'Square this!' Conservative calls out White House 'straw man' as story keeps changing

Conservative columnist SE Cupp shredded the Trump administration's latest "straw man" during a panel discussion on CNN.

For weeks, the Trump administration has shifted its story about why the U.S. bombed Iran in coordination with Israel, Cupp argued on "The Arena" with host Abby Phillip on Monday. The explanations have changed so frequently that White House officials like Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appear to be having a hard time keeping up, she added.

During her press briefing on Monday, Leavitt said there will be "military consequences" for Iran if the regime does not "hold true to what [the administration] is hearing behind the scenes." She added that Trump has not made a final decision yet about sending ground troops to Iran, and added that he would not tell the press about it ahead of time because it could "tip off our enemy."

Cupp described that argument on "The Arena" as a "straw man."

"The American people are grown-ups. Most of us have lived through a long war before. We're not asking for state secrets, but they've told us almost nothing about why we're there, how long we might be projected to be there, what our goal is, or what the mission is," Cupp said. "So, the American people rightfully are frustrated and confused, disoriented."

"What we've heard is regime change, not regime change; oil, not oil," she added. "'We're here to help the Iranian people.' That stopped like three weeks ago. I haven't heard anything about that since then."

Cupp added that the questions reporters ask Leavitt are starting to sound like a similar refrain — "Square this!"

"Make the thing you just said make sense with the thing Trump said, or the thing you just said five minutes ago," she said. "They've not narrowed down the talking points. That's obvious because they don't think they know what they're trying to get out of this."