There are plenty of things that can be highlighted from Donald Trump’s recent public appearances.
Here are four:
Inconsistencies in discussions with Iranians
The US president In the last 12 hours it has been said a few times that talks are going on with the Iranians.
“They want to make a deal,” he said Sunday night on a flight back to Washington DC, repeating it on Monday.
But when asked the obvious questions – “Who do you want to contract with?” and “What does a deal look like?” – The President could not answer.
Instead, all those who were talking are now dead, he said. He has previously stated that the military operation was so successful that it was strange.
He wondered if he wanted to make a deal with the Iranians even if they wanted to. These musings are said to be “they want to make a deal”.
Donald Trump looks at a model aircraft commemorating the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. Image: Reuters
Artificial intelligence
The President revealed that he had seen a video (probably on social media) showing the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln being attacked and bursting into flames. He then called his generals and asked, “What’s wrong with Abraham Lincoln? It looks like he’s on fire.” Then they said it was fake.
This raises serious questions about what the president absorbs and believes on social media.
Mr Trump and Sir Keir Stormer spoke on the phone on Sunday. Image: AP
Stormer call
The President and Prime Minister spoke on phone on Sunday. The “readout” of the call from Downing Street was thin and revealed very little. A source told me later that the call was “good” and there was a “clear shared interest in keeping the Strait of Hormuz open”.
I am told that none of the public frustration shown by the President was reflected in the call.
The president has now revealed a further window into that call.
“You know the prime minister of the UK—the United Kingdom—said yesterday, ‘I’m meeting with my team to make a decision’.”
“I said, ‘You don’t need to meet the team. You are the prime minister. You can make your own… why meet your team to find out whether you will send us some mine sweepers or not…'”
Learning about Lebanon
In another moment of conscious thought, he revealed that he had recently been briefed on the geopolitical power structure in Lebanon – important to understand that the US was now supporting Israeli military operations there. In the same sentence, he expressed surprise that people live in Ukraine or Lebanon.
This is a verbatim transcript of that moment: “… a substantial man, a wealthy man, whose parents live in Lebanon. I said: ‘Really, how do you live in Lebanon? Your parents? Oh, yes, they live there. And over the years, they’ve used the fact that they’re being bombed.’
“But he explained to me that this is actually a different section of Lebanon. This is the section where Hezbollah is and they use it, I guess… meaning people live in Ukraine.
“You think they don’t live in Ukraine, but they live in Ukraine. I don’t know that I do, but they live in Ukraine. They live in Lebanon.”
