海角大神

鈥淎 whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,鈥� President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday morning. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want that to happen, but it probably will.鈥�

The president鈥檚 latest threat against Iran, , hit like a rhetorical bomb, as his 8 p.m. EDT deadline was looming for a deal with the Iranian regime to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump appeared to back up his words with an overnight attack against Iran鈥檚 key oil hub, Kharg Island, as well as bridges across the country, .

Recent days have brought a level of brinkmanship unusual even for Mr. Trump. But the pattern is familiar: Threaten dramatic action, gaining leverage over the other side as leader of the most powerful country in the world, and then (most likely) announce a deal or enough progress toward one to merit a delay. Mr. Trump used a similar playbook in the trade war he launched a year ago. But the stakes have never been higher than they are now, as the Iranian regime contemplates its next move.

There are questions about whether Mr. Trump鈥檚 strategy might be losing its effectiveness 鈥� or could be escalating out of his control. With tariffs, he earned a reputation for ultimately backing off on his most severe threats, generating the 鈥淭ACO鈥� meme: 鈥淭rump Always Chickens Out.鈥� The mockery has 聽and could provide further impetus for the president to carry out his threat and act in dramatic fashion against Iran.

At the least, the president has upped the rhetorical ante in a way that caused critics and even many supporters to react with genuine alarm.

鈥淲ake up: he is calling for A NUCLEAR STRIKE,鈥� , a Trump critic who served briefly as communications director during the president鈥檚 first term, on X. 鈥淪eek his removal immediately.鈥� Other noteworthy conservative Trump critics, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, also invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Mr. Trump from office.

Or, it could all be a big bluff. Mr. Trump has long regarded his reputation for unpredictability as an asset in diplomacy. He might even be encouraging speculation that he鈥檚 losing his mind, leaning into the 鈥渕adman theory鈥� of negotiation. That term was President Richard Nixon鈥檚 tenure to describe his reported approach to the North Vietnamese as he sought their surrender during the Vietnam War. The concept: Convince your adversary that you鈥檙e irrational and could do anything, even go nuclear, in order to gain concessions.

Last year, amid the tariff wars, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent put it somewhat differently, saying that Mr. Trump likes to project 鈥�strategic ambiguity鈥� in his words and actions. 鈥淣obody鈥檚 better at creating this leverage,鈥� Mr. Bessent said.

The Trump White House has been sending signals that Vice President JD Vance 鈥� a known skeptic of U.S. involvement in foreign wars 鈥� is available to jump in and help with the Iran negotiations.

鈥淚 hope they make the right response,鈥� the vice president said on Tuesday, speaking of Iran. He was addressing an event in Budapest in support of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n, who is facing a tough reelection fight.

In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has veered between regular claims that the United States has already 鈥渨on鈥� in Iran and that 鈥減roductive鈥� talks are underway, and dire threats of escalation. The contradictory pronouncements caused early swings in the markets; 聽the oil market has settled into a substantially higher price than before the Feb. 28 start of the war.

Some presidential historians see Mr. Trump鈥檚 approach as less strategic than reactive. They also say the madman theory has never produced positive results.

鈥淭rump really is a person who lives in the moment, who reacts to what he perceives as the opportunities or threats involved in the moment,鈥� says Glenn Altschuler, an emeritus professor of American Studies at Cornell University. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why you get a lot of inconsistencies.鈥�

Under President Nixon, the madman theory in dealing with Vietnam didn鈥檛 bring an end to the war.

Today, it has even less potential to work than it did during the Cold War for three reasons, according to Andrew Latham, a political scientist at Macalester College. First, information flows more freely. Second, the U.S. faces a less stable adversary than the Soviets. And third, Mr. Trump, unlike Mr. Nixon, has not established an otherwise orderly American system that would make his threats credible.

鈥淭he madman pose only works if it is exceptional,鈥� writes Professor Latham in . Mr. Trump鈥檚 constant public statements, and the fierce public discussion they generate, can 鈥渄evolve into noise,鈥� he adds.

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts suggested on Tuesday聽that the nation needs to 鈥渢ake a step back and recognize how dangerously desensitized we have become to Trump.鈥�

鈥淭he President of the United States is casually threatening the death of an entire civilization on social media between promoting vanity projects,鈥� Representative Moulton . 鈥淭his is not 鈥榯ough talk鈥� or 鈥榯he art of the deal.鈥� This is the rhetoric of a madman.鈥�

Mr. Trump鈥檚 in a social media post on Easter Sunday morning highlighted his ability to shock, underscoring his threat to Iran that it must open the Strait of Hormuz, or else. But it might have been counterproductive at home, generating an unusual amount of criticism from his 海角大神 conservative base.

In a social media on Monday, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said he was praying for the president and urged his followers to do the same.

鈥淲hile his Sunday Truth Social post on Iran may be designed to transmit bravado toward the Iranian regime to bring the conflict to an end, the continuing decline in language and decorum of our leaders is very troubling and should not be acceptable,鈥� wrote Mr. Perkins, a Trump supporter.