assume war is good politics for GOP presidents," but no more, he said.
Some critics question if Trump's urgency to bomb Iran has to do with his failure to "fix" the economy he promised could be done "on day one." He's also failed to stop the war between Ukraine and Russia, despite saying it would be "easy" and that he could probably do it before taking the oath on Jan. 20.
"It’s no accident that the CNN poll also finds that 58 percent of Americans say Trump’s bombing will make Iran more of a threat to the U.S.," Sargent assessed, noting that the two things might be connected: Americans against the bombing and those who don't trust him.
"This will surprise those who were snakebit by George W. Bush’s popularity in the run-up to the Iraq War and Karl Rove’s political warfare at the time," said Sargent. "The grounds for that war were visibly thin. Yet it’s hard to convey to people who didn’t live through it how unshakable Bush’s grip on public opinion seemed after September 11, 2001; how rampant war fever and rank Islamophobia were in this country; and how deeply it all penetrated into every crevice of American life."
Things are different two decades later, and Sargent said it isn't difficult to see why. Even Trump attacked the war in Iraq and pledged to stop "forever wars" during his campaign. Unlike with Bush, there wasn't a 9/11 attack to bring Americans together around a strong leader. Instead, it has been a contentious decade, and the economy has been limping along after the global pandemic.
"No matter how hard Trump and his propagandists spin otherwise, the bombing was unjustified and probably illegal, the runup to it was a clown show, and we'd be better off with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Folks shouldn't assume voters will forget all that," he noted on X.
Ultimately, it's clear that a majority of the country doesn't trust Trump to handle national security decisions, and even though Americans want Congress more involved, Sarget said it's clear they're all "on a very short political leash."
Iran fires missiles at US military base in Qatar: reports
Three different news reports are saying that Iran has fired missiles at a U.S. military base in Qatar.
Wall Street Journal national security reporter Lara Seligman noted just before noon EST Monday, "Iran is moving missile launchers into place for a potential attack on U.S. forces in the Middle East in response to the surprise American strike on three nuclear sites over the weekend, according to U.S. officials. DOD tracking a 'credible' threat to U.S. forces in the region."
Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a post on X that it suspended air traffic around the same time "to ensure the safety of citizens, residents and visitors."
"Iran has fired missiles at US bases in Qatar and Iraq. Extent of damage--and whether there are US casualties--will be crucial in determining whether there is additional escalation," Gregory Brew, senior analyst of Iran and Energy at The Eurasia Group, reported.
Axios global affairs correspondent Barak Ravid said on X that an "Israeli official" told him "Iran launched 6 missiles towards U.S. bases in Qatar."
Fox News also confirmed the report.
Al Udeid Air Base, which is based in Qatar, is the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East, with approximately 10,000 U.S. personnel.
‘Awful quagmire’: Pundit warns Trump has doomed GOP by squandering winning card
Democratic pundit Paul Begala claimed Monday that President Donald Trump has doomed the GOP for the upcoming midterm elections because he failed to get the American people on board with his attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
On CNN Monday, Begala conceded, "Nobody wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Nobody. I mean, nobody."
Begala then argued that Trump "needs to make the case that it was the last option, the only option, and that it worked, and that he has now postured us to defend ourselves. And I know he has not done that. He is running around deporting people at Home Depot instead of engaging in counterterrorism on the homeland."
Host John Berman asked about Democrats who are slamming Trump for bypassing congressional authorization before bombing Iran.
"Is there anything to gain for [Democrats] at this point by, you know, yelling and screaming, 'Hey, you should have contacted us. Hey, we need to vote on this.'"
"Well, yeah. They're sending a signal they're going to win the House, okay? Mark it," Begala exclaimed. "It's 500-and-some-odd days away, but Trump is handing the House to the Democrats. And then to stand up and say, 'This is what we need in this country: We need checks and balances.' This man is unchecked and unbalanced."
Begala claimed American voters are not buying Trump's latest flip-flop on regime change in Iran.
"He's musing about killing the Ayatollah. Now he's talking about regime change!" Begala declared. "Pretty soon it's going to be invade, conquer, and occupy, and nation building. And, you know, 'Shock and Awe' can turn into an awful quagmire very quickly. And that's what the American people don't want."
‘It was all lies!’ Massive backlash spreads as Trump tries to spin bombing
During his run to retake the White House in 2024, U.S. President Donald Trump promised to avoid "endless war" and serve as a "peace president."
"We will measure our success not only by the battles we win," Trump said during his second inaugural address in January, "but also by the wars that we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars that we never get into."But after he launched airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites and called for "regime change" this weekend, critics accused him of blatantly misleading the American public.
"Trump, who proclaimed upon his inauguration he wanted to be remembered as a 'peacemaker,' couldn't even wait a half a year into his term to do the thing that he had told everyone he wouldn’t do, and which he built his entire political brand on opposing," wrote columnist Branko Marcetic in Jacobin.
On the campaign trail, Trump lambasted his predecessor, Joe Biden, as a "warmonger," promising to end the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. However, both conflicts not only continue to rage, but have grown bloodier.
Massacres by Israel Defense Forces soldiers in U.S.-administered aid sites have ramped up in recent months as Israel advances with what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described in February as "U.S. President Trump's plan for the creation of a different Gaza.”
As Trump has abandoned talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine have likewise surged in recent weeks. Shortly after Trump's airstrikes on Iran, the Kremlin launched over 300 drones and dozens of missiles at Kyiv, leaving seven people dead and 31 injured, according to The Washington Post.
"Trump said he could end Russia’s war against Ukraine before his inauguration. He said he would negotiate an end to the war in Gaza with a phone call," wrote civil and labor rights leader Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II on X. "He said Biden was going to drag the US into World War III, but he would be a peace president. It was all lies."
Since he entered the political arena Trump has railed against the wars launched by former President George W. Bush. On the Republican primary debate stage in 2015, he described the Iraq War as a "big, fat mistake," building his credibility with Americans seeking a break from the GOP's interventionist foreign policy consensus.
After Trump's airstrikes on Saturday, his associates attempted to downplay the obvious comparisons with Bush's disastrous legacy.
Vice President JD Vance—who on the campaign trail called out Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' coziness with Bush's vice president, Dick Cheney, and his ex-congresswoman daughter, Liz Cheney—went on NBC to do damage control and explain how Trump's actions were somehow different from those of the 43rd president.
"I empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East. I understand the concern," he said. "But the difference is that back then we had dumb presidents and now we have a president who actually knows how to accomplish America's national security objectives."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both assured the public that this would not be another war of "regime change," like Bush waged in Iraq.
But Trump thoroughly undermined their claims on Sunday night, when he posted on Truth Social: "It's not politically correct to use the term, 'Regime Change' but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn't there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!"
In a Sunday column for The Guardian, Mohamad Bazzi, director of the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and an associate professor of journalism at New York University, argued that Trump is following Bush's model.
"Donald Trump has dragged the U.S. into another war based on exaggerations and manipulated intelligence," Bazzi wrote. "The people of the Middle East will pay the highest price for yet another reckless war built on a lie."
Arrest made in ‘road rage incident’ against GOP lawmaker Max Miller
Police have arrested a 36-year-old man in what they're calling a "road rage incident" involving Ohio Rep. Max Miller (R), according to WKYC-TV.
The suspect was identified as Feras Hamdan of Westlake, Ohio. The charge is a misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing.
"In details released Friday morning...Hamdan voluntarily turned himself in with counsel. An arrest warrant had been issued after Miller signed a criminal complaint for aggravated menacing and motion for a protection order," the news station reported.
A press release from the Rocky River Police Department stated, "Congressman Miller reported he was driving on Interstate 90 when the suspect threatened him and his family along with making antisemitic slurs. The suspect's vehicle left the area prior to the arrival of responding officers."
Miller released a statement on the incident, writing, "I will continue to fight against antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of hate. You have an issue, take it to our office. You want to run me off the road, that’s a different story. We know who you are young man, and the police are going to be paying you a visit -- and I hope what you did this morning is worth it to you and anyone else who plans on doing this to anybody within our district, state or country."
‘I had no clue’: Worker reacts to being blindsided by bizarre Trump event
Donald Trump subjected a crew of flagpole installers to a bizarre press conference Wednesday, trapping the workers in an impromptu political rant that covered everything from bombing Iran to Harvey Weinstein's legal troubles.
And one of those who stood awkwardly behind the president has described his bewilderment.
The spectacle unfolded when Trump, trailed by reporters, marched toward construction workers erecting massive flagpoles on White House grounds. Apparently without warning, the workers found themselves unwilling participants in a wide-ranging presidential tirade.
"Any illegal immigrants?" Trump asked the crew upon approaching—presumably as a joke.
Christopher Tattersall, a 40-year-old tree surgeon from Maryland, later described his bewilderment at being thrust into the global spotlight. "I didn't really know what to think," he told The New York Times. "I was just there, in the moment, you know, and I got the president next to me giving a worldwide press conference."
As Trump launched into attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Tattersall admitted he was completely lost. "I had no clue who he was talking about," he said. "I was basically just there as a fly on the wall, waiting for him to wrap it up and then we could get back to work."
The president's rambling expanded to include his "war on Harvard," Vladimir Putin, and conflicts between Pakistan and India. When Trump attempted crude humor about the flagpole "lifting," making suggestive references to words starting with "E," Tattersall remained unimpressed despite Trump's obvious expectation of laughter.
The awkward political theater adds to a later meeting in the Oval Office, where he subjected visiting soccer players to another impromptu political session. Timothy Weah, son of soccer legend George Weah and a U.S. Men's National Team star, found himself trapped alongside Juventus teammates as Trump discussed missile strikes and travel bans.
"They told us that we have to go and I had no choice," Weah said afterward. "I was caught by surprise, honestly. It was a bit weird. When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it's kind of like, I just want to play football, man."
