Halperin: Trump Is Playing “Good Cop,” “Pretending To Be Against” Assassinating The Ayatollah, Bombing Nuke Sites
Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine talk about what could happen as the Israel-Iran war continues to escalate. “The president is pretending to be against assassinating the Ayatollah and pretending to be hopeful about peace talks,” Halperin said.
MARK HALPERIN: Based on everything I know, the president is pretending to be against assassination and pretending to be hopeful about peace talks. This puts the US in the ‘good cop’ role while Netanyahu is ‘bad cop’, sending a message to the Ayatollah: negotiate a real deal or Israel will kill you-and I won’t stand in the way. I also think we may see an actual attack on an American asset-or the US might create one as a pretext-and then use B-52s and bunker-buster bombs to destroy Iran’s nuclear capability. I;’m not sure these things are going to happen, but keep an eye on them. They could kill the Ayatollah and take out the full nuclear capability, but only with US help-and I think it’s coming unless Iran surrenders — SEAN SPICER: Which isn’t going to happen. I’m not a believer in a manufactured event. If Iran goes too far, that’s going to happen. … MARK HALPERIN: Governments create pretexts all the time, it’s not hard to do this, and Iran might hit a real U.S. asset. SEAN SPICER: I don’t disagree with the tactic, i just don’t see Trump signing off on it. MARK HALPERIN: On the B-52s? SEAN SPICER: If a true U.S. asset is hit, that’s a much easier sell. But manufacturing one is going to be hard for him to buy into. DAN TURRENTINE: Oh, I don’t know, I agree with Mark — a Gulf of Tonkin style-thing. MARK HALPERIN: I don’t think they’ll need to manufacture it. The trajectory of this thing with Iran, Trump will basically say, If you don’t surrender within X days, go ahead and assassinate the Ayatollah, and we’ll find a reason to bomb” the nuclear sites.
