Mary Trump issued a prediction about the “fundamental danger” about the way President Donald Trump is approaching the conflict between Iran and Israel.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House and Mary Trump for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The Iran-Israel conflict has continued to escalate after Israel launched strikes at Iran last week with the goal of diminishing its nuclear capabilities.
Trump has mulled options about how, or whether, the U.S. should be involved in the conflict, though polls suggest a majority of Americans oppose the U.S. becoming directly involved.
The president has urged people to evacuate the Iranian capital, Tehran, and has demanded Iran’s unconditional surrender. On Tuesday, he met with his national security team after leaving the G7 summit early this week. Iran, however, has warned of “irreparable damage” if the U.S. joins Israel.
What To Know
Mary Trump, the president’s estranged niece, addressed the conflict in a Substack post published on Wednesday, predicting a “fundamental danger” in how he handles the situation.
She questioned Trump contradicting testimony from Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence, who told Congress in March that there was no indication Iran was building nuclear weapons. The president on Tuesday said he believes Iran was “very close to having it.”
She wrote that Gabbard is “not scrambling to make it seem as if she and Donald are on the same page.” Gabbard, a former Democrat known for her anti-interventionist ideology, has not made public comments about whether she would support U.S. involvement in the war, or addressed Trump’s comments that appeared to contradict her earlier testimony.
Mary Trump questioned how the two are on the same page “if intelligence says one thing and Donald says the opposite thing.”
Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
“I find it deeply troubling that we even have to take such things into consideration, but one fundamental danger we face in this situation, is that the more we have to worry about this, pushback Donald gets, the more likely he is to double down on his threats,” she wrote. “As often is the case, he may escalate his threats to wage war to make himself feel better and to make sure that everybody else looks wrong, even if they’re not.”
The president has stood by Israel, but has not commented on if he plans for the U.S. to join the conflict. He has said Iran should have accepted a previous deal and reiterated that he believes the nation cannot have a nuclear weapon.
Many conservatives who are usually closely aligned with the president have urged him to not bring the U.S. into the war, and some members of Congress have sought to reassert their authority to declare war.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and conservative pundit Tucker Carlson are among those who have said the U.S. should not become directly involved in the war as the party remains split on some foreign policy issues.
What People Are Saying
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded to Mary Trump’s remarks in a statement to Newsweek: “President Trump is the most informed person on Earth. Meanwhile, Mary Trump is a stone-old loser who doesn’t have a clue about anything.
“The only foreign policy experience she has is watching MSDNC all day long, warping her grasp of reality. President Trump’s Peace through Strength foreign policy is a tried-and-true approach that keeps America safe and deters global threats. The president has full confidence in his entire exceptional national security team.”
The White House wrote in a statement on Tuesday: “President Donald J. Trump has never wavered in his stance that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon—a pledge he has made repeatedly, both in office and on the campaign trail.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to the president: “We warn America of the consequences of engaging in war, because it will suffer severe damage if it decides to do so. War is met with war, bombing with bombing, and strike with strike.”
Political activist Charlie Kirk said: “There’s a major schism in the MAGA online community. Our people do not want war. They want their president focused on fixing this country—not fighting someone else’s.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether U.S. forces will join Israel in the conflict in the coming days or weeks.
