It’s been abundantly clear that President Trump’s war with Iran was a colossal mistake from the moment it began, but remarkably, six months later, we’re somehow still finding out additional reasons why it was so blatantly reckless. According to new reporting from the Wall Street Journal, there were even more warnings that Trump dismissed or ignored in the run up to the war than the ones we already knew about — and we already knew a lot. As the massively costly, deeply unpopular war reaches its half-year mark, still with no end in sight, here’s a look back at the advice, warnings, and pleas that Trump disregarded to get us into this mess in the first place.

. Trump was warned by Gabbard exactly how the war would backfire

Per the new Journal report, Trump met with his former DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, days before starting the war and asked her whether his plan for quickly toppling the regime would work. Gabbard told him that in the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment, it would not, and would likely just make everything worse, instead:

According to people familiar with the meeting, she told Trump that killing Iran’s supreme leader would likely usher in a more hard-line regime open to acquiring nuclear weapons. Tehran would rush to close the Strait of Hormuz, destabilizing the global energy market. And it would strike U.S. forces and partners in the Middle East, prompting questions about American resolve and reliability with allies.

According to people familiar with the meeting, she told Trump that killing Iran’s supreme leader would likely usher in a more hard-line regime open to acquiring nuclear weapons. Tehran would rush to close the Strait of Hormuz, destabilizing the global energy market. And it would strike U.S. forces and partners in the Middle East, prompting questions about American resolve and reliability with allies.

Trump went ahead with the plan anyway, and all of those things happened.

. J.D. Vance tried to talk him out of it, too

Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan have reported that the vice president was the biggest and most vocal critic of the war plan among everyone in Trump’s inner circle:

In front of the president and his other advisers, Mr. Vance warned that the conflict could cause regional chaos and untold casualties, break apart the president’s political coalition, and be seen as a betrayal by voters who had supported the promise of no new wars. He stressed the depletion of U.S. munitions and the risk of outsized and unpredictable retaliation given that the regime’s survival was at stake. He also warned about the Strait of Hormuz and the likelihood of soaring gasoline prices.

In front of the president and his other advisers, Mr. Vance warned that the conflict could cause regional chaos and untold casualties, break apart the president’s political coalition, and be seen as a betrayal by voters who had supported the promise of no new wars. He stressed the depletion of U.S. munitions and the risk of outsized and unpredictable retaliation given that the regime’s survival was at stake. He also warned about the Strait of Hormuz and the likelihood of soaring gasoline prices.

Trump didn’t listen to him (and apparently got pissed at him) and all those things happened.

. Repeated U.S. war games all indicated Iran........

© Daily Intelligencer