US attacked Iran because of 'imminent threat', says Marco Rubio. #US #Iran #BBCNews
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson have now handed the American left the most damning indictment of Donald Trump's leadership imaginable -- and they don't even seem to realize it.
Rubio stood before reporters on Capitol Hill and explained why the United States attacked Iran: "We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties." (Al Jazeera)
Read that again. The United States Secretary of State just told the world that America went to war because Israel decided to, and we couldn't stop them.
Johnson drove the point home even more nakedly: "Israel was determined to act in their own defense here, with or without American support." (The Hill)
With or without American support. A nation of 9 million people -- one that receives over $21 billion in U.S. military aid -- dragged the most powerful military in human history into a war, and the best defense Trump's allies can offer is that he had no choice.
The media is missing the real story here. They're saying this rationale doesn't make sense. It makes perfect sense -- once you accept that Trump was too weak to tell Netanyahu no.
For fifty years, every president -- Republican and Democrat -- was strong enough to restrain Israel from this exact move. Nixon. Reagan. Both Bushes. Clinton. Obama. None of them let Israel dictate American war policy. Trump couldn't manage it. Netanyahu had been urging Trump to strike Iran since December (Axios) -- and Trump folded.
Iran's foreign minister put it bluntly: "US has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian 'threat.'" (The Times of Israel) Even Steve Bannon -- Steve Bannon -- was left bewildered: "If we knew Israel would strike and Iran would retaliate against us, where was the coordination? We need a strategic explanation." (Axios)
When you've lost Bannon, you've lost the plot.
And there's more. The most damning indictment of Trump's capitulation to Netanyahu isn't coming from the left -- it's coming from his own base. Tucker Carlson has been unequivocal: "It's hard to say this, but the United States didn't make the decision here. Benjamin Netanyahu did. This happened because Israel wanted it to happen. This is Israel's war. This is not the United States' war." (The Times of Israel) Carlson didn't just say it publicly -- he reportedly met with Trump three times in the Oval Office to urge him to "restrain" Netanyahu, arguing that Netanyahu's desire to attack Iran was the sole reason Trump was considering the strike. Trump told him the U.S. had no choice. (The Hill) No choice. The most powerful man in the world told one of his closest media allies that he had no choice but to follow the lead of a foreign prime minister.
Candace Owens was equally blunt: "This was not Trump's decision, it was Bibi Netanyahu's decision and that is the reason that he did it. We're very aware that Israel is dictating our foreign policy and we would like that to stop." (Rolling Stone) Megyn Kelly said the American soldiers who died did not die for the United States -- "I think they died for Iran or for Israel." (TheWrap) Rep. Thomas Massie called it a betrayal of "America First," and Marjorie Taylor Greene called it the "worst betrayal" of the MAGA movement. (The Jerusalem Post) When Trump's most loyal supporters -- the people who have defended his every move for a decade -- are saying he did Netanyahu's bidding, the weakness argument isn't fringe anymore. It's the conclusion his own coalition has reached.
This is the message that must be repeated a million times: Trump is the weakest president in 50 years. He couldn't say no to a smaller, dependent ally. He let Netanyahu set America's war agenda. He got played -- and now six American service members are dead, 18 more are seriously wounded.
Trump has always won on "strength." That illusion just shattered. His own Secretary of State confessed it on national television. The macho strongman who promised "America First" went to war because Israel told him to.
That's not strength. That's a puppet who can't cut his own strings.
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