Twitter was not around until 2006, so we did not get Trump's opinion on everything every day. However two months before the war he was asked about how he would advice the President on the Iraq war. Note the question presumes that some action in Iraq will be taken and is about how much focus it should be. If you are attentive, you will note Trump brings up the idea that maybe we should not attack at all and soft sells it.
Cavuto: If you had to sort of breakdown for the president, if you were advising him, how much time do you commit to Iraq versus how much time you commit to the economy, what would you say?
Trump: Well, I’m starting to think that people are much more focused now on the economy. They are getting a little bit tired of hearing, we’re going in, we’re not going in, the — you know, whatever happened to the days of the Douglas MacArthur. He would go and attack. He wouldn’t talk. We have to — you know, it’s sort like either do it or don’t do it. When I watch Dan Rather explaining how we are going to be attacking, where we’re going to attack, what routes we’re taking, what kind of planes we’re using, how to stop them, how to stop us, it is a little bit disconcerting. I’ve never seen this, where newscasters are telling you how — telling the enemy how we’re going about it, we have just found out this and that. It is ridiculous.
Cavuto: Well, the problem right there.
Trump: Either you attack or you don’t attack.
Cavuto: The problem there, Donald, is you’re watching Dan Rather. Maybe you should just be watching Fox.
Trump: Well, no, I watch Dan Rather, but not necessarily fondly. But I happened to see it the other night. And I must tell you it was rather amazing as they were explaining the different — I don’t know if it is fact or if it is fiction, but the concept of a newscaster talking about the routes is — just seems ridiculous. So the point is either you do it or you don’t do it, or you — but I just — or if you don’t do it, just don’t talk about it. When you do it, you start talking about it.
Cavuto: So you’re saying the leash on this is getting kind of short here, that the president has got to do something presumably sooner rather than later and stringing this along could ultimately hurt us.
Trump: Well, he has either got to do something or not do something, perhaps, because perhaps shouldn’t be doing it yet and perhaps we should be waiting for the United Nations, you know. He’s under a lot of pressure. He’s — I think he’s doing a very good job. But, of course, if you look at the polls, a lot of people are getting a little tired. I think the Iraqi situation is a problem. And I think the economy is a much bigger problem as far as the president is concerned.
That doesn’t sound AT ALL like a guy who thinks we shouldn’t do it. In fact, it sounds like he’s wishing we’d get our butts in gear and go. In Trump’s book, he talked about how disappointing it was that the first president Bush stopped before finishing the job in Kuwait and Iraq. However, in the town hall in South Carolina, he said that the first president Bush did it right. He’s all over the fresking place about this issue. The key with Donald Trump is that he says what he thinks is popular at the time he says it to the audience he’s speaking to. Regarding Iraq, all indications before the war were that he supported the policy, even if mildly, as he said to Howard Stern. But, in the three days after the war started, there was a 30+ percent drop in public support for the war effort as people started hearing about casualties. It’s quite telling that the only proof Trump can point to to show that he was against the war comes from an article that quotes him at some party as saying the war “is a real mess.” That quote was on the same day that the results of that polling came out showing that the public was turning against the war. Remember that Trump promised that there were DOZENS of news sources that would show his clear opposition to the war before it started, yet he’s never produced even ONE.