2019

From the New York Times:

By Peter Baker, Eric Schmitt and Michael Crowley
Sept. 21, 2019

WASHINGTON — By the time President Trump met with congressional leaders on the afternoon of June 20, he had already decided to retaliate against Iran for shooting down an American surveillance drone. But for once, he kept his cards close to the vest, soliciting advice rather than doing all of the talking.

“Why don’t you go after the launch sites?” a Republican lawmaker asked.

“Well,” Mr. Trump replied with a hint, “I think you’ll like the decision.”

But barely three hours later, Mr. Trump had changed his mind. Without consulting his vice president, secretary of state or national security adviser, he reversed himself and, with ships readying missiles and airplanes already in the skies, told the Pentagon to call off the airstrikes with only 10 minutes to go. When Vice President Mike Pence and other officials returned to the White House for what they expected would be a long night of monitoring a military operation, they were stunned to learn the attack was off.

That about-face, so typically impulsive, instinctive and removed from any process, proved a decision point for a president who has often threatened to “totally destroy” enemies but at the same time has promised to extricate the United States from Middle East wars. It revealed a commander in chief more cautious than critics have assumed, yet underscored the limited options in a confrontation he had set in motion.

From NPR

President Trump says he called off a Thursday strike on Iran ordered as retaliation for Iran's having shot down a U.S. drone. Trump said he canceled the attack shortly before it was to begin, after he was told 150 people would very likely be killed.

"We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die," Trump said in a series of tweets Friday.

Upon hearing the projected death toll, Trump said, he decided that the strike was not "proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone." The president said he put a halt to the operation 10 minutes before the strike was set to begin.

This weird two-step dance from Donald J. Blowhard during his last term has gone down the memory hole. It fits neither side of the Trump Media Image War as it shows Trump making sense, something he rarely does and something neither his loony toons fans nor his loony toons TDS sufferers want to hear.

At the time I recall a slightly different narrative about Blowhard's about face. It said the planes were in the air, within an hour of their targets when President Blowhard suddenly asked the question about fatalities. Upon hearing the reply from the Brass Hats of 150 Iranian stiffs, Hitler Junior transformed into pacifist mode and ordered the planes to turn around and go back to base.

This incident is why I don't believe anything I hear about what Trump is going to do.