President Donald Trump seems to be shrinking himself down, according to a conservative columnist, and his seeming capitulation could diminish him even further.
The president signed an agreement to get out of his war in Iran just days after turning 80, and fellow octogenarian George Will published a column for the Washington Post outlining how all of Trump's flaws contributed to his disastrous military debacle.
"Deferring gratification can be virtuous, but now is the time for an autopsy of Donald Trump’s presidency," Will wrote. "The nation has experienced more than a few failing presidencies, but this flailing presidency is as uniquely unsightly as it is terminal. Trump’s plummet will intensify what is causing it, his self-absorption and self-indulgence."
Will didn't necessarily oppose war with Iran, but he said the operation "became a casualty of presidential frivolousness," and described the terms of Trump's memorandum of understanding to end the conflict as a bribe to Iran and a betrayal of Israel.
"If Trump believes that Israel, which was excluded from negotiation of the MOU, and which exists to 'never again' depend on others for its security, will allow limits on its measures against Hezbollah, his credulousness is unlimited," Will wrote. "Trump, who said he would make Americans 'tired of winning,' must, by law, submit a final Iran agreement for congressional review."
"To him, however, the law is a cobweb; to his many congressional poodles, it is an invitation to evasion," he added. "Perhaps, though, they have reached the limits of their canine loyalty."
Will faulted the president for obsessing over his 2020 election loss, which he said had "produced a congressional train wreck" and undermined national security in an effort to change election laws, but he pointed to signs that Trump's grip on GOP lawmakers might be loosening.
"The neutering of Trump might continue with the Senate not confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general," he wrote.
