President Donald Trump did something Tuesday that he has done repeatedly over the course of his political career: He issued a dramatic warning ahead of negotiations.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump said Tuesday morning on Truth Social regarding Iran.
“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”
If you checked social media in the hours after that post was made, you’d be led to believe that Trump was actually going to kill “a whole civilization.”
Executive editor of Aporia Magazine, Bo Winegard, posted, “Ok this is legitimately a threat to annihilate an entire people, an obvious and grotesque war crime. There is absolutely no defense of this and it should lead to immediate impeachment and removal.”
Mehdi Hasan rebuked former President Bill Clinton for “Tweeting about college sports while the current president is pledging genocide tonight at 8pm.”
Candace Owens posted on X: “The 25th amendment needs to be invoked. He is a genocidal lunatic. Our Congress and military need to intervene. We are beyond madness.”
Aaron Rupar posted: “I feel sick to my stomach waiting around today to see what atrocity Trump has in mind for the people of Iran this evening. It’s hard to fathom that our other elected leaders aren’t able to check him in any meaningful way. It’s really an indictment not just of the electorate but our whole system of government. We’re ruled by a mad king.”
Alex Jones posted: “WAR CRIME ALERT!!” and claimed Trump was threatening “genocide.”
“Trump literally sounds like an unhinged super villain from a Marvel comic movie. This IS NOT WHAT WE VOTED FOR!!!”
Anthony Scaramucci posted: “Wake up: he is calling for A NUCLEAR STRIKE. Seek his removal immediately.”
Dozens of Democrat lawmakers also called for Trump’s removal from office following the post, as NBC reported.
Despite the pearl-clutching and predictions, the anticipated scenario never materialized. Instead, Iran agreed to a temporary ceasefire. Such an outcome wasn’t a surprise to anyone who understands Trump’s negotiation strategies: The language the president used in Tuesday’s post mirrored rhetoric he used in previous foreign policy confrontations.
During an August 2017 press gaggle, Trump said: “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. [Kim Jong Un] has been very threatening beyond a normal state. And as I said, they will be met with fire, fury, and, frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
Trump threatened to “totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey” in 2019 if “Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits.”
The pattern — maximalist rhetoric aimed at advancing certain goals — has been a defining feature of Trump’s foreign policy approach for a decade. Anyone paying attention and anyone who understands Trump knows that.