United States President Donald Trump is coming to resemble more and more the kooky and dangerous characters who led the US into nuclear war in Stanley Kubrick’s film Dr. Strangelove. It is black humor in real life.
The craziest example may be President Trump telling ABC News that his plan to use war to put his preferred people in charge of the Iran government was foiled by those people being killed by the initial phase of the Israel and US attack on Iran. ABC reporter Jonathan Karl related in a Monday article:
Before the attacks, the administration had identified possible leaders of a post-Khamenei Iran, but Trump said they are all gone. Khamenei was killed on Saturday alongside around 40 senior Iranian officials, the Israel Defense Forces said.
‘The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates,’ Trump said. ‘It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.’
Putting “our people” in charge is a common goal pursued in US regime change efforts in countries across the world. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine are among the more prominent of many examples. While the effort may work out well for connected insiders who can profit from the change in political leadership, most people in the targeted countries suffer much due to US intervention.
Trump distinguished himself in the 2016 presidential election by lambasting President George W. Bush’s pursuit of regime change via war in Iraq. Now Trump has joined Bush, trying to accomplish in Iran the same goal via the same means. If only it were just a movie.