The Trump administration still can’t decide why it’s doing this

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: The US is four days into a war with Iran — and the Trump administration still can’t consistently explain why it’s doing it, or what it hopes to accomplish. 

What’s going on? On Tuesday, President Donald Trump told reporters that “if anything, I might’ve forced Israel’s hand” to attack Iran over the weekend. 

On Monday, however, Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a different explanation: “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”

It’s just the latest example of the administration’s incoherence around its basic messaging, which my colleague Zack Beauchamp diagnosed shortly after strikes began on Saturday morning. 

That same lack of clarity extends to the duration of the conflict: Trump has suggested it could last about four weeks, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called a question about the war’s duration a “typical NBC sort of got-you type question” on Monday, adding that the timeline “could move up, it could move back.”

Perhaps most importantly, the administration appears to lack a vision for what happens next inside Iran, beyond Trump’s call for Iranians to “take over your government.” On Tuesday, he told reporters that “Most of the people we had in mind [to lead the country] are dead. So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is dead, and now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports.”

What’s the big picture? The people running the country, and a major conflict in the Middle East, don’t seem to have taken any time to think about why they’re doing it or where they want to go next. It’s not difficult to see it all getting even further out of hand.

And with that, it’s time to log off…

Longtime Logoff readers may recall the Big Bear bald eagle nest live cam from previous newsletters; it’s still running, and as scenic and tranquil as ever. 

I’m sharing it again today because of this terrific story from the LA Times’s Lila Seidman, about the new clutch of eggs the nest’s owners, eagles Jackie and Shadow, just laid. I hope you enjoy, and as always, have a great evening, and we’ll see you right back here tomorrow!