Phillip Elliot
TIME, June 18, 2025
“Trump on Tuesday was testing the limits of that cohort’s support, as he posted on social media that he knew where Iran’s Supreme Leader was bunkering down and threatened his life unless Iran agreed to “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.” “We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump posted.”
The Constitution is pretty clear about the powers bestowed upon Presidents: they can negotiate treaties, command the military, stack a Cabinet and the courts, issue pardons and commutations. But the true superpowers of the presidency are more nebulous, but just as significant. Presidents can rally world-weary Americans to coalesce on foreign policy. They can rally America-weary countries to Washington’s causes. They can exploit the instinctive respect for the presidency at moments of crisis.
But for any of those softer powers to work, the White House has to have credibility. And, at the moment, President Donald Trump is at a pronounced disadvantage as he faces a Middle East in crisis. It isn’t just that he is coming off a weekend in which he provoked one of the largest single-day protests in U.S. history as he threw an underwhelming, but expensive, military parade. Trump could more easily dismiss his many detractors if his base were with him as solidly as it was just a few weeks ago. But the political movement that fueled his most unlikely return to power is threatening to now crack.
“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” Trump posted on Tuesday, making clear the U.S. and Israel were now in lockstep on the Israeli military operation that the U.S. didn’t initially back. “Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA,” he added.
It was the latest diplomatic swerve from Trump, who has responded in recent days to Israel’s offensive by veering to nearly every possible position—from a hands-off approach to pressing for a diplomatic off-ramp to claiming total ownership of Israel’s barrage and threatening Iran’s annihilation. …SOURCE