Bulwark Takes: "BREAKING: Trump Blames Hegseth for Iran War, Insults Widower"

Date: March 23, 2026
Host: Andrew Egger
Co-host: JBL

Overview

In this emergency episode, Andrew Egger and JBL from The Bulwark react in real-time to Donald Trump's Memphis event, delivered amid the intense and ongoing Iran crisis. They dissect the President's erratic handling of the situation, highlight his attempts at shifting blame, and break down his combative and confused public performance. The panel scrutinizes the President's apparent lack of strategy, inconsistent messaging, and his psychological need for adulation in the midst of a global economic and strategic emergency.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Context: Trump’s Memphis Event Amid the Iran Crisis

• Backdrop: Amid the U.S.–Iran war and economic fallout due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump holds a Memphis event meant to focus on crime, but opens with Iran.

• Market Fears: Economic disaster looms as the global oil choke point remains closed, with Trump lurching between grandiose threats and last-minute backtracking:

  “Donald Trump spent the weekend basically making incredibly grandiose threats against Iran… then, as the markets prepared this morning to reopen… backing off of all those and basically saying, well, we'll give Iran one more work week…”
  – Andrew Egger [02:10]

• General Sentiment: Both hosts agree this performance did nothing to reassure domestic or global audiences about American leadership or strategy.

2. Trump’s Erratic Messaging and Lack of Clear Strategy

• JBL’s Initial Reaction:

  “If you went into this concerned that the President… is waging a war with no fucking idea what he's doing, this event did not make you feel better… he takes like four different positions in the course of 30 seconds.”
  – JBL [03:10]

• Incoherence on Iran:

  • Trump claims negotiated progress with Iran; Iran denies any such talks.
  • The U.S. military is executing a maximum-pressure campaign against Iran; at the same time, the administration is acting from a position of weakness due to the strategic leverage of the Strait of Hormuz.

  “It's strange that there is a disconnect even on the level of… are they picking up the phone and talking to one another?”
  – Andrew Egger [09:27]

  “Negotiation 101: The party which says, ‘Oh yeah, we're really far along on talks…’ that party's losing. When the other party says, ‘No, we're not even talking to you,’ that's the party that's winning.”
  – JBL [09:42]

3. The Blame Game: Trump Throws Hegseth Under the Bus

• Trump’s Remark in Memphis:

  “Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said, let's do it.”
  – Donald Trump [13:18]

• Interpretation:
  Both hosts read this as Trump preparing to shift blame if/when the operation goes badly, a move at odds with the usual “I alone can fix it” rhetoric:

  “If Donald Trump actually thought that things were going super great, he would not be looking for people to share his whole thing was his idea then.”
  – Andrew Egger [15:06]

  “The classic Trump formulation… would be that he would have said that Hegseth didn’t want to do it. … Instead, Trump is like, well, that guy over there, you know, likes to.”
  – JBL [15:38]

4. Trump’s Psychological Profile on Display

• Bubble of Sycophancy:
  Trump is painted as completely isolated in his own bubble, surrounded only by yes-men and “sycophants,” both in person and on social media.

  “He's always kept sort of unpleasant news pushed to the side and kind of just luxuriated in a bath of praise… And you have really started to see that just sort of eat through his brain in the way that it would eat through anybody's brain, but especially his and his own specific pathologies.”
  – Andrew Egger [18:03]

• Delusions of Popularity:
  The hosts call out Trump’s recurring stories about “young, beautiful women” thanking him for making the city safer:

  “[Trump]… literally just him there with 10 million sycophants. There are no other important posters on the whole website. It's just him and his fan base.”
  – Andrew Egger [18:24]

  “It's a new flavor of ‘Dear Sir’ story. So instead of being a big, burly tough guy, now it's a beautiful young woman… He knows what they're grateful for, Andrew, if you know what I mean. They're grateful for the end of street crime.”
  – JBL [20:39]

5. "991" Issues: Trump’s Obsession With Total Loyalty

• Extreme Majoritarianism:
  Trump consistently insists every policy is supported by “99:1” margins, erasing political dissent and cocooning himself further in fantasy.

  “Some people call these 80:20 issues. I don't think they're 80:20 issues. I think they're 99:1 issues… It is suggestive of, again, a world where the whole United States of America in Donald Trump's mind, is just standing behind him.”
  – Andrew Egger [22:14]

  “There can't ever be a remnant of people who are kind of with you mostly, but then aren't with you all the way, because that's not how he thinks of the consolidation of power.”
  – JBL [26:31]

6. Lashing Out at Former Allies – The Joe Kent Moment

• Trump on Joe Kent:

  • Accuses Kent, who recently resigned as head of the NCTC over the Iran conflict, of being a loser, a widower, and “maybe a leaker.”

  “He also lost his wife. He's remarried since… I felt badly for him, so I told my people, reach out to him, give him a job at the White House.”
  – Donald Trump [25:57]

• Psychological Take:
  Trump cannot tolerate even minor dissent, so ex-allies are swiftly demonized and belittled.

7. The Grim Strategic Assessment

• Messaging Meltdown:
  Trump vacillates between promising annihilation of Iran and hinting at a “very good” peace deal, often within the same breath.

  “On the one hand, there's a deal to be done. On the other hand… this deal could be really, really good for both sides. On another hand, it could be almost as good as if we wiped Iran off the face of the earth.”
  – JBL [28:02]

• Strategic Weakness:
  The most likely outcome, the hosts agree, is a face-saving off-ramp that leaves the U.S. weaker and Iran better positioned, with oil sanctions eased as the probable “sweetener.”

  “It's going to be a negotiated solution which leaves America in a worse position than it was before the war and leaves the Iranian regime with a great deal of damage, but in a stronger strategic position than it was before the war. Thanks, President Trump.”
  – JBL [33:10]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------------|-------| | 03:10 | JBL | “If you went into this concerned that the President… is waging a war with no fucking idea what he's doing, this event did not make you feel better.” | | 08:09 | Trump | “I've directed the Department of War to temporarily postpone planned strikes against major energy and electricity targets in Iran... we've had very good discussions. And you have to understand, I know my whole life has been a negotiation. But with Iran, we've been negotiating for a long time… And this time, they mean business.” | | 09:42 | JBL | “Negotiation 101: The party which says, ‘Oh yeah, we're really far along on talks…’ that party's losing. When the other party says, ‘No, we're not even talking to you,’ that's the party that's winning.” | | 13:18 | Trump | “Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said, let's do it.” (on Hegseth) | | 20:26 | Trump | “Young women coming up to me, and they're saying, sir, thank you so much. I know immediately what they're talking about. I say, how big a difference is it? They say, we walk to work. We were afraid to walk into an Uber.” | | 25:57 | Trump | “He also lost his wife. He's remarried since he lost his wife. I felt badly for him, so I told my people, reach out to him, give him a job at the White House.” (on Joe Kent) | | 28:02 | JBL | “On the one hand… there’s a deal to be done. On the other hand… as if we wiped Iran off the face of the earth. So who, like, I… What does that even mean, Andrew?” | | 33:10 | JBL | “It's going to be a negotiated solution which leaves America in a worse position than it was before the war and leaves the Iranian regime with a great deal of damage, but in a stronger strategic position than it was before the war. Thanks, President Trump.” |

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:10] – Profound unease at Trump’s erratic Iran posture
• [08:09] – Trump claims negotiations, announces strike postponement
• [09:42] – JBL explains why Trump’s public pivot is a sign of weakness
• [13:18] – Trump blames Pete Hegseth for the Iran attack decision
• [20:26] – Trump’s fantasy about being thanked by young women for ending crime
• [22:14] – Trump insists most Americans back his every move—“99:1” issues
• [25:57] – Trump insults Joe Kent after his resignation
• [28:02] – Trump’s muddled remarks on “deal or annihilation”
• [33:10] – JBL predicts a U.S. climbdown, worse outcome than before

Final Takeaways

The episode leaves listeners with a picture of a U.S. president floundering in real-time, struggling to project composure or strategic clarity as an international crisis intensifies. Trump’s tendency to shift blame (even to close advisors), concoct tales of total support, and lash out at dissent is cast not simply as political style, but as dangerous dysfunction in a moment of genuine peril. The panel expects the administration will accept a subpar deal, with America’s strategic position diminished—while Trump's public persona becomes ever more untethered from reality.