The Essential
Monday June 08 2026
The danger of Trump’s public humiliations
Sadia Nowshin
By Sadia Nowshin
Newsletter Editor at The i Paper
Missile strikes between Israel and Iran resumed last night after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced they would begin strikes on Beirut earlier this week, even as Iran repeatedly warned of action if the attacks on Lebanon continued.
Following the skirmish, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social with claims that Israel and Iran are looking to reach an “immediate ceasefire,” “subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way.”
But this would not be the first time that Trump’s promises regarding a peace deal failed to materialise. “Trump obviously wants an end to the conflict, and has been promising a peace deal is imminent, or at most “two weeks” away, for months now,” writes James Ball. “But slowly, [he] seems to be learning that just saying this isn’t enough to make it true.”
“Neither Israel nor Iran seems happy to go along with Trump’s desire to quickly end the war just because he’s become bored with it,” Ball adds - in fact, the strikes over the weekend were “blatantly” against Trump’s wishes for a ceasefire and revealed a multitude of humiliations for the US President.
Firstly, that Iran had the missiles to issue a strike after Trump’s claim to have wiped out the country’s capability to launch that kind of attack. Secondly, publicly telling Israel not to retaliate against the strike, followed by an Israeli retaliation all the same. But while Ball says it seems that Trump is aware of his own lack of influence over this conflict, he warns that the consequences of the President's embarrassment could be bad news.
"[Trump is] being publicly humiliated on the world stage, while every world leader watches on,” says Ball - “[he] has made himself look foolish, and weak. That could make him more dangerous than ever.”
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