Donald Trump is lying about almost everything regarding Israel and Iran.
Trump knew that Israel was going to attack Iran, knew the basic outlines of the strategy, and implicitly gave the U.S. okay.
Trump also quietly (and enthusiastically) embraces Israel’s unstated goal of “regime change,” two high-level U.S. officials involved in the internal discussions tell me.
Trump hasn’t officially “approved” anything, hasn’t committed anything to paper, and hasn’t signed off on any specific act. But in the dance of phone calls and back channel messages and things said and not said, the two countries found agreement. Trump has given Israel a green light by not saying no.
This is the world of statecraft at the highest level, where leaders say one thing and do another. This is not only for “deniability” sake or to intentionally mislead the public. It’s just the way of the world that includes a set of rules and workarounds that allows leaders to never be frank. ….more
