Fox’s Ari Fleischer Questions Trump’s Iran Strategy: ‘Hard To Keep Up With What Our Motives Are’

Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer expressed confusion over President Donald Trump’s game plan in Iran, remarking on Monday, “It’s getting hard to keep up with what our motives are.”

Fox News’ Bret Baier, the host of Special Report, asked Fleischer on Monday’s edition of the show about a quote Trump gave to Axios over the weekend, in which he claimed that the U.S. is “low-keying it” and “only semi-negotiating” with the Iranians.

“He also said, Ari, they could go back at any time, depending on Iran’s response,” Baier noted of the possibility of continued strikes in the area.

Fleischer, who served as press secretary to former President George W. Bush, responded, “And that’s why this has become so dizzying, and the bigger problem is it leaves it up to Iran to determine America’s next move. If Iran attacks our ships, then we’ll go back in. If Iran doesn’t, we won’t. It’s getting hard to keep up with what our motives are here, and what our endgame is here.”

Also in response to Baier’s emphasis on Sunday’s Axios report, John McCarthy, once a senior advisor to former President Joe Biden, added, “Foreign policy tends to be a place where a president can really demonstrate some strength. It’s one of the unchecked powers of the presidency. One of the worst things you can do in politics is be perceived as ‘flip-flopping.’ So, you know, on one day we hear the president talking about how he’s going to unleash strikes like no one has ever seen before, and then the next day, you’re hearing him talking about ‘low-keying it,’ which is kind of casual language for something this serious, so I don’t think the president has conveyed to the American people that there’s an offramp here, and I don’t think he’s building confidence with voters on this.”

After McCarthy argued that Trump had failed to show voters an “offramp” adequately, Baier could be heard agreeing off-camera, “Yeah.”

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.

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