Trump Surrenders To Iran On Virtually Every Point [View all]

https://www.techdirt.com/2026/06/18/trump-surrenders-to-iran-on-virtually-every-point/
Thu, Jun 18th 2026 09:29am - Mike Masnick

If there’s one thing that Donald Trump has shown over the years, it’s that he will get his most sycophantic MAGA loyalists to insist there are perfectly obvious reasons why whatever he’s about to do is absolutely necessary… and then Trump will do the opposite, and all those hangers-on will magically change their story within minutes.

The excellent reporter Laura Jedeed has been tracking all of the excuses Trump and his team have been giving for why we absolutely had to go to war with Iran, and the very top one: eliminate their ballistic missile capability. Next: eliminate their nuclear program entirely. There was also some talk of “regime change.”

Details: (at Bluesky)

When Trump went to war with Iran, I watched every speech anyone in the administration gave and made a chart of every reason given for going to war

"Eliminate ballistic capability" was the #1 reason given: more even than preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon

— Laura Jedeed (@laurajedeed.bsky.social) 2026-06-17T21:21:49.542Z

We don't need no stinking Google Docs, here's the chart enlarged.