Donald Trump made another awkward slip of the tongue while trying to rebrand his war against Iran.
The 79-year-old president discussed the conflict during Wednesday evening’s National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner.
At one point during his rambling speech, Trump said he was deliberately avoiding referring to the military conflict as a “war” as legal questions remain over whether he needed approval from Congress before launching his attack on Iran on Feb. 28.
“I won’t use the word ‘war’ because they say, if you use the word war, that’s maybe not a good thing to do,” the president said.
“They don’t like the word ‘war,’ because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word ‘military operation,’ which is really what it is.”
The term has unfortunate echoes of Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. The conflict has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians.
During the same speech, Trump noted at one point “The war essentially ended a few days after we went in.”
The War Powers Act generally sets a limit of 60 days for military action unless Congress has authorized the use of military force. Trump has argued on his Truth Social account that the law is unconstitutional.
Congress voted against the war powers resolution this week, which was put forward by Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Massachusetts, and aimed for “the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.”
Trump has previously danced around the phrase ‘war’ this week, saying on Tuesday that people he did not name “don’t like me using the word ‘war’ so I won’t, but the Democrats call it a war.”
He has also referred to the conflict as “an excursion that will keep us out of a war."
The semantics follow the public backlash against Trump’s war being reflected in dire polling results. The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted between March 20-23 among 1,272 U.S. adults, said just 35 percent of Americans approve of the U.S. strikes, down from 37 percent last week, while 61 percent now disapprove.
The poll also found that one in four people believed the war will make the United States less safe in the long run, compared with only 26 percent who believe it will make the country safer.
The war has seen oil and gas prices soar, hitting an electorate who were already struggling with a cost of living crisis. Fuel hit $3.98 a gallon on Wednesday. It was $2.97 on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched their first strike on Iran.
The president has already mangled the English language this week.
In a desperate Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump repeated an imaginary word he seemed to premiere last week: “mutilization.”
He wrote, “No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our precious children” as part of his Sunday rant.
On March 17, Trump posted, “No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our Children.” It is unclear if he is deliberately blending “mutilation” with another word, if it is on purpose, or if it is an error.
He has previously referred to “transgender mutilation” of children or “mutilation surgery” on his Truth Social account.
