By relentlessly repeating his own version of events with absolute certainty, Trump attempts to rewrite reality. Through sheer volume and repetition, his assertions are eventually accepted as facts by his followers, regardless of their actual veracity.
It was always clear that no matter the outcome, Trump would find some pretext to declare victory, as he always does, and relentless repeat that narrative. In repeating the same narrative of triumph after triumph over and over again, strategic disappointments such as the failure to remove Iran’s 440 kg of 60% enriched uranium, or the fact Iran retains significant ballistic missile and offensive capabilities, and no substantive changes to Iran’s theocratic regime, fall by the wayside. It is paradoxical that critics and supporters of Donald Trump alike are so often caught flat-footed by Trump’s ostensibly abrupt reversals, when the groundwork for those reversals are often being laid in plain sight, for all to see—if they know what signs to look for. Trump’s Ten Commandments reveals that Trump’s Iran ceasefire was anything but surprising and mirror his career-long instincts across politics and business, war, and peace.