KARACHI: US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account on Friday saw a rapid-fire burst of back-to-back posts in just over two hours that read less like a coherent policy thread and more like a running stream of consciousness.
Trump had first announced that Iran had opened the “Strait of Iran”. But then things only got more layered from there.
In no time, the American president clarified -- or complicated -- matters: “the Strait of Hormuz is completely open and ready for business”, he wrote, before immediately adding that “the naval blockade will remain in full force… as it pertains to Iran, only”.
People wondered: open for business, then -- but also blockaded? Both things, at once?
Some time later, Trump’s Truth Social messages took a sharp detour into what read like a mix of military briefing and stream-of-consciousness: “The USA will get all Nuclear ‘Dust,’ created by our great B2 Bombers…” he wrote, before pivoting to Lebanon, declaring Israel was “prohibited” from bombing it and concluding with a triple exclamation point for emphasis: “Enough is enough!!!”
Then came Nato -- or rather, a dismissal of it. “I told them to stay away”, Trump posted, calling the alliance a “Paper Tiger!” while suggesting, somewhat generously, that it could still “load up their ships with oil” if it wished to be useful.
The posts kept coming, each with its own tone and target. There were thank-yous (“Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar for your great bravery”), operational updates (“Iran… has removed, or is removing, all sea mines!”), and repeated insistence that Lebanon was -- and was not -- part of the ‘deal’ was being referenced: “This deal is not tied, in any way, to Lebanon”, followed shortly after by “make Lebanon great again!”
Pakistan, too, got a somewhat misspelt shoutout in the middle of it all: “Thank you to Pakistan and its Great Prime Minister and Field Marshall, two fantastic people!!!”
By this point, the posts had settled into a rhythm: declare, contradict, congratulate, repeat.
There was the sweeping “a great and brilliant day for the world!”, alongside a major claim delivered almost as an aside: “Iran has agreed to never close the Strait of Hormuz again”. And, because no Trump posting spree is quite complete without it, a swipe at the media: The New York Times and CNN were branded “fake news”, accused of scrambling for criticism, and instructed to say, “job well done, Mr President”.
Taken together, the posts were vintage Trump: all-caps declarations, abrupt pivots, confident claims, occasional spelling quirks (“Hezboolah”) and outcomes, processes and grievances announced all at once.
American political observers have often pointed to Trump’s social media style as a governing tool in its own right -- part messaging, part theatre, part negotiation-in-public. Just enough ambiguity to keep everyone guessing.
