"The world arrogance has created all events and turmoil
in the region today to confront the Islamic Revolution, and Trump is not a mad
man but he plays the role of a mad man because existence of such a person is
needed by the US to attain its goals in the region," Rahim Safavi said,
addressing a ceremony in the Central city of Qom on Sunday.
Referring to Trump's meetings with Henry Kissinger, the
former US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, in recent months,
he said, "Kissinger has recommended Trump to adopt this unwise strategy
because existence of such a person at the head of the US administration is
necessary for the country's influence and spreading global horror."
Late last month, Trump reportedly told the US trade
representative to scare South Korean negotiators by telling them he was a
madman. "You tell [the South Koreans] if they don't give the concessions now,
this crazy guy will pull out of the deal,” he said, referring to the U.S.-Korea
free trade agreement. That report came at the end of a day in which the
president’s tweets about another issue on the Korean peninsula evoked
comparisons to the Nixon-era "madman theory” that you can scare an opponent
into concessions by cultivating an image of recklessness. "I told Rex
Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying
to negotiate with Little Rocket Man,” the president wrote. "… Save your energy
Rex, we’ll do what needs to be done!”
Although Trump credits himself with breaking every
presidential norm, in choosing to intimidate foreign opponents through feigned
(or real) recklessness, he is borrowing from the playbook of a predecessor. In
April 1971, facing an impasse in negotiations with the North Vietnamese to end
the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon gave Trump-like advice to his national-security
adviser, Henry Kissinger. Kissinger had just suggested that he might hint to
Hanoi, "if you think you’re going to defeat him [Nixon], if you don’t accept
this [latest offer], he will stop at nothing”—implying the use of nuclear
weapons.
