So Damaging!' Kinzinger Hammers Trump For Being Eager' to Back Down On Iran Threats

"Yeah, that's the whole thing. This is so damaging, you know. Regardless oflet's just be, you know, agnostic on whether he should attack again or not for the momentwhen you make threats and then you're eager to back down from those threats, which he has been every single time, Kinzinger replied, adding: I mean, he's gone from we will destroy an entire civilization to we have a deal, which we never actually had, by the way."

"Claiming the Strait's open, claiming it's closed, claiming he was gonna pull the trigger on May 19th, and now everybody wants him to deal because we're about to, like, lose all of your strategic strength. One of the greatest things the United States had is our ability to say we will do something. The enemy knows that. And then hopefully we won't have to do that."

"This has just been like: threat, back off, threat, back off. And I haven't seen the Iranians move in any way here. And we find ourselves in the worst-case scenario, which is a closed strait, this nebulous future. And gas is now having to price in, and futures are pricing in the uncertainty."

President Donald Trump announced on social media that a planned attack on Iran would be canceled. CNN anchors asked former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger about the impact of Trump making threats and then finding an off-ramp. Kinzinger said the pattern is damaging because threats are followed by eager backdown. He contrasted statements about destroying an entire civilization with later claims of a deal that never existed, shifting claims about whether the Strait is open or closed, and references to a trigger date. He argued U.S. strategic strength depends on the ability to credibly say it will do something. He said the Iranians have not moved and that markets now price uncertainty, including gas and futures, in a worst-case scenario involving a closed strait and a nebulous future.

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