Trump is self-sabotaging his own war negotiations: former CIA director

During a late Thursday morning, April 22 appearance on MS NOW, former CIA Director/ex-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta gave a scathing critique of President Donald Trump's war against Iran — arguing that Trump has made the Iranian regime even worse. Panetta told host Ana Cabrera, "The reality is that we now have a regime that is much tougher and more entrenched…. They have nothing to lose by being even tougher…. The regime has survived; it hasn't come down."

Trump continues to insist that the war is going well. But journalist Jonathan Chait, in an article published by The Atlantic on April 23, laments that Trump's social media posts on his Truth Social platform are only making things worse.

"On Monday morning, (April 20)," Chait explains, "CNN reported that the United States and Iran had been on the verge of striking a deal to end the war when Donald Trump made a series of comments to reporters and on social media that undermined the talks. Sources told CNN that the president's boasts angered the Iranians. 'The Iranians didn't appreciate POTUS negotiating through social media and making it appear as if they had signed off on issues they hadn't yet agreed to, and ones that aren’t popular with their people back home,' complained one source, who apparently pleaded with his boss to stop undermining their work. This was Trump's signal to begin binge-posting about the Iran negotiations."

Chait adds, "The Iranians may not have appreciated Trump's stream-of-consciousness messaging, and apparently, their American counterparts did not either."

Trump, Chait observes, "can't seem to refrain from touting his genius," adding that "despite the president's surface bravado," an "undercurrent of nervousness" about the Iran war is making its presence felt in his social posts.

"Generally speaking," Chait notes, "people who are not under pressure rarely have to: (1) issue frantic, all-caps claims that they are not under pressure, or (2) promise that they will quickly deliver a deal that will cause them tremendous embarrassment if it fails…. Trump returned to Truth Social this morning to narrate the war. 'Iran is having a very hard time figuring out who their leader is!' he wrote. However, he continued, the strait 'is Sealed up Tight, until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!'"

Chait continues, "According to the president, we are holding the world economy hostage until such time as Iran can resolve its internal struggle. Perhaps the problem here is not just Trump's live commentary about his negotiating strategy, but the strategy itself."