Lawrence: Trump's war in Iran shows he doesn't know what he's talking about

They don't know what they're talking about. They started a war of choice, Donald Trump's choice, and now they, in every important sense, do not know what they are talking about. Donald Trump and everyone working for him in Washington on his war continue to demonstrate every day that they are completely lost, and if they don't know what they are talking about, that means they don't know what they are talking about, that means they don't know what they are doing.

They don't know what they are doing in Donald Trump's war. The competition for stupidest things said today about Donald Trump's war was won by the guy who is tied with Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, for the title of most ridiculous person ever chosen by a president to negotiate

peace in the Middle East. 68-year-old Steve Whitkoff is a real estate developer in real life who would not have been chosen by any president of the United States to do anything, anywhere, until Donald Trump decided to send him into negotiations, not just in the Middle East, but also in Moscow with Vladimir Putin. Steve Whitkoff obviously knew nothing about the Middle East or Vladimir Putin when Donald Trump chose him.

And now that he's met Vladimir Putin, he still knows nothing about Vladimir Putin as he demonstrated so embarrassingly today when Carl Quintanilla at CNBC asked him why Donald Trump decided to allow Vladimir Putin to take full advantage of the explosive increase in the price of oil and profit off of that new price, a new price created by Donald Trump's war.

Do we think that the Russians have shared intelligence about the location of U.S. military assets? And if they have, why would we be giving waivers on Russian oil sanctions?

Well, I'm not an intel officer, so I can't tell you. I can tell you that yesterday, on the call with the president, the Russians said that they have not been sharing. That's what they said. So, you know, we can take them at their word, but they did say that.

We can take them at their word.

He said that.

Donald Trump's clown of the day, Steve Whitkoff, says, we can take Vladimir Putin's word for it that Russia has not been helping Iran target attacks on American military personnel. That is the single worst thing Vladimir Putin could possibly be doing to the United States in this war, and Vladimir Putin knows it. And Vladimir Putin also knows that Donald Trump has always behaved like Vladimir Putin's trained puppy around the Russian dictator. Vladimir Putin knows that he has lied to Donald Trump,

to his face, and Donald Trump has then gone out to a microphone to tell the world, I believe Vladimir Putin. After credible reporting by MSNOW, The New York Times, and The Washington Post that Vladimir Putin was helping Iran target the American military, which led to the deaths of seven American soldiers and injuring 140 American soldiers, all Vladimir Putin had to do was tell Donald Trump on the phone yesterday that he didn't

do it.

Donald Trump might not actually be so stupid as to actually believe Vladimir Putin, but it doesn't matter, because Donald Trump is deeply perverse enough to publicly claim to believe Vladimir Putin. And so is Steve Whitkoff. Donald Trump's breathtakingly incompetent real estate developer buddy, Steve Whitkoff, does appear to actually be stupid enough to believe Vladimir Putin and to say on television

that he believes Vladimir Putin. They have no idea what they're talking about. None of them do, least of all Donald Trump, who began his war calling for the, quote, unconditional surrender, end quote, of Iran, and a day later said, we've already won, exclamation point. Yesterday, Donald Trump tried to tell the world

the absurd lie that the Tomahawk missile, the American Tomahawk missile that hit a girls' school killing 175 people, most of whom were the students at the school, was fired at the school by Iran, to which our first guest tonight, the former Navy combat pilot

and former astronaut Senator Markelli said, Trump has no idea what he's talking about. No, the Iranians don't have Tomahawk missiles. Dozens of children are dead. And the investigation into how this happened needs to be fast and transparent. That's how we keep this from happening again. We don't need these deflections from the president or Hegseth running his mouth about, quote,

stupid rules of engagement. That was Pete Hegseth's phrase about this war. He said there are no stupid rules of engagement, meaning no rules of engagement, meaning we can fire Tomahawk missiles at girls' schools if we want to. One Republican has shown that he knows how to talk about the innocent casualties of war.

Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said this about the Tomahawk missile attack on the girls' school, quote, it was terrible. We made a mistake. Other countries do that sort of thing intentionally, like Russia. We would never do that intentionally. I think the department is investigating it now, and I'm sorry.

I'm just so sorry it happened. It was a mistake." Donald Trump's press secretary continued her mindless and relentless campaign to insult America's intelligence today. She actually said, quote, the president is not making anything up, Nancy. Donald Trump makes things up every day

about drapes and ballrooms and Tomahawk missiles and the price of gas and the price of everything and girls killed at a girls' school in Iran and the lie that Americans don't pay his tariffs. Making stuff up is what Donald Trump does. at a girls' school in Iran, and the lie that Americans don't pay his tariffs. Making stuff up is what Donald Trump does.

That's why Nancy Cordes of CBS asked Donald Trump's press secretary today, quote, so is he making this up to justify his decision to go to war now? To which Donald Trump's press secretary said, the president is not making anything up, Nancy. If Donald Trump is speaking, he is making something up. And making it up is the charitable way to describe Donald Trump's pathological lying.

Donald Trump's press secretary has the same job that Steve Earley had. But Steve Ear Early never lied. She lies every day, every day, like every Trump press secretary before her. Steve Early created the modern version

of White House press secretary when he went to work for the newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. He served in that position for President Roosevelt every day of World War II. It was actually Steve Early

who gave American news media confirmation on December 7th, 1941, that Pearl Harbor was attacked that morning by the Japanese military and the United States was drawn into World War II. The next day, in a five-minute speech to Congress, President Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war into World War II. The next day, in a five-minute speech to Congress, President

Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan, which Congress passed immediately. Days later, after Japan's ally Germany declared war in the United States, the president asked for a second declaration of war against Germany, which the Congress passed immediately. A little over a year after that, before the United States had made any significant progress in World War II, President Roosevelt announced that the only terms he would accept to end the war, at a time when there was no

end in sight and no real progress in sight for the American military, the only terms the President of the United States would accept was unconditional surrender, his words, unconditional surrender. And at that point, the world knew exactly how the war was going to end. It was going to end in unconditional surrender, because the President of the United States said so. No one knew when it would end.

President Roosevelt didn't know when it would end. He didn't know how many years it would take, but everyone knew when it would end. President Roosevelt didn't know when it would end. He didn't know how many years it would take, but everyone knew what it was going to look like. There would be a signing ceremony. A German official would sign a formal act of surrender. A Japanese official would sign a formal act of surrender.

And today, four days after Donald Trump called for unconditional surrender, his White House press secretary confessed that she has no idea what that means.

It goes back to, what does that unconditional surrender look like?

She doesn't know what it looks like. Germany was the first to sign the surrender document written by the United States and dictated to Germany. Signed by the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He dictated it. He wrote it. He went on to become President Eisenhower. Three months later, this is what unconditional surrender looked like in Tokyo Bay,

on the American Navy ship, the USS Missouri, with the Japanese general signing the act of surrender in which the Japanese were not allowed to negotiate a single word, just like the Germans before them. That's what unconditional surrender means. That is what unconditional surrender looks like. Donald Trump's press secretary doesn't know what unconditional surrender looks like,

and she doesn't know what war looks like. Steve Early understood both of those things. Steve Early won a Silver Star for bravery in combat in World War I before becoming the White House press secretary, who abolished the custom of reporters being forced

to put their questions to the president in writing and thereby created what is now the modern version of a presidential press conference. Steve Early opened the door of the Oval Office to let the reporters pour in, usually a couple of times a week,

and Franklin Delano Roosevelt took their questions without hesitation and without favoritism. FDR held more presidential press conferences than any other president in history, and he always knew what he was talking about. And if he was asked a question about an obscure subject

that he didn't know about, he would simply admit that, admit that he didn't know, and Steve would simply admit that, admit that he didn't know, and Steve Early would get an answer to that question later for that reporter. Americans knew they could have faith in their president's leadership during World War II.

And Americans knew they could take him at his word. And now Americans know, and White House reporters know, the president makes stuff up, and he and everyone around him don't know what they're talking about. The only thing, the only thing that Americans know, as the missiles keep flying and people The only thing, the only thing that Americans know, as the missiles keep flying and people

keep dying, is that we cannot ever take Donald Trump at his word.