President Donald Trump's administration has begun to play a dangerous game that could very well put “a lot of lives seriously at risk," conservative commentator Saagar Enjeti warned Wednesday.
“We knew it was bad – didn't know it was this bad,” Enjeti said in an episode of the “Breaking Points” podcast published on Tuesday.
Enjeti was raising the alarm about Trump's conflicting statements regarding the status of negotiations with Iran as new reporting reveals the U.S. Army has used up “virtually all” of its stockpiles of critical missiles and the shortage that could take years to address.
This week, Trump claimed that peace talks between Washington and Tehran were ongoing, though Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted that claim.
As such, Enjeti argued that Trump’s options for continuing the war against Iran were limited, and to such an extent that any continuation would almost certainly result in significant U.S. casualties.
“Now, we're going to be in a situation where if they want to escalate [the war] again, a lot of people's lives are going to be seriously at risk, both from the interceptor stockpiles being so low that they'll have to ration, and a lot of pilots [that] may be at risk up in the air,” Enjeti said.
“It does explain all of Trump's BS-ing behavior because he remains totally committed to this idea that we are going to have some sort of talks. Meanwhile, the actual truth, per the Iranian Foreign Ministry: 'There are no discussions underway with the United States, there are no plans to have any discussions.'”
Enjeti’s co-host, Krystal Ball, a progressive commentator and former Democratic congressional candidate, called the extent of the U.S. missile shortages “absolutely insane,” and asked, referencing the $954 billion in U.S. defense spending authorized last year – more than the combined military budgets of the next six highest-spending countries – “where does all the money go?”
“It just underscores once again: there is no military solution to the problem of Iran, the only solution is a negotiated, diplomatic solution -- the only solution is to surrender, is to admit defeat!” Ball said. “That's where we're at!”