ANALYSIS — President Donald Trump has talked and maneuvered himself into a policy stance on the Israel-Iran conflict with no clear strategic objectives and a slew of contradictory words and actions.
After some hesitation, his backing of Israel has made some loud opinion-makers in his MAGA movement anxious, and some followers are worried he’s abandoning campaign promises. To that end, one senior House Democrat from a key national security committee wondered whether the president is taking a major political risk by shedding his “America First” cloak.
Trump’s spoken and social media statements in recent days about his next moves and just what he wants to happen have been as clear as mud — and often at odds with the previous public statement. As he turned hawkish on Tuesday, some of his senior aides did not dispel the notion of direct American military and intelligence community involvement in the fast-moving Middle East crisis.
