I’m not sure what would stop him from doing that earlier though?
It’s trump, he’d just tell his base it was a step in stopping a tenth war or whatever number he’s claiming nowadays, and that he’s lowering American gas prices.
I don’t think it’s entirely Epstein, that’d be facile. But, I do think that if trump is good at anything, it’s generally PR/spin but Epstein is the one thing he hasn’t been able to spin to get his base on side. And it’s an issue where he, and his administration look increasingly bad (think Lutnick, the mishandled redactions, credible witness interview saying trump assaulted a 13 year old etc.)
It’s also a matter of fact that trump has been acting much more erratic since the Epstein bill. Notably, carriers etc started building up in the South American theatre as the Epstein Transparency Act was being passed, with Maduro, Greenland and now Iran shortly after the initial deadlines.
Add really bad advice (oh yay, a Fox News host as secretary of defence), a cadre of yes men without the adult guardrails of the first administration and a streak of risky decisions not backfiring (e.g., striking Iran’s nuclear facilities and kidnapping Maduro) and you can see the stage being set for increasingly bad decisions.
Again, I don’t think it’s ALL Epstein but I do think trump is desperate to keep people distracted and that he doesn’t plan long term. So yeah, he’s probably been wanting to strike Iran and now that his mental calculus adds “keep people from talking Epstein” to the benefits column and that may be enough.
I don’t think even Trump is dumb enough to try to distract people from the Epstein files by attacking Iran.
He did it because he wanted to do it.
He did it because it helps fund Russia’s war efforts. The US lifted sanctions on countries buying Russian oil.
Yeah, that’s more likely than trying to distracting from Epstein.
They aren’t mutually exclusive.
Yeah, plus it’s all part of flooding the zone. Everything distracts so nothing stays in the news.
I’m not sure what would stop him from doing that earlier though?
It’s trump, he’d just tell his base it was a step in stopping a tenth war or whatever number he’s claiming nowadays, and that he’s lowering American gas prices.
After predicting Obama was going to do it to stay in office 30 times he convinced himself it was a good idea.
I don’t think it’s entirely Epstein, that’d be facile. But, I do think that if trump is good at anything, it’s generally PR/spin but Epstein is the one thing he hasn’t been able to spin to get his base on side. And it’s an issue where he, and his administration look increasingly bad (think Lutnick, the mishandled redactions, credible witness interview saying trump assaulted a 13 year old etc.)
It’s also a matter of fact that trump has been acting much more erratic since the Epstein bill. Notably, carriers etc started building up in the South American theatre as the Epstein Transparency Act was being passed, with Maduro, Greenland and now Iran shortly after the initial deadlines.
Add really bad advice (oh yay, a Fox News host as secretary of defence), a cadre of yes men without the adult guardrails of the first administration and a streak of risky decisions not backfiring (e.g., striking Iran’s nuclear facilities and kidnapping Maduro) and you can see the stage being set for increasingly bad decisions.
Again, I don’t think it’s ALL Epstein but I do think trump is desperate to keep people distracted and that he doesn’t plan long term. So yeah, he’s probably been wanting to strike Iran and now that his mental calculus adds “keep people from talking Epstein” to the benefits column and that may be enough.