Trump’s TACOs on Iran loom over his big threat to Oman | CNN Politics

Monday should be a very scary day for the small Middle Eastern country of Oman. President Donald Trump warned it against interfering with US efforts in the Strait of Hormuz, telling Fox News, “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them.” But one could forgive Oman for not getting too hot and bothered. That’s because Trump, a president who once warned repeatedly about the dangers of presidents failing to follow through on their threats, has made lots of empty ones in recent months. Indeed, Trump seems to have embraced a policy in the Iran war centered on firing off threats that he doesn’t seem terribly inclined to enforce — if he ever actually meant them. The problem with that, as a former version of Trump would have pointed out, is it makes countries like Oman less likely to comply with his demands, because they don’t necessarily think Trump is willing to make good on them. Iran has certainly adopted that posture. Trump’s track record of bluffs in the Iran war is undeniable at this point. Nearly four months ago, I wrote about how Trump, even at that early juncture less than two months into the war, had already made five threats against Iran that he fai