Trump’s views on presidential powers take an even more radical turn
In theory, there are a great many lessons Donald Trump should have learned after launching a failed war against Iran. In practice, however, the president appears to have learned effectively nothing.
In fact, by some measures, he appears to have come away from the conflict having learned the wrong lessons.
In an interview with “The Axios Show” that aired over the weekend, Marc Caputo asked the president, “What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?”
It was a good question that received an unfortunate answer. “There are no limits,” the Republican replied.
Pressed further, Trump added: “I haven’t learned that lesson yet.”
It was a bizarre answer, in large part because presidents are supposed to recognize legal limits, but also because common sense suggests he would also be aware of practical limits. The president launched the war convinced that he could simply bomb Iran until it agreed to an “unconditional surrender.” He similarly set out to achieve five specific objectives, nearly all of which went unmet when he decided to accept a rather pathetic deal that forced Iran to concede effectively nothing.
If there really were “no limits” to his ability to exercise power, the outcome of the conflict would have looked far different.
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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