Behind Trump's Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears

[demmiblue]

WOW: A stunning new report in the WSJ reveals that military advisers intentionally excluded Donald Trump from the command room during the recent high-stakes operation to extract a downed U.S. airman in Iran, because they feared his erratic behavior could jeopardize the mission. 1/

— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 2026-04-19T15:07:53.365Z

It seemed like Donald Trump’s appetite for risk had run out, and his fears were ramping up.

It was Good Friday afternoon in a nearly empty West Wing soon after the president learned that an American jet had been shot down in Iran, with two airmen missing. Trump screamed at aides for hours. The Europeans aren’t helping, he said repeatedly. Gas prices averaged $4.09. Images of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis—one of the biggest international policy failures of a presidency in recent times—had been looming large in his mind, people who have spoken to him said.

“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter…with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump had said in March. “What a mess.”

Trump demanded that the military go get them immediately. But the U.S. hadn’t been on the ground in Iran since the government overthrow that led to the hostage crisis, and they needed to figure out how to get into treacherous Iranian terrain and avoid Tehran’s own military. Aides kept the president out of the room as they got minute-by-minute updates because they believed his impatience wouldn’t be helpful, instead updating him at meaningful moments, a senior administration official said.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-public-bravado-private-fear-59814dca

https://archive.ph/84fto


Quite the read.

[dalton99a]

1. He will give himself a Medal of Honor.

[Ocelot II]

2. Trump in a nutshell ("nut" being the operative word) in the last paragraphs of the article:

At another gathering, one night after threatening to end Iranian civilization, Trump stood in the White House with donors and top staff for a reception ahead of America’s 250th celebration this summer. He mused about giving himself the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, designed to honor bravery, courage and sacrifice, according to people who were at the reception.

He then told a story about why he said he deserved it: In his first term as he flew into Iraq for a surprise holiday visit to the troops, his jet descended in the dark toward an unlit runway. In dramatic fashion, he counted down the feet to the plane landing, and recalled how scary it was. The pilots kept reassuring him, he said, and they landed safely.
He couldn’t get the medal, he said, because White House counsel David Warrington, who was standing nearby at the event, wouldn’t allow it.

Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, said he was joking.

[Goonch]

3. ;-{)TRUMP ADOPTS STRATEGY OF INTENTIONALLY ACTING UNSTABLE NO MORE MR. NICE GUY

[Deuxcents]

4. President Carter's attempt to free the hostages is not why he lost the election..Ronald Reagan's

Treasonous collusion with Iran’s Ayatollah releasing them just after RR was sworn into office. A real humiliation for Carter and the negotiations that went on for 444 days. TSF thinks we either don’t know or have long forgotten this chapter in republican dirty politics..maybe he doesn’t even know or it’s his attempt to gaslight us.

[magicarpet]

7. Kick and kick again,...

... As I stomp on my way out the door

[tanyev]

5. Trump: GET THEM OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW! THIS IS VERY, VERY BAD FOR MEEEEEEE.

[magicarpet]

6. Repeat here again,...o treason by Reagan and Bush #1 was in play to boot Carter from the White House.

"If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter…with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump had said in March. “What a mess.”

Not to totally true and accurate you Orange lying maggot.o

*+*+*+

# 1.....Contrived treason at the behest of Team Reagan was how they got their foot in the door and keys to the White House, for that specific joyous Coup de tat of our government.

# 2....Treason/Coup de tat for Bush #2 - courtesy of the Jeb Bush's no count recount down in Floridah,... with the blessings of USSC and Scalia.

# 3....Attempted treason/Coup de tat by trDUMP to stop the vote count via ransacking the US Capitol with wave upon waves of relentless violence to deny Biden his fairly won 2020( election.

Without consequences these act of treason will only multiply and metastasize through out our body of government.

... A Representative Democracy,... If you can keep it....
....We have failed ourselves in flying colors.
We think we are giving our country a twenty one gun salute of celebration by looking forward and not looking back. But in reality we are subjecting our country to a firing squad - for slow destruction and death by ignoring this rampant treason in our midst as we choose not to prosecute and punish the perpetrators.

[Deuxcents]

9. Absolutely! There is a common denominator you're warning us about and we, as a nation, better wake up

[AnotherMother4Peace]

8. He's confused, tired, forgetful. He knows. So what does he do as a pathological narcissist?

He doubles down. He becomes louder and meaner. He can't be wrong in his addled mind. He's like a sick animal that lashes out. Krasnov is, and always has been, a danger to others.