The New York Times editorial board delivered a damning assessment of Donald Trump’s false claims about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran in a weekend opinion piece — and warned how they could ultimately backfire on him.

Trump’s “stream of falsehoods” about the conflict is nothing new, the board said. “Lying is standard behavior for Mr. Trump, of course,” it wrote, noting just some of his many, many falsehoods over the years. (Trump made more than 30,000 misleading or untruthful claims during his first term, per a Washington Post analysis).

Read the full opinion piece on The New York Times.

“Yet lying about war is uniquely corrosive,” the Times’ board continued, arguing it “creates a culture in which deadly mistakes and even war crimes can become more common” and ultimately “undermines American values and interests.”

The board acknowledged “there is a reasonable debate to have about the wisdom of this war,” which has so far killed 13 U.S. service members, given what it described as Iran’s “murderous” government and its threats to people at home and abroad.

But Trump is “not making” that case, said the Times, and is just lying “about the reasons for the war and about its progress, in an apparent attempt to disguise his poor planning and the war’s questionable basis.”

Trump and MAGA world have given various different answers on various different aspects of the war, such as what are its actual objectives, how long it will last and more.

The Times’ board also pointed to past conflicts — including the Vietnam War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq — where presidents “learned that falsehoods can boomerang on the leaders who tell them.”

“Whatever short-term gain Mr. Trump thinks he is getting by lying about the war in Iran is far exceeded by the cost, for him, the country and the world,” it concluded.

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