Hostages

It is often said that Trump doesn’t act presidential and that stems from the fact that he is not a politician. This can be seen in his Iran policy. All presidents since 1979 have pushed the Iran problem down the road and into the lap of the next president. This was the safe thing to do politically but Trump, of course, is different. Some today ask the question, would Trump do the same if he could back up 6 weeks and many say the answer is yes. They repeat the news that for more than four-decades, Trump has called for invading Iran, seizing its oil, and preventing it from gaining a nuclear weapon. In an interview with NBC in 1979 he said that the Iran hostage crisis was a sign that America no longer commanded international respect. When asked if the US should invade and bring the hostages home, he said, “I absolutely feel that, yes”. Now, in retrospect, some feel that invading Iran over the hostage situation might have solved a problem before it became one but that is just conjecture. The what if game is rarely productive.