Trump tells bizarre story about how the military was “running out of ammo” in mixed-message Iran presser
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President Trump addressed the media this afternoon on the rapidly escalating tensions with Iran as reporters demanded clarification on whether or not the Islamic Republic was responsible for this weekend’s attacks on Saudi oil refineries and what the United States’ response might look like.
Unfortunately, our commander-in-chief had little to offer by way of answers; in fact, he left the world even more confused after he said that it looked like Iran was responsible for the attacks, then got mad at a reporter for saying that he had said Iran was responsible and insisted that it only looks like Iran is responsible, but he doesn’t think they’re responsible, it only looks like it.
So…Trump is saying it "certainly" looks like Iran is responsible, but he's not saying he thinks Iran is responsible, but "certainly it would look to most like it was Iran." https://t.co/KGJtc9zAJa
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 16, 2019
At this point, we really shouldn’t have expected anything else from Donald Trump, whose general approach to most policy questions is reminiscent of a teenager trying to make it through class without the teacher realizing he hadn’t done the reading. But it is fairly telling that the president went to such absurd lengths to avoid giving a concrete answer, which would indicate that they don’t have any hard evidence that it was Iran and are just saying they do (which the Trump team has done in the past).
The president’s questionable grasp on reality came roaring back into focus a few minutes later as he launched into a weird story about how early in his presidency, Gen. Mattis told him that the United States was close to “running out” of ammunition and that he had asked him to hold off on a conflict with an unnamed country because of it. He then assured the crowd that the U.S. was “very high” on ammunition and are even “stronger.”
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"We are very high on ammunition now," Trump added. "That's a story I've never told before. Breaking news. But we were very low. I could even say it stronger, I don't want to say 'no ammunition,' but that gets a lot closer." ????? https://t.co/Dp7eiJHU7V
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 16, 2019
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It’s unclear what he might be referring to, but CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale theorized that it was a reference to a military report from Obama’s last term that warned the United States’ stockpile of bombs was becoming depleted. Given the sharp uptick in bombing runs that were flown in Trump’s first year in office and the staggering civilian death toll of nearly 6,000 lives ended by those bombings, it’s clear that the U.S. military was able to overcome their shortages without much issue.
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On Trump's Mattis-ammunition story: the military reported late in Obama's term and early in Trump's that it was running low on bombs (https://t.co/Ji0atu3iCD). Don't currently know if Mattis told Trump to avoid a possible conflict for this reason, but there are some facts here: pic.twitter.com/8PC8zV4btJ
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 16, 2019
The incident is just the latest in a series of gaffes which highlight how the president’s mind regularly distorts and regurgitates half-remembered anecdotes to the world, which must then scramble to try to figure out what exactly the leader of the most powerful nation in the world is trying to say — and whether or not he has full control of his mental faculties.
