-President Trump has spent the last week creating crises
and then pretending he solved those crises.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Well, it's been another roller coaster few days
with our split personality president creating
a bunch of problems and then turning around
and claiming he solved those problems.
Every day with this guy is like "Fight Club."
One of these days we're going to find him in the parking lot
outside the White House beating the crap out of himself.
[ Laughter ]
One day he's threatening war with Iran.
The next day he's claiming he stopped a war with Iran.
One day he's threatening to deport millions
and rip apart migrant families,
the next day he's saying he delayed the deportations.
It's almost like he saw the polls,
and instead of running against the Democrats in 2020,
he decided to run against himself.
[ Laughter ]
[ As Trump ] "Vote for me.
I'm the only one who can stop Donald Trump!"
[ Laughter ]
[ Normal voice ] Trump swings wildly
from one position to the next
because he has no moral compass or a strategic vision.
And that combination of ignorance and impulsiveness
has been on full display during his administration's march
toward war with Iran.
Now war with Iran would be catastrophic.
It would be reckless, unjustified, and illegal.
And yet, many of the people around Trump
have been agitating for a war with Iran for years.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly refused to divulge
any details about what his administration might do.
-Mr. President, will you go to war with Iran?
-I hope not. [ Laughter ]
-If they reach the uranium limits on the 27th,
will you take additional action?
-I won't say what I'll do.
-Mr. President, how will you respond?
-You'll find out.
-Are you willing to go to war with Iran?
-You'll find out. You'll find out.
-What, we'll find out? [ Laughter ]
You're talking about a massive war that would
destabilize the Middle East.
You can't talk about it like you're hosting "Dateline."
[ Laughter ]
"They weren't sure if they were heading to war with Iran,
oh, but they'd soon find out."
[ Laughter ]
Trump doesn't answer questions about his plans
because he has no plans.
He waivers from one position to the next
based on the last person he talked to
or something he saw on TV.
If he watches Sean Hannity's show, he wants to go to war.
If he watches Tucker Carlson's show, he wants to pull back.
And if he watches QVC, he ends up buying a bunch of jewelry.
[ Laughter ]
And that reckless impulsivity was on full display last week
when it was reported that Trump had okayed an attack on Iran
and then changed his mind at the last minute.
-"The New York Times" reporting the president authorized
military strikes against Iran, then called them off.
"The Times" says the president initially approved attacks
on a handful of Iranian targets
like radar and missile batteries.
"The Times" reports there were ships in position.
There were planes in the air
when the president walked the whole thing back.
-On Monday, they shot down an unmanned drone
flying in international waters.
"We were cocked and loaded to retaliate last night
on three different sites when I asked, how many will die?
150 people, sir, was the answer from a general.
Ten minutes before the strike, I stopped it."
-This tweet is Trump in a nutshell.
He makes it genuinely difficult for you to focus on the fact
that he almost started a disastrous
and unconstitutional war with Iran because he used
the wrong "sights" and used the phrase, "cocked and loaded."
[ Laughter ] It's "locked and loaded."
"Cocked and loaded" sounds like the name of a Tom Green movie
where a guy takes a road trip with a rooster.
[ Laughter ]
Now, it's obviously a good thing
that we did not go to war with Iran.
But it's terrifying that it even got this far.
Trump wants us all to praise him for pulling back
from a catastrophic situation that he almost started.
Praise he doesn't deserve
as Senator Bernie Sanders argued on Sunday.
-Was President Trump's decision this week
to call off that strike the right one?
-[ Chuckles ] See, it's like somebody
setting a fire to a basket full of paper
and then putting it out.
He helped create the crisis. And then he stopped the attacks.
The idea that we're looking at a president of the United States
who, number one, thinks that a war with Iran
is something that might be good for this country...
-He was just doing a limited strike.
-Oh, just a limited strike. Oh. Well, I'm sor-ry.
[ Laughter ] I just didn't know that
it's okay to simply attack another country with bombs
just for limited -- That's an act of warfare.
-He's right. And also, you got to love his old-man sarcasm.
[ Laughter ]
[ As Sanders ] "What are you always doing on your phone?"
[ Normal voice ] "I'm just sending an emoji, grandpa."
[ As Sanders ] "Oh, just an emoji!
[ Laughter ] You see, when I was growing up,
the only emojis we had were our faces.
So when our friends wanted to know how I was,
they wouldn't look down there. They would look up here.
And that's how they knew I was grumpy!"
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Normal voice ] And on top of everything else,
Trump's account of how
this episode unfolded makes no sense.
Ex-national security officials
who have actually been in these kinds of briefings
said it was unlikely the president would find out
at the last minute what the casualty count would be.
-Is it plausible in any way the president is first informed
of casualty estimates that close
to the actual commission of the strike?
-No. The whole thing here is very -- is very strange.
-Does that make sense? -No. It's not credible in terms
of whether he was briefed or not at that late time.
It's laid out right in the beginning.
It's like the first PowerPoint slide.
-Okay. Well, see, there's your problem.
You can't give him information on a PowerPoint slide.
When Donald Trump hears PowerPoint,
he slides out of the room.
"We'd like to start our PowerPoint presentation."
[ As Trump ] "PowerPoint, good, good, good.
Yeah, get that started. Okay.
[ Laughter ]
Okay. Okay.
Oh, okay.
[ Applause ] Oh."
[ Normal voice ] If you really, really want Donald Trump
to pay attention to a briefing,
you got to write it somewhere he's going to look
like a mirror.
[ Laughter ]
And listening to the president's incoherent explanation
of how he made the decision is even more terrifying.
Here's Trump narrating his thought process
and explaining how he was ready to order a military strike
on Iran until it occurred to him, at the last minute,
to ask what might seem like an important question.
-We had something ready to go, subject to my approval.
And they came in. And they came in about a half an hour before.
They said, "Sir, we're about ready to go."
I said, "I want a better definition."
-Planes in the air? Were planes in the air?
-No, no, we're about ready to go.
No, but they would have been pretty soon.
And things would have happened to a point
where you wouldn't turn back or couldn't turn back.
So they came and they said,
"Sir, we're ready to go. We'd like a decision."
I said, "I want to know something before you go.
How many people will be killed?"
In this case, Iranians.
I said, "How many people are going to be killed?"
"Sir, I'd like to get back to you on that."
Great people, these generals.
They said -- Came back, said, "Sir, approximately 150."
And I thought about it for a second.
I said, you know what, they shot down an unmanned drone,
plane, whatever you want to call it.
-No. Whatever I want to call it?
I want to call it a goose!
[ Laughter ]
"Shoot down the goose, papa!"
Why don't we all call it a drone since that's what it is?
If it was a drone, then by definition, it was unmanned.
There's no such thing as a manned drone.
You never see a drone flying around
with a dude hanging off of it. [ Laughter ]
Not only is this story of what happened
in this particular case incoherent,
but so is Trump's overall policy toward Iran.
Just listen to him today in the oval office
announcing new sanctions on Iran
and talking about President Obama's nuclear agreement
with Iran, an agreement Trump tore up
despite the fact that his own administration
said Iran was complying with it.
-They've done many other things aside from the individual drone.
You saw the tankers.
And we know of other things that were done also
which were not good.
The agreement that was signed was a disaster.
It was not doing what it was supposed to do.
Many bad things were taking place.
So I look forward to discussing
whatever I have to discuss with anybody that wants to speak.
-Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Slow down with all the specifics!
[ Laughter ]
It's amazing to think there used to be a time
when reporters covering the White House
had to furiously scribble notes in their pads
to keep track of all the complicated details
of treaties or legislation.
And now when they cover the president,
they just have to write stuff down like,
"Things that were not good, bad things taking place,
cocked and loaded." [ Laughter ]
But the important question here is what is the end game?
What does Trump want?
Does he want war? Does he want a new deal?
If so, how would that new deal differ from the old deal?
And why would Iran ever agree to a new deal
after the last deal they negotiated
was torn up for no reason?
These are all important questions,
and yet the president clearly has no answers.
-Mr. President, is your goal to negotiate a new deal with Iran?
Mr. President, is your goal to negotiate a new deal --
-We would love to be able
to negotiate a deal if they want to.
If they don't want to, that's fine, too.
-Oh, my God, man.
Next time just throw a smoke pellet and run away.
[ Laughter ]
In the past few days, we've seen the president
take us to the brink of war with Iran,
threaten to inflict more cruelty on migrant families,
all while being accused of a horrific sexual assault.
The question now is what more will it take
to impeach this guy?
I don't know if he'll win a second term.
But at this point, all I can say is...
-I hope not. -This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪