Iranian Leader's Top Military Aide: Trump Playing Role of A Mad Man

Rasa - Top Military Aide to the Iranian Supreme Leader Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi underlined that US President Donald Trump is playing the role of a mad man to help Washington meet its interests in the region and the world.

News ID: 433326

Date: 22 October 2017 - 16:47

RNA - "The world arrogance has created all events and turmoil in the region today to confront the Islamic Revolution, and Trump is not a mad man but he plays the role of a mad man because existence of such a person is needed by the US to attain its goals in the region," Rahim Safavi said, addressing a ceremony in the Central city of Qom on Sunday.

Referring to Trump's meetings with Henry Kissinger, the former US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, in recent months, he said, "Kissinger has recommended Trump to adopt this unwise strategy because existence of such a person at the head of the US administration is necessary for the country's influence and spreading global horror."

Late last month, Trump reportedly told the US trade representative to scare South Korean negotiators by telling them he was a madman. “You tell [the South Koreans] if they don't give the concessions now, this crazy guy will pull out of the deal,” he said, referring to the U.S.-Korea free trade agreement. That report came at the end of a day in which the president’s tweets about another issue on the Korean peninsula evoked comparisons to the Nixon-era “madman theory” that you can scare an opponent into concessions by cultivating an image of recklessness. “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” the president wrote. “… Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what needs to be done!”

Although Trump credits himself with breaking every presidential norm, in choosing to intimidate foreign opponents through feigned (or real) recklessness, he is borrowing from the playbook of a predecessor. In April 1971, facing an impasse in negotiations with the North Vietnamese to end the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon gave Trump-like advice to his national-security adviser, Henry Kissinger. Kissinger had just suggested that he might hint to Hanoi, “if you think you’re going to defeat him [Nixon], if you don’t accept this [latest offer], he will stop at nothing”—implying the use of nuclear weapons.

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