Trump Confirmed That He Called Netanyahu “Crazy.” Says Navy Blockade of Hormuz Could Go Through Labor Day
Israel-first heads began exploding nationwide today when President Trump confirmed that he did indeed call out-of-control Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “crazy” and told him that Israeli attacks in Lebanon had to stop.
Trump confirmed the Axios scoop to the New York Post’s Miranda Devine. The Axios offering cited multiple officials about what Trump said to Netanyahu during a phone call on Monday.
While Trump reported the call as “productive” on X, Netanyahu said Israel would continue attacking Lebanon anytime it wanted.
Asked about Trump’s confirming what he said, Netanyahu told CNBC it didn’t bother him, that he and Trump “agree on the main things,” notably that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons.
Trump also told Devine that the U.S. Navy’s blockade might last through Labor Day.
The Call
Trump was on the phone with Netanyahu not only to discuss the latter’s insistence on attacking Lebanon but also peace talks the president is attempting to conclude with Iran to stop the war there. Iran has threatened to exit the negotiations if Israel doesn’t stop the bombing.
Israel hopes to seize southern Lebanon up to the Litani River as part of its Greater Israel Project.
“I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Netanyahu didn’t see the call that way, and warned on X that Israel will continue attacks on so-called terror targets in Lebanon. “This stance of ours remains unchanged,” Netanyahu said.
But Axios explained that Trump’s anodyne rendition of the call was charitable at best.
In fact, officials told the website, Trump flew off the handle and spanked “Bibi” good and hard.
“Two of the sources said Trump claimed he’d helped keep Netanyahu out of jail — a reference to his support during Netanyahu’s corruption trial,” Axios reported:
Summarizing Trump’s remarks to Netanyahu, the U.S. official said: “You’re f**king crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”
A second source briefed on the call said Trump was “p**sed” and at one point yelled at Netanyahu: “What the f**k are you doing?”
Trump’s claim about collapsing public support for Israel was right. In April, a Pew Research survey found that 60 percent of American adults view Israel unfavorably, and “in both political parties, majorities of adults under the age of 50 now rate Israel and Netanyahu negatively.”
Axios Was Right
Speaking to the New York Post’s Miranda Devine for her Pod Force One podcast, Trump confirmed the Axios report.
“Did you speak to him in those terms,” Devine asked.
“I did. I wouldn’t say angry, I was a little bit perturbed, at his constantly fighting with Lebanon, you know,” Trump said:
At some point, I said, Bibi, we gotta stop this, you gotta stop it.
Trump allowed that he has a “very good relationship” with Netanyahu. “I’ve worked very well together,” Trump said, “I like Bibi a lot, and I’ve worked very well with him.”
Noting that he is a wartime president and Netanyahu is a wartime prime minister, Trump said, “we’ve gotten along very well together.”
Netanyahu: No Worries, It Was A Typical “Family” Spat
Speaking to CNBC, Netanyahu explained that he and Trump agree on most everything. Minor disagreements are not unusual.
“I’m not going to get into details of our conversations … this is a crisis?” Netanyahu said, noting that U.S.-Israeli disagreements are always resolved:
We have so many agreements. We agree on the main things. We want to get Iran, the nuclear program in Iran, finished. We want to make sure that Iran doesn’t pose a threat to Israel, to the Middle East, to America, that it doesn’t develop nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them not only to Israel and to every capital in Europe, but to every city in the United States. That’s our common goal. That’s what we set out to do.
Allies have “tactical disagreements” he said, but they are always worked out:
We can disagree in the morning and by the afternoon we have common action.
Hormuz Close Through Labor Day?
As for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, one of Trump’s demands in peace talks, he told Devine that it might be closed through Labor Day. That means Americans will pay high prices for gas through the summer. That would harm the GOP in November’s midterms elections.
Asked whether the U.S. Navy’s blockade there will remain through the holiday, Trump said yes, but he didn’t anticipate it.
“I mean, I think it could be, but I think it’s unlikely,” Trump said:
I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly.
To media reports that say Iran has Trump over a barrel of oil, the president said “fake news.”
“You know, they’re mentally ill,” Trump said of reporters. “Trump derangement syndrome.”
Trump said Iran has no navy and no air force and “very few soldiers.” First, second, and third tier leaders are “wiped out,” he continued:
Their economy is crashing. They have 250% inflation. They have everything that you can have that’s bad.…
Now, our country on the other hand has the best stock market we’ve ever had. We have with the exception of the oil for a short period of time because of the war, I mean, you know, other than that, we have very little inflation. The country is doing fantastically. We’re leading the world.
On February 26, two days before Trump ordered U.S. forces to attack Iran on Israel’s behalf, the national average price of a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.98. Today, the price is $4.26 per gallon. Increase: 42.9 percent.
