Presidential Politics and Messaging

During March 16 remarks at a Kennedy Center board meeting and later in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump said a former U.S. president privately told him he wished he had attacked Iran the way Trump is now doing, describing it as a confession of regret about not launching such a war. Trump refused to name the individual, saying he did not want to ‘embarrass him,’ and framed the anecdote as proof that for '47 years' no president had the courage to take on Iran. But representatives for all four living former presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden—told the Associated Press that none of them has spoken with Trump recently. The White House did not respond to AP after being told of those denials, leaving Trump’s story unsupported by any corroborating witness. The episode adds to questions already swirling on social media and among critics about the credibility of Trump’s public claims as he seeks to sell the Iran war as overdue action that his predecessors supposedly wished they had taken.