President Donald Trump drew scathing reviews from his own administration officials for his listless prime time address on the Iran war.
The 79-year-old president insisted military objectives would be accomplished “shortly, very shortly” and promised surging gas prices would “rapidly come back down" when the conflict ends, which he suggested was two to three weeks away, but Zeteo spoke with administration officials who were not impressed with the 19-minute speech.
“It reminded me of listening to Joe Biden speak," one Trump administration official told the outlet after the speech.
Zeteo's Asawin Suebsaeng and Andrew Perez described the address as "sleepy, bumbling [and] bloodthirsty" in their duel bylined report, and said the administration official's review was especially noteworthy.
"In Trumplandia, that is perhaps the worst possible thing you could say about anyone, much less the sitting president and leader of the GOP," the pair wrote.
The joint U.S.-Israeli military operation is becoming increasingly unpopular less than five weeks into the conflict, and Zeteo reported that even the president's top officials are skeptical that Trump can declare victory and move on.
“However poorly you think the war is going, it is worse,” one senior administration official recently told the outlet.
“Iran can declare victory, too,” another senior U.S. official state. “Nobody will buy our attempt to sell this as a big win.”
The former reality TV star's speech failed to persuade even his own administration's officials about the war's necessity, and Zeteo analyzed the political conundrum Trump is currently facing.
"Virtually across the board, the president was panned by his own people, with some denigrating the speech as pointless, and others reiterating how much senior members of the administration never wanted this to happen in the first place," Zeteo reported.
"But Wednesday night’s speech revealed the extent to which Trump’s reckless and illegal war is breaking him down – in ways that numerous other massive crises, criminal investigations, and scandals simply could not," the report added. "For once, his bulls-------, bullying, and bravado aren’t working – and he cannot take it. Plus, he’s sounding notably old and drained as he tries to pretend, to a late-night audience of millions, that he can."