Maga critic says Trump’s a nihilist – and his battle with Iran proves it

When the American broadcaster Tucker Carlson warned Donald Trump of disaster if he went to war with Iran, he claims that Trump replied: “In the end, we all die anyway, so it doesn’t matter.” Such words uttered by a man with his finger on the nuclear button would be disturbing at any time. They are all the more troubling following his threat, made at the UN, to “annihilate” the country. Another bluff? As ever with President Trump, the question is whether there is method in the madness, or just madness. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump has told aides he is prepared to escalate the war after the midterm elections in November, resuming the bombing. For now, he has shown an entirely rational desire to keep Iran off the front pages before Americans vote. Iran, on the other hand, seems to want to hurt Trump by keeping gasoline prices high before the elections. The incident at RAF Fairford fits with that interpretation – if Iran is shown to be the “foreign actor” behind it. So, if Iran turmoil causes the Republicans to lose badly in November – opening the way for another impeachment – Trump may wish to punish the regime in Tehran. Carlson, a Maga icon, got an inkling what that might mean when he spoke to Trump in February, days before the war began. The two men were alone in the Oval Office and we have only Carlson’s account, given to NPR in a highly revealing interview last week (which is worth a read). Shorts The former Fox News host said he warned that attacking Iran would see the US kicked out of the Gulf, the collapse of the “American Empire” and Trump’s legacy and party destroyed. America would also be responsible for permanent civil war in Iran. “Yes, you’re right,” Trump is supposed to have replied, before making his strange remarks about death. Carlson was appalled. “I was shocked by that because it’s nihilism, and that’s the last thing any leader should display… Like, ‘I’m just proceeding with the knowledge that blackness awaits.’ Boy, that is not a healthy worldview, and it’s an unacceptable worldview for a man with decision-making power.” Carlson argues that Trump was bounced into war by Israel, serving Israel’s interests, not America’s. “He was pushed by a foreign country to do this. It is the most profoundly destructive single decision a president has made in our history. I feel sorry for him. I’m not angry at him personally… I have pity.” Asked to confirm or deny Carlson’s recollections, the White House pointed NPR to a Trump social media post calling Carlson and other critics “stupid people”. American broadcaster Tucker Carlson has said he ‘pities’ Donald Trump (Photo: Olivier Touron / AFP via Getty Images) Nevertheless, as the war reached a stalemate, in April, Trump notoriously told the regime in Iran: “Your civilisation will die tonight.” Carlson – perhaps remembering his Oval Office conversation – views that as a threat to carry out a nuclear strike. Trump should have been removed under the provisions of the 25th Amendment, he said, because using nuclear weapons could escalate to exchanges that might endanger the whole of humanity. “He should have been bundled up and taken out. That’s a crime. There’s no greater crime than that.” At the time, Trump’s threat was more plausibly read as a promise of massive conventional bombing, especially as he also said it would be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day” in Iran. But there is less ambiguity about the message he delivered at the UN General Assembly last week. Trump said he had “a big decision” to make about what to do if he failed to make a deal with Iran. “Do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?” Iran now has even greater motive to go as fast as possible to make the nuclear weapon Trump accuses them of wanting. The main reason for attacking Iran was, ostensibly, to halt its (literal) underground nuclear programme. But talks on this issue have been postponed to be part of some hypothetical, future grand bargain. Several rounds of discussions between the US and Iran have instead focused on opening the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil flowed unimpeded before the war began. Iran’s long coastline gives it a chokehold over the global economy, but it hadn’t tried to use it in decades (not since the 1980s, when it mined Gulf waters). If Trump steps up the bombing after November’s elections, Tehran can be expected once again to try to close the Strait. And it will resume the attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A worldwide economic recession could result. For the moment, we are in another period of stalemate. Trump is using economic sanctions against Iran. He has ordered American warships to stop Iran from exporting its oil through the Strait. Meanwhile, the US military – acting on Trump’s orders – has had some success in escorting tankers through. The Emirati state of Abu Dhabi has provided tankers to shuttle up and down the Strait – hugging the coast of Oman – to ships waiting just outside the danger zone. Costs are high, as much as $58m for a tanker laden with two million barrels of crude, according to one analyst. The Saudis have also diverted a large part of their oil production out through a pipeline to the Red Sea. So, global oil supplies have proved surprisingly robust. The outcome on the markets is that crude oil is only just over $100 a barrel – and has not reached the stratospheric $150 a barrel that some predicted. A US Air Force Rockwell B-1 Lancer bomber at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, where five British citizens were detained on suspicion of explosives offences and terrorism on Sunday (Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire) But gas prices for Americans buying at the pumps are still 50 per cent higher than before the war started. The New York Times says eight out of 10 Americans believe the war has raised the cost of living for them. For an “America First” president, this is more than just an embarrassment – it is a very personal, psychologically painful, defeat. Once again, then, we are talking about Trump’s psyche. How will he react to a humiliating defeat in the midterms? Will he simply walk away from the Iran mess? He has dismissed the war as “small potatoes”, a verbal shrug of the shoulders that might point to such an ignominious exit. Or will the war grind on, Trump’s successor left to extricate the United States from the Persian Gulf? Trump wants talks with Iran after the midterms, no doubt believing – despite evidence to the contrary so far – that he can work his magic as a dealmaker. But the Iranians are digging in about what will be on the agenda. They want concessions from the United States that will be hard for Trump to sell back home as anything other than a capitulation. No doubt Trump feels he must change the calculations being made in Tehran. Hence the warnings of Armageddon. These are a mirror image of Vladimir Putin’s repeated threats to use nuclear weapons over Ukraine. We must hope that the more we hear about nuclear weapons from these two leaders, the less likely it is they would actually use them. Trump’s bluster is captured by the Taco meme: Trump always chickens out. There’s a lot riding on it this time.