MSNOW host Lawrence O'Donnell launched a scathing critique on Monday against President Donald Trump and what he termed the administration's "nonsensical" proclamations regarding the Iran conflict. O'Donnell asserted that Trump has discovered yet another novel method "to dishonor" the seven U.S. military service members who have perished in the hostilities.
From 'War' to 'Excursion': A Linguistic Shift
"When Donald Trump initiated his war, he explicitly labeled it a war," O'Donnell stated during his broadcast. The "Last Word" host elaborated, "He repeatedly called it a war, and that is precisely what it constitutes. Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, similarly referred to it as a war at its commencement, a designation he particularly relished given his erroneous self-identification as the Secretary of War."
Both Trump and Hegseth have consistently described the ongoing confrontation as a "war," addressing reporters throughout the previous week concerning Operation Epic Fury and its deadly airstrikes. Trump had demanded "unconditional surrender" from Iran to conclude the war.
A Strategic Retreat from the Term 'War'
"However, now that Donald Trump recognizes that Americans generally disapprove of war and perhaps recalls campaigning against military engagements during his presidential run, he is distorting the language to evade the word 'war,'" O'Donnell contended.
He proceeded to air a clip of Trump characterizing the war as "an excursion" earlier that day while speaking at a House Republican retreat at his Florida golf club. Trump notably boasted at the time that "not a lot of people" would have embarked on this "excursion."
Condemnation of Callous Rhetoric and Actions
O'Donnell further denounced the president's insensitive rhetoric, which emerged merely days after Trump wore a baseball cap emblazoned with "USA" during the dignified transfer on Saturday of the first six U.S. soldiers killed in the so-called "excursion."
"That is his latest depiction of his war today—an excursion," O'Donnell emphasized. "Donald Trump continually finds new avenues to dishonor the war dead. A frivolous hat, and now an excursion. It is one matter to perish in a war whose objective the president cannot articulate. Americans have endured that previously."
O'Donnell added, "But to... label it an excursion, before the families have even conducted the funerals, to laboriously seek language that diminishes those soldiers' sacrifice in service to his urgent political necessities, represents a uniquely Trumpian episode in the American presidency."
Unconditional Surdemand and Market-Driven Decisions
The MSNOW host also excoriated Trump for his Friday demand of "unconditional surrender" from Iran, observing that the last instance the U.S. accepted such an act "required an atomic bomb to achieve it" and that Trump abruptly altered his tone as soon as the stock market declined.
O'Donnell argued Trump is "the inaugural American wartime president governed by the stock market and the oil market," highlighting that Trump informed a CBS News reporter on Monday, "I believe the war is very complete"—and uttered this during trading hours "with the aspiration of averting a collapse."
Trump suggested over the weekend, concurrently, that the U.S. has "already triumphed!"
A Contrast in Presidential Credibility
O'Donnell seemed to lament America's prior global stature, noting that when President Franklin D. Roosevelt demanded unconditional surrender from the Axis Powers in World War II, "the international community understood" that the U.S. leader "intended those words sincerely."
"And now the world comprehends that the utterances of the current president of the United States possess no significance whatsoever," he declared. "Thirty-one hours subsequent to Donald Trump demanding unconditional surrender in another social media post, Donald Trump proclaimed, 'We have already prevailed!'"
O'Donnell remarked, "Donald Trump does not even heed the words of Donald Trump."
