An operation that Donald Trump said could take Iran out “in one night” has now turned into a regional war that has just entered its sixth week, with the US president appearing increasingly frustrated over the situation, as evidenced by his unhinged social media posts. In his latest expletive-ridden rant on Sunday, he warned that the US would take out all of Iran’s bridges and power plants if it didn’t open up the Hormuz Strait by Tuesday night, 8pm Eastern time.
Trump’s quagmire of his own making has tanked his domestic popularity—even among his support base. Instead of the “no endless wars” they were promised, Americans are now knee-deep in a disastrous war and feeling the economic pinch at the gas pump.
Polls indicate that 6 out of 10 Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing in office now, with some surveys showing his disapproval rating edging closer to two-thirds of Americans during the recent weeks of war. This puts his popularity significantly lower than it was in his first term and lower than that of his three predecessors—Biden, Obama, and George W. Bush—in their first terms.
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معهد الشرق الأوسط (MEI) هو منظمة تعليمية مستقلة وغير حزبية وغير ربحية. لا يشارك المعهد في أي أنشطة دعوية، وآراء الباحثين فيه تعبر عن آرائهم الشخصية. يرحب المعهد بالتبرعات المالية، لكنه يحتفظ بالسيطرة التحريرية الكاملة على أعماله، ولا تعكس منشوراته سوى آراء المؤلفين. للاطلاع على قائمة المتبرعين للمعهد، يرجى النقر هنا.