Trump denies promising 'no new wars' as old campaign clips resurface

President Donald Trump disowned one of his signature 2024 campaign promises during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, claiming he never guaranteed the United States would stay out of new wars. "Why would I have built the strongest military in the world?" he told host Kristen Welker. "I built our military. I inherited a terrible military. We had no equipment. We had nothing." Social media was quick to respond: rally clips resurfaced within minutes, and X's Community Notes did the rest.

Trump spoke to Welker as the Iran conflict crossed the 100-day mark, insisting he acted to prevent "a dangerous country" from obtaining a nuclear weapon—one he warned Iran would use to "blow up the world," including the Middle East and Europe. "They're nuts, they're crazy people. I deal with them," he said. He also repeated what has become a familiar refrain, asserting once again that a deal with Tehran was close to fruition.

It bears repeating that "no new wars" was not a footnote in Trump's 2024 campaign; it was a centerpiece. With U.S. forces deployed in the region, his denial on national television is not just a contradiction; it is an effort to walk away from the very mandate that returned him to the White House. It is also worth noting that Trump is under mounting pressure to end the conflict and secure a deal, with Americans reeling from a cost-of-living crisis and a war that has never been popular.

The President recently appeared to soften on the economic pain the war has inflicted on ordinary Americans, having earlier brushed off such concerns with studied nonchalance. "I know it's difficult," he told farmers at a Wisconsin roundtable, promising that fertilizer and oil prices would return to pre-war levels within 90 days. That timeline looks increasingly difficult to meet after Iran launched fresh strikes at Israel over the weekend, after Israel hit Beirut, killing two.

The attack came despite a ceasefire brokered after a tense phone call between Trump and Netanyahu, during which Trump reportedly called the Israeli Prime Minister "crazy" for a similar infraction in which Tel Aviv launched strikes on Lebanon. How the latest escalation complicates mediation efforts remains unclear, particularly as Iran continues to insist that any deal include a ceasefire in Beirut.

Trump told Axios' Barak Ravid that he planned to call Netanyahu and urge restraint. "The Iranian strikes didn't hurt anybody. Hopefully Israel is not going to retaliate," he was quoted as saying. "If Bibi strikes them back, it's just gonna keep going like the last 47 years, or the last 3,000 years. Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don't need another one."