Iran, Gas Prices, the Ballroom: Trump Professes Indifference Over Fallout

A White House cabinet meeting began with a lengthy presidential monologue about the state of his presidency. During remarks on Iran negotiations, Trump claimed the Iranians would be outwaited because they had midterm pressures. He also previously downplayed domestic economic impacts by saying he does not think about Americans’ financial situation. The stance presents preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon as a mission for humanity rather than for domestic audiences. The text notes that Trump’s professed indifference may not reflect true feelings, since midterm outcomes affect the remainder of his term. It also describes a broader pattern of nonchalance amid an unpopular, prolonged war, a government fund that could benefit allies, and a focus on reshaping Washington.

"They thought they were going to outwait me, you know, he said of the Iranians. We'll outwait him. He's got the midterms.' I don't care about the midterms. Mr. Trump's professed indifference had echoes of his remark earlier in the month when, pressed about the domestic economic impact of the war, he said: I don't think about Americans' financial situation."

"Both were said in the same spirit: His mission to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is so important for humanity, he argues, that it must outweigh any ephemeral concerns on the home front political, economic or otherwise. People understand it, he said at the Wednesday cabinet meeting. They know that, very simple, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I'm doing that for the world. I'm not doing it just for us."

"It is unlikely that the president does not actually care about the midterms, the results of which will determine much of the success of the back half of his final term. But Mr. Trump has increasingly adopted a posture of nonchalance in the face of mounting fallout on multiple fronts: an unpopular war that has dragged on longer than he said it would, the creation of a government fund that could benefit his allies, and his fixation on remaking Washington into his vision of a gilded city."

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