Trump insists Iranian civilians support U.S. bombing campaign in Iran

As Tuesday morning got underway, Donald Trump published a stunning item to his social media platform about the war in Iran, which began, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” The president has issued a great many threats during his White House tenure, but this was the first time he’s ever said he’s prepared to kill an entire “civilization.”

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But the final seven words of his online statement also stood out: “God Bless the Great People of Iran!” The juxtaposition offers a jarring contradiction: On the one hand, Trump wants to be seen as extending public support to Iranian civilians; on the other, he’s preparing to deliberately destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including the power plants needed to keep their lights on.

This is not an aberration. In fact, the missive came a day after the Republican repeatedly said that Iranians actually support the U.S. bombing campaign against their country.

On Monday morning, for example, Trump told reporters the Iranian people are “unhappy” when they don’t hear explosions. Asked how he could plausibly say he’s “taking care” of the Iranian people while also bombing their country, the Republican replied, “The Iranian people, when they don’t hear bombs go off, they’re upset. They want to hear bombs because they want to be free.”