'Make it make sense': Ex-GOP strategist says Trump is getting 'played' by Iran

Donald Trump is being played by Iran, a former Republican strategist said Friday.

Conservative anti-Trump activist Rick Wilson, who co-founded the Lincoln Project and hosts the group's podcast, said ahead of the weekend that Trump is embarrassing himself on the global stage. Trump is also making it easy for Iran to take advantage of the U.S., Wilson said.

"The coming festivities with Iran are on a brief hold as TACO Donnie once again beclowns himself and the United States. We’ve moved a prodigious amount of military hardware to the Middle East, Israel is running out of anti-missile interceptors, and after a week, Iran still has some continuity of government," Wilson wrote on his Substack. "Trump believes in his power as a dealmaker, despite all the decades of evidence to the contrary, and is no doubt being played by Putin and Iran as we speak. The pressure by Fox News, Saudi Arabia, and other actors is doubtless increasing, but Trump, you must recall, desperately wants that Nobel Peace Prize. Good luck there, Donald."

Wilson calls Trump "TACO Donnie," as a reference to Trump Always Chickens Out, an investor term used to place bets on tariff rates.

"But what’s certain is that Iran knows the TACO rule, as does every other sentient creature on the planet. They’ll throw out some signal at the end of two weeks that they’re almost ready to deal, just a litttttle more time. Also, would you be interested, Mr. President, in building a tower in Tehran?" Wilson added.

While Wilson said it's likely Trump strikes Iran "sooner rather than later," there could also be a delay, and if so Iran will have the upper hand.

"I think this is much more likely than a delay, but if there’s one delay, there will be a dozen. Iran knows this," the strategist said. "Trump said this week Iran is weeks away from having a nuclear weapon…so he’s giving them two more weeks. Make it make sense, Lord."

Read the post here.