美國總統 Donald Trump 儘管一再收到其最高軍事顧問的警告，仍持續升級他極不受歡迎的對伊朗戰爭；一篇分析指出，總統這種「失敗」做法是出於他害怕承認「一件事」。

Trump 曾表示，參謀長聯席會議主席 Dan Caine 將軍認為美國對伊朗的戰爭會是「容易取勝的事」。然而，The New York Times 報導稱，Caine 私下表達的是相反看法。即便如此，Trump 仍繼續加劇這場衝突。

Trump 的公開說法與據稱來自美國最高軍事官員的私下警告之間的落差，是記者 Alissa Valdes-Rodriguez 批評的核心。她的評論文章將這場爭議不僅描述為戰術分歧，也是一個關於總統是否願意承認該策略並未產生他所承諾結果的問題。

“He got told the plan failed and his response was to order more of the plan and lie,” Valdes-Rodriguez 在週六發表於她的 Substack 的評論文章中寫道。“That’s not strategy. That’s a man who heard 'you’re going the wrong way' and pressed harder on the gas so he wouldn’t have to feel the unbearable sensation of pulling over because he f----- up.”

Valdes-Rodriguez 主張，Trump 仍堅持她所形容的「失敗」升級策略，儘管這項策略幾乎未能減少戰爭對經濟的衝擊，也未能避免美軍傷亡。在她看來，總統繼續這場衝突的決心，歸根究柢是為了避免做「一件事」。

“The war is not continuing because it can be won,” Valdes-Rodriguez 寫道。“Everybody who would know says it can’t.”

接著，她談到在她看來 Trump 為何拒絕改變方向。

“The war is continuing because stopping it would require Donald Trump to admit to Donald Trump that it didn’t work, and admitting it didn’t work would require him to admit that he didn’t work, and that – that little sentence, ‘I was wrong’ — is the one thing this man has spent seventy-some years of his life building an entire personality to avoid ever having to say.”

Valdes-Rodriguez 繼續寫道：“He would genuinely rather do this. Destroy the global economy. Ruin your life. Kill your daughters and sons. He would rather do all of this than feel that for four seconds.”