-President Trump has spent
the last week creating crises
and then pretending
he solved those crises.
For more on this,
it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Well, it's been another
roller coaster few days
with our split personality
president creating
a bunch of problems
and then turning around
and claiming he solved
those problems.
Every day with this guy
is like "Fight Club."
One of these days we're going
to find him in the parking lot
outside the White House
beating the crap out of himself.
[ Laughter ]
One day he's threatening
war with Iran.
The next day he's claiming
he stopped a war with Iran.
One day he's threatening
to deport millions
and rip apart migrant families,
the next day he's saying
he delayed the deportations.
It's almost like he saw
the polls,
and instead of running
against the Democrats in 2020,
he decided to run against
himself.
[ Laughter ]
[ As Trump ] "Vote for me.
I'm the only one who
can stop Donald Trump!"
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ]
Trump swings wildly
from one position to the next
because he has no moral compass
or a strategic vision.
And that combination
of ignorance and impulsiveness
has been on full display during
his administration's march
toward war with Iran.
Now war with Iran
would be catastrophic.
It would be reckless,
unjustified, and illegal.
And yet, many of the people
around Trump
have been agitating for a war
with Iran for years.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly
refused to divulge
any details about what
his administration might do.
-Mr. President,
will you go to war with Iran?
-I hope not.
[ Laughter ]
-If they reach
the uranium limits on the 27th,
will you take additional action?
-I won't say what I'll do.
-Mr. President,
how will you respond?
-You'll find out.
-Are you willing to go to war
with Iran?
-You'll find out.
You'll find out.
-What, we'll find out?
[ Laughter ]
You're talking about
a massive war that would
destabilize the Middle East.
You can't talk about it like
you're hosting "Dateline."
[ Laughter ]
"They weren't sure if they
were heading to war with Iran,
oh, but they'd soon find out."
[ Laughter ]
Trump doesn't answer questions
about his plans
because he has no plans.
He waivers from one position
to the next
based on the last person
he talked to
or something he saw on TV.
If he watches Sean Hannity's
show, he wants to go to war.
If he watches Tucker Carlson's
show, he wants to pull back.
And if he watches QVC, he ends
up buying a bunch of jewelry.
[ Laughter ]
And that reckless impulsivity
was on full display last week
when it was reported that Trump
had okayed an attack on Iran
and then changed his mind
at the last minute.
-"The New York Times" reporting
the president authorized
military strikes against Iran,
then called them off.
"The Times" says the president
initially approved attacks
on a handful of Iranian targets
like radar
and missile batteries.
"The Times" reports there were
ships in position.
There were planes in the air
when the president
walked the whole thing back.
-On Monday, they shot down
an unmanned drone
flying in international waters.
"We were cocked and loaded
to retaliate last night
on three different sites when
I asked, how many will die?
150 people, sir,
was the answer from a general.
Ten minutes before the strike,
I stopped it."
-This tweet is Trump
in a nutshell.
He makes it genuinely difficult
for you to focus on the fact
that he almost started
a disastrous
and unconstitutional war with
Iran because he used
the wrong "sights" and used
the phrase, "cocked and loaded."
[ Laughter ]
It's "locked and loaded."
"Cocked and loaded" sounds like
the name of a Tom Green movie
where a guy takes a road trip
with a rooster.
[ Laughter ]
Now, it's obviously a good thing
that we did not go to war
with Iran.
But it's terrifying that it
even got this far.
Trump wants us all to praise him
for pulling back
from a catastrophic situation
that he almost started.
Praise he doesn't deserve
as Senator Bernie Sanders
argued on Sunday.
-Was President Trump's decision
this week
to call off that strike
the right one?
-[ Chuckles ] See,
it's like somebody
setting a fire
to a basket full of paper
and then putting it out.
He helped create the crisis.
And then he stopped the attacks.
The idea that we're looking at
a president of the United States
who, number one,
thinks that a war with Iran
is something that might be good
for this country...
-He was just doing
a limited strike.
-Oh, just a limited strike.
Oh. Well, I'm sor-ry.
[ Laughter ]
I just didn't know that
it's okay to simply attack
another country with bombs
just for limited --
That's an act of warfare.
-He's right. And also, you got
to love his old-man sarcasm.
[ Laughter ]
[ As Sanders ] "What are you
always doing on your phone?"
[ Normal voice ] "I'm just
sending an emoji, grandpa."
[ As Sanders ]
"Oh, just an emoji!
[ Laughter ]
You see, when I was growing up,
the only emojis we had
were our faces.
So when our friends
wanted to know how I was,
they wouldn't look down there.
They would look up here.
And that's how they knew
I was grumpy!"
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Normal voice ] And on top
of everything else,
Trump's account of how
this episode unfolded
makes no sense.
Ex-national security officials
who have actually been in these
kinds of briefings
said it was unlikely
the president would find out
at the last minute what
the casualty count would be.
-Is it plausible in any way
the president is first informed
of casualty estimates that close
to the actual commission
of the strike?
-No. The whole thing here
is very -- is very strange.
-Does that make sense?
-No. It's not credible in terms
of whether he was briefed
or not at that late time.
It's laid out right
in the beginning.
It's like the first
PowerPoint slide.
-Okay.
Well, see, there's your problem.
You can't give him information
on a PowerPoint slide.
When Donald Trump hears
PowerPoint,
he slides out of the room.
"We'd like to start
our PowerPoint presentation."
[ As Trump ] "PowerPoint,
good, good, good.
Yeah, get that started.
Okay.
[ Laughter ]
Okay. Okay.
Oh, okay.
[ Applause ]
Oh."
[ Normal voice ] If you really,
really want Donald Trump
to pay attention to a briefing,
you got to write it somewhere
he's going to look
like a mirror.
[ Laughter ]
And listening to the president's
incoherent explanation
of how he made the decision
is even more terrifying.
Here's Trump narrating
his thought process
and explaining how he was
ready to order a military strike
on Iran until it occurred
to him, at the last minute,
to ask what might seem like
an important question.
-We had something ready to go,
subject to my approval.
And they came in. And they came
in about a half an hour before.
They said, "Sir,
we're about ready to go."
I said,
"I want a better definition."
-Planes in the air?
Were planes in the air?
-No, no,
we're about ready to go.
No, but they would have been
pretty soon.
And things would have happened
to a point
where you wouldn't turn back
or couldn't turn back.
So they came and they said,
"Sir, we're ready to go.
We'd like a decision."
I said, "I want to know
something before you go.
How many people will be killed?"
In this case, Iranians.
I said, "How many people
are going to be killed?"
"Sir, I'd like to get
back to you on that."
Great people, these generals.
They said -- Came back, said,
"Sir, approximately 150."
And I thought about it
for a second.
I said, you know what, they shot
down an unmanned drone,
plane, whatever
you want to call it.
-No.
Whatever I want to call it?
I want to call it a goose!
[ Laughter ]
"Shoot down the goose, papa!"
Why don't we all call it a drone
since that's what it is?
If it was a drone, then by
definition, it was unmanned.
There's no such thing
as a manned drone.
You never see a drone
flying around
with a dude hanging off of it.
[ Laughter ]
Not only is this story
of what happened
in this particular case
incoherent,
but so is Trump's overall policy
toward Iran.
Just listen to him today
in the oval office
announcing new sanctions on Iran
and talking about President
Obama's nuclear agreement
with Iran,
an agreement Trump tore up
despite the fact
that his own administration
said Iran was complying with it.
-They've done many other things
aside from the individual drone.
You saw the tankers.
And we know of other things
that were done also
which were not good.
The agreement that was signed
was a disaster.
It was not doing
what it was supposed to do.
Many bad things
were taking place.
So I look forward to discussing
whatever I have to discuss with
anybody that wants to speak.
-Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Slow down with
all the specifics!
[ Laughter ]
It's amazing to think
there used to be a time
when reporters covering
the White House
had to furiously scribble notes
in their pads
to keep track of all
the complicated details
of treaties or legislation.
And now when they cover
the president,
they just have to write stuff
down like,
"Things that were not good,
bad things taking place,
cocked and loaded."
[ Laughter ]
But the important question here
is what is the end game?
What does Trump want?
Does he want war?
Does he want a new deal?
If so, how would that new deal
differ from the old deal?
And why would Iran ever agree
to a new deal
after the last deal
they negotiated
was torn up for no reason?
These are all important
questions,
and yet the president
clearly has no answers.
-Mr. President, is your goal to
negotiate a new deal with Iran?
Mr. President, is your goal
to negotiate a new deal --
-We would love to be able
to negotiate a deal
if they want to.
If they don't want to,
that's fine, too.
-Oh, my God, man.
Next time just throw
a smoke pellet and run away.
[ Laughter ]
In the past few days,
we've seen the president
take us to the brink of war
with Iran,
threaten to inflict more cruelty
on migrant families,
all while being accused of
a horrific sexual assault.
The question now is
what more will it take
to impeach this guy?
I don't know if he'll win
a second term.
But at this point,
all I can say is...
-I hope not.
-This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
