Analysts and pundits have spent a lot of time trying to understand why President Donald Trump decided to bomb three nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend. But one Nobel Prize-winning economist thinks there is a simple explanation.
"This time, it looks as if many Americans saw this for what it was, a desperate attempt by Trump to look powerful and manly," Paul Krugman recently wrote on his eponymous Substack.
To Krugman, Trump's decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities had an eerie similarity to the War on Terror, which the United States launched in response to 9/11. The premise for starting that conflict included shoddy intelligence about Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction, Krugman noted. A similar story was being told to the American people ahead of the bombing campaign in Iran.
Unlike the War on Terror, it appears that Americans largely did not believe the story they were being told about Iran. A recent CNN poll found that 56% of Americans disagreed with the strikes. Another 78% of Americans are worried about being dragged into another endless war in the Middle East, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.
Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the Iran bombing campaign was swiftly called into question. Krugman noted that this is different than the War on Terror, which took Americans years to realize was a failure.
The only question left for Krugman is how Trump will keep the cameras on him following the Iran campaign, given that Americans seem to be souring on the issue.
"We know that nothing bothers Trump as much as poor ratings. So what will he do next?" Krugman wrote.