Rocket Man and Talk-It Man

“His address did not come across as a wartime speech but instead was a disjointed series of complaints, brags, and exaggerations (along with a few outright lies) delivered by a man who looked and sounded tired. After his 19 minutes on the air—brisk by Trump’s standards—Americans could be forgiven for being even more concerned now than they were only a few days ago.” Tom Nichols: Maybe Trump Should Not Have Given This Speech.

+ NYT (Gift Article): 5 Takeaways From Trump’s Address on Iran. With no new information and no clear exit plan, the speech seemed like a re-run of the press conferences and Truth Social posts we’ve been seeing for a while. So why give the prime time address? My theory: He just couldn’t let the rocket get all the attention.

+ “When we’re serious, we don’t say the opposite of what we said the day before every day, and maybe one shouldn’t speak every day.” Macron faults Trump for shifting U.S. goals and for hollowing out NATO with his attacks (and for comments about his marriage). Meanwhile Trump announces the bombing of major bridge near Tehran on his social media account. Here’s the latest from the NYT and The Guardian.

+ NYT (Gift Article): Every Trump Threat to Abandon NATO Hollows It Out. (One factor I haven’t seen mentioned is that the hollowing out of NATO will result in big-time weapons spending by allies who once thought they could count on us. Not that we’d ever alter a policy or take advantage of a crisis for financial gain. In other news: Company backed by Trump sons looks to sell drone interceptors to Gulf states being attacked by Iran.)