Donald Trump is caught in a "serious" bind where he must either launch a full-scale conflict with Iran or risk looking weak, according to Michael Wolff, but White House sources indicate that one thing he "hates" might spare the U.S. another war.
Wolff is a veteran reporter and writer, best known for his 2018 book, Fire & Fury, which chronicled the chaos of Trump's first term based on insider accounts and sources. He still maintains access to sources within the White House and offers their insight to help explain what motivates Trump and how he operates.
During the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," Wolff and co-host Joanna Coles discussed Trump's escalation of military threats against Iran. The administration has been antagonizing the Middle Eastern nation for the better part of a year, bombing its nuclear facilities, threatening retaliation for violence against protesters and, currently, threatening what observers predict will be a full-scale war if nuclear negotiations fall through.
According to Wolff, all these threats against Iran have put Trump in an extremely tough position. Ideally, he would prefer to avoid a war, but if his demands are not met by Iran, he risks looking weak if he backs down.
“I think he’s got himself in somewhat of a serious pickle here,” Wolff explained. “You know, if he doesn’t go at this point, I mean, he kind of really looks weak and he’s already backpedaled this quite a bit.”
He continued: "He invited all of those protesters into the street under the banner basically of his protection. ‘Help is on the way, warnings to the Iranian regime: If you attack the protesters, you will have to answer to Donald Trump. Then, of course, they did attack the protesters at a level beyond anyone’s imagination. And Trump, what did he do? Nothing. What does that make him look like? Or he can go forward. But the problem of going forward — which is why he didn’t go forward the first time — is that it’s very complicated.”
There is one aspect of going to war, however, that Trump "hates," and which might help keep him from starting a conflict in Iran. According to White House sources who spoke to Wolff, Trump largely dislikes the actual process of carrying out a war.
"It’s too complicated for him. He doesn’t like to listen to generals," Wolff said. "All of the generals are kind of McKinsey-trained guys. He hates that. It’s boring to him. So it’s a difficult moment for him to go forward in attacking Iran on a pretty massive scale, I think is the implication.”
He concluded: "I think he’s caught in the middle of this, you know—he can’t back down because then he’s going to look weak. He doesn’t want to go forward because it’s so complicated.”