Nobel Prize winner pinpoints 'radically disappointing' moment that'll mark Trump's legacy

Donald Trump has tainted his own second term in the Oval Office with one move this year, a Nobel Prize winner has warned.

Paul Krugman believes the longer-term effects of the war with Iran will not just undermine the president's decision-making in future, but that his attitude toward NATO members and allied nations has destroyed what little legacy the president could cling to. Speaking in a video uploaded to his Substack, the award-winning economist noted the problem with the Iran war is not just the war itself, but the ongoing economic impact and erosion of relations with the United States' allies.

"So this is going to be really bad," Krugman said. "But anyway, it was radically disappointing even to people who are, you know, the markets and a lot of people in the world were actually hoping that the United States would give up.

"I mean, it’ll be terrible. We really don’t want a medievalist theocracy empowered. But since this is heading nowhere except for, again, massive war crimes, better to end it. But we’re not getting that.

"We have Trump lecturing the world and saying, why are you cowards? Why don’t you come in and help us in this ill-conceived, disastrous war that we started without checking with you?

"But the reality is that the world is looking and saying, my God, what is wrong with America? They may still have a lot of bombs — although not as many as we started with — but it’s not a country anybody can trust for anything. And that, even more than the price of oil, is going to be the legacy of this war."

Krugman went on to suggest that Trump had made the situation with Iran worse than before the strikes were approved.

He wrote, "One of the moments that really struck me in the speech was him declaring that the whole world was extremely impressed by what happened. He said, 'The whole world is watching and they can't believe the power, strength, and brilliance. They just can't believe what they're seeing. The world can't believe what it's seeing.'

"What it’s seeing is that the world’s greatest military power took on a fourth-rate power. Again, as I said the other day, Iran’s military budget is a rounding error in our military budget. And we lost. For all practical purposes, we’ve left ourselves in a much weaker position and Iran in a stronger position than it was before."