President Donald Trump is fighting off accusations that he abandoned his base by inserting the United States into the war with Iran by claiming he never said he would end foreign wars.
In his 2024 victory speech, he told the country: “I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars.” He also claimed he would end the war in Ukraine within a day of his Inauguration.
With with battles unfolding in different places around the globe, he denied breaking campaign promises in an interview tith NBC this weekend.
He insists the difference is this war will not be endless.
"When you say I promised, I didn’t promise anything. I don't like these endless wars. [But] this is not an endless war,” Trump said during Meet the Press with NBC’s Kristen Welker.
Trump differentiated between "wars" and "endless wars," and he also emphasizing the need to use the military he built. “First of all, I didn't guarantee no war. Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?” he asked.
Trump bragged during the interview about the success of the military strike on Venezuela, highlighting the swift action. He said he still sees similarities between that operation and the war against Iran, which is more than three months old.
“We took over Venezuela in a matter of minutes. We destroyed the capability of Iran in a matter of days. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it,” Trump said, adding:
“Remember, you were in Vietnam 19 years because of stupid people,” he said. “You were in so many different countries. Every war, you were in for years. Look at Iraq. You were there for years.”
Instead of backing away from accusations about breaking campaign promises, Trump doubled down, saying the U.S. will seize and destroy Iran’s remaining nuclear materials if a deal was not met.
“Now, if we don't make a deal, then we're going to take them out militarily very harshly,” he said. “And we’ll wait till we do that before we go, in which case we'll have safety either way.”
The interview got so contentious that it ended when the President stormed out after a back-and-forth with Welker over his claims the California primary election is rigged. When she pressed him for evidence, he said, "They're crooked just like you're crooked, your press is crooked and 'Meet the Press' is crooked."
