'Idiotic': Ex-GOP operative lambasts Trump for 'screwing over his partners'
Donald Trump speaks as Benjamin Netanyahu waves at the White House. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
June 17, 2026
President Donald Trump didn't just fail to accomplish all his objectives in Iran and damage the U.S. economy, former Republican speechwriter Tim Miller told MS NOW's Chris Hayes on Wednesday — he also left Israel in the lurch, after right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went all in on attaching himself to the U.S. president.
"Something happened,which is that they lost," said Hayes. "Theleverage created by the closureof the Strait of Hormuz turnedout to be the trump card."
"Yeah, the war was idiotic,is what happened," said Miller, a frequent critic of the Trump administration.
At the end of the day, Miller continued, Trump "did exactly what everyonethought he had done becauseit's the same thing he's donehis whole career, which isscrew over his partners" — and Netanyahu should have seen it coming. "Bibi thought he was going to bethe one person, the onebusiness partner that DonaldTrump didn't screw over. Hescrewed over everybody hiswhole life. He sent a mob tokill his last vice president!"
As for the Iran war itself, Miller added, it was "done for" from the very beginning.
"A lot of folks at commentary inthe neocon folks would comeafter us at The Bulwark, likethe former Republicans, and say,oh, you would have been forthese sorts of wars in the past," said Miller. "And I'm for freedom for theIranian people. But the premiseof this war was so obviouslydumb from the start. And he ishumiliated and surrenderingright now because he didn'thave a good plan and the warwas never going to work anyway."
All of this comes amid reporting that Trump himself has soured on his support of Israel, in ways that could ultimately boost Vice President J.D. Vance as his heir apparent.