What did Donald Trump do today?

He got equal parts confused and mad over a decision the British government made regarding its own territory.

In October 2024, the British government announced it would cede a smattering of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean back to the nation of Mauritius, settling a long-standing controversy about whether Mauritius was unlawfully forced to give it up as a condition of their independence in 1968. Minor transfers of land between nations like this are common, but this one does have some geopolitical significance, because of the presence of a joint US-UK military base. Under the planned cession, the British government will sign a 99-year lease for full control of the island housing the Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. 

Of course, the lease is simply a legal and diplomatic nicety: Mauritius is a tiny nation with no military capability to force the issue, and its government is geopolitically aligned with the United States and the United Kingdom anyway.

Today, for reasons that remain unclear, Trump decided that now was the time to register his objections to the plan. He, or someone posing as him on his private social media platform, posted a rant warning the British Prime Minister to cancel the deal because the United States might need to use NSF Diego Garcia in a forthcoming attack on Iran.

This is gibberish for several reasons. First, the United States could still use the base, which it will retain complete control over. Second, even if it couldn't, it wouldn't need to: Diego Garcia is 4,000 km from the nearest point in Iran, and there are many airbases much closer or better equipped for a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Third, at least according to Trump's official version of events there is no need for a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities because—again, according to the official position of the Trump administration—its uranium enrichment capacity was "OBLITERATED LIKE NOBODY'S EVER SEEN BEFORE." (In reality, of course, this is not even remotely true, but Trump himself may very well believe that it is.)

What makes the matter even more confusing is that Trump is once again rapidly flip-flopping between extreme opposite positions. Not only did the U.S. State Department announce the Trump administration's support for the deal yesterday, but Trump himself said less than two weeks ago that this was the "best" deal possible.

The White House did not clarify Trump's comments today, other than to have the press secretary promise that this was, really and truly, Trump himself saying this and not anyone else putting words in his mouth (this time). 

Why does this matter?

• Whoever said this is too confused and careless to be running either military or diplomatic policy for the United States. 

• The only thing this kind of last-minute tantrum accomplishes is driving a wedge between the United States and its closest military allies, which is something only the United States' military opponents could want.