Trump gives an 'obvious tell' that he has no idea what he’s doing

12.07.2018. BRUSSELS, BELGIUM. Press conference of Donald Trump, President of United States of America, during NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) SUMMIT 2018 (Shutterstock).

Donald Trump has made claims about Iran's nuclear capabilities in an attempt to justify his military strikes against the country, but according to a new analysis from MS NOW, he did so in a way that had an "obvious tell" signaling that he had no idea what he was talking about.

The U.S. began conducting a joint military operation against Iran over the weekend alongside Israel, with counterstrikes so far claiming the lives of six American service members. Trump's justifications for this campaign have been at times vague and inconsistent, with one of his claims from Sunday being that Iran was just "two weeks" out from being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

Writing for MS NOW on Thursday, journalist Jarvis DeBerry noted that while some lawmakers have already disputed Trump's claim, his use of the "two weeks" timeframe was "enough by itself to warrant our skepticism." As he explained, Trump has repeatedly claimed during his tenure that certain deals, plans, or proposals that never came to fruition were just "two weeks" away.

"Major developments — a health care plan, a deadline for Ukraine and Russia to come to terms, evidence that President Barack Obama illegally wiretapped him — are always two weeks away, in Trump’s telling," DeBerry wrote. "But few of his promised developments materialize within that timeframe — if they materialize at all. We’d be foolish, then, not to question Trump’s claim that Iran was two weeks away from possessing such a destructive weapon. And we have every right to be angry at Trump using his 'two weeks' jibber-jabber to talk about something as gravely serious as war."

Famously, in 2018, Trump claimed that a healthcare plan to replace the Affordable Care Act was just two weeks away. In 2020, when pressed again about his plan to replace the ACA, Trump again claimed that his proposal would be ready in two weeks. For many observers, the "two weeks" claim has evolved into a sure sign that Trump has no plans regarding a certain topic or issue, but wants to seem like he does.

In the case of Trump's claim about Iran's nuclear capabilities, Joseph Cirincione, a national security analyst, previously told MS NOW that it was categorically untrue, explaining that the development of an operational nuclear weapon would be, at minimum, “several more months of work" for the Middle Eastern nation.

"Trump’s got to know we’ve heard him claim 'two weeks' many times," DeBerry concluded. "He’s got to know we don’t believe him. That he gave us his 'two weeks' jive anyway is evidence that he doesn’t care about the truth. But more than that, it’s evidence that he doesn’t believe he has to credibly justify to the American people his actions that have already brought death to many — American service members, included."

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