President Donald Trump urged his followers to “study” a chart comparing the duration of his war on Iran to that of other conflicts involving the U.S.
But Trump’s chart failed basic math by miscalculating the true length of the conflict with Iran.
The 79-year-old went on another Truth Social posting spree on Wednesday night, including sharing clips from his favorite network Fox News praising him and slamming former President Barack Obama.
Trump also posted a chart, featuring his 45:47 presidential logo, titled “Length of Wars.” He wrote, “Wow. Study this Chart!”
However, anyone actually studying the chart will see that what Trump calls his “Iran Excursion” is now in its ninth week, not sixth, as the chart states.
The U.S. and Israel first launched military strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
There is still no clear end to the conflict, with an increasingly desperate Trump telling PBS on Wednesday morning he was optimistic about making an agreement with Iran, but also prepared to resume the conflict if talks collapse.
“I think it’s got a very good chance of ending, and if it doesn’t end, we have to go back to bombing the hell out of them,” he said. “Very simple.”
Trump’s other war timelines were also questionable.
The war in Afghanistan, the longest in U.S. history, ran from 2001 to 2021. U.S. troops remained in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years in total. That is around 1,035 weeks, almost double the 543 weeks on Trump’s chart.
Trump’s timeline of the Iraq war, at 457 weeks, along with the Korean War, at 161 weeks, is accurate.
The Vietnam War, which lasted almost 20 years, took more than 1,000 weeks. Trump’s chart lists 439.
Trump’s chart has World War II listed at 196 weeks, although the entire war lasted over 300 weeks, between 1939 and 1945. U.S. involvement, which started after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, lasted roughly 193 weeks.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for clarification on Trump’s figures.
Prior to his command to “study” his war chart, Trump spent this week attempting to educate anyone who would listen about his war in person.
He raged about the threat of nuclear weapons to a group of children who were at the White House on Tuesday. While they were there for the signing of a proclamation on youth sports and fitness, the president went off-script to complain about war.
“We can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You might be too young for this,” Trump said, looking to the children, before continuing.
“They probably know,” Trump said. “They probably know better than most people, but you can’t let a bunch of lunatics have a nuclear weapon, or the world would be in trouble. The world would be in trouble.”
He returned to the topic again, saying in front of the young audience, “Remember, we sent that beautiful B2 bomber in, and we blew up their nuclear potential. It was obliterated, for those that are not aware.”
Meanwhile, motivation for Trump’s decision to pause his U.S. operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz came as a result of pressure from Saudi Arabia, according to a NBC News report on Wednesday.
Trump blindsided key Gulf allies by announcing his “Project Freedom” in the first place, the report said, citing two officials.
Saudi Arabia informed the U.S. that it would not allow the U.S. military to fly aircraft from Prince Sultan Airbase southeast of Riyadh, the officials said. The U.S. would also be unable to fly through Saudi airspace to support efforts to open the Strait.
After a call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman failed to address the issue, the president abruptly halted “Project Freedom” to restore critical U.S. military access to the airspace, according to the officials.
