In theory, there are a great many lessons Donald Trump should have learned after launching a failed war against Iran. In practice, however, the president appears to have learned effectively nothing.

In fact, by some measures, he appears to have come away from the conflict having learned the wrong lessons.

In an interview with “The Axios Show” that aired over the weekend, Marc Caputo asked the president, “What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?”

It was a good question that received an unfortunate answer. “There are no limits,” the Republican replied.

Pressed further, Trump added: “I haven’t learned that lesson yet.”

It was a bizarre answer, in large part because presidents are supposed to recognize legal limits, but also because common sense suggests he would also be aware of practical limits. The president launched the war convinced that he could simply bomb Iran until it agreed to an “unconditional surrender.” He similarly set out to achieve five specific objectives, nearly all of which went unmet when he decided to accept a rather pathetic deal that forced Iran to concede effectively nothing.

If there really were “no limits” to his ability to exercise power, the outcome of the conflict would have looked far different.

Complicating matters, The New York Times asked the president a similar question in January about the scope of his powers as commander in chief, and he responded at the time that he was constrained only by his “own morality,” not international law or other potential checks on his ability to use force around the world.

When the newspaper specifically asked whether there were any limits on his global powers, Trump replied, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

In other words, six months after saying he was constrained by his own sense of morality — an unfortunate concept, given his ugly and scandal-plagued background — Trump has apparently convinced himself that there “are no limits” to his presidential ability to exercise power at all.

Trump has occasionally complained about being referred to as a “dictator.” But if he wants such talk to stop, he probably ought to start recognizing the limits of presidential powers.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

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