As this year got underway, Donald Trump published a provocative statement to his social media platform, which sparked some confusion.

“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” the president wrote. “This Order is final and conclusive.”

The message raised eyebrows around the globe — especially given the number of countries that do extensive business with Iran, including some U.S. allies — but shortly after, nothing happened. The Republican administration simply didn’t bother to follow through on Trump’s declaration.

Last week, the president nevertheless published a similar threat online, announcing what he described as “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!” He added, “Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences. … This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY” (all emphases his).

Though that certainly sounded dramatic, neither the White House nor anyone in the administration was willing to offer any details about what this “CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION” actually entailed.

As this week got underway, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent got around to following up on Trump’s bold declaration (or at least trying to) with an initiative that officials have dubbed Operation Economic Outcast. MS NOW reported:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday threatened to impose new sanctions against countries financially supporting Iran as the war approaches its six-month mark. […]

Though Bessent said in a statement Monday that the latest sanctions would amount to an “economic onslaught,” he said at a news conference later that they would not be imposed immediately.

Oh. So “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!” amounted to little more than another underwhelming threat.

“You described this as an economic D-Day, but D-Day wasn’t a threat of an invasion, and the U.S. didn’t give a timeline to Germany,” a reporter reminded the Treasury secretary during his press conference. “So why not impose the sanctions today?”

“We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior,” Bessent responded. Implicitly conceding that following through on Trump’s chest-thumping would cause serious and systemic harm, the Cabinet secretary added, “Why would I want to blow up the global financial system? We believe that a warning shot and a level set of expectations is appropriate.”

But D-Day wasn’t a “warning shot”; it was an actual shot. The United States and allied forces during World War II didn’t deliver a stern warning to Nazis; they launched a historic invasion.

“The ‘D’ in Bessent’s ‘D-Day’ stands for ‘Dud,’” Paul Krugman wrote the morning after the hapless presentation.

Stepping back, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, Trump has been overpromising and underdelivering on a great many issues throughout his political career, and it’s amazing to see his inability to learn from his mistakes.

Second, there’s never been a better time to keep the “watch what they do, not what they say” maxim in mind. The president published an impudent statement last week, which we now know was largely meaningless, after having done the same thing on the same issue in January. Those who want to know what the administration will actually do on any given matter would be wise to remember that Trump is an unreliable narrator of his own team’s plans.

And third, as the war with Iran approaches the six-month mark, it appears Trump doesn’t know what to do diplomatically, militarily or economically, further reinforcing the unavoidable fact that this entire debacle is a failure for the ages.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

The post On ‘Economic D-Day,’ the Trump administration overpromised and underdelivered (again) appeared first on MS NOW.

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From MS Now.