President Donald Trump has reverted back to an old obsession as he attempts to rally U.S. allies around his war in Iran, according to MS NOW's Joe Scarborough.
The president berated NATO allies Tuesday during a press gaggle at the White House, griping that none of them were willing to help the U.S. keep the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping, and the "Morning Joe" host highlighted Trump's claim that "we don't need them."
"Even in the middle ofa war, one of the mostsignificant wars in our ourlifetimes, Donald Trump'sobsession with running down thealliance that helped defeat the Soviet Union continues," Scarborough said, "andhe's he's been stuck on thisfor well over a decade now,forgetting that it was NATOallies who sacrificed time andtime again for the United States in Iraq the first time,the second time in Afghanistan. They've stood shoulder toshoulder with us for years, soto be attacking them, to beattacking Ukraine at the sametime, making life easier for Vladimir Putin with sanctionsrelief, has a lot of allies anda lot of lawmakers on the Republican and Democratic sideshaking their head."
Scarborough said the conflict already showed some similarities to the lengthy war in Vietnam that bled U.S. forces until they withdrew in defeat, and Washington Post columnist David Ignatius was inclined to agree.
"I think thatdilemma is weighing on on President Trump when a war isgoing badly, when you're unableto find a way to terminate itsuccessfully, that's the mostpainful thing possible for apresident," Ignatius said. "I watched that in mylifetime with President [Lyndon B.] Johnsonand then with President George W. Bush, and it's a toughmoment."
Israel has been successfully hunting down and killing Irani leadership at every level, but Ignatius said that Trump still has not determined how to end a war that he launched nearly three weeks ago.
"The thing that Trump still hasn't found is apathway to ending this warahead of us, is what the Wall Street Journal's editorial pagethis morning called the battleof Hormuz," he said. "In other words, thebattle to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and put global commerceback to normal. Trump has to doit, and he has two choices. Hecan either do it by coercion or by military force."