Trump’s M.O. and the Second Signpost

By Mark Davidson on February 24, 2026 • ( 0 )

(24 February 2026) The State of the Union (SOTU) address is only 2 or 3 hours away as I right this.

The way Donald Trump operates (his Modus Operandi, or M.O.) much of the time is he will make many contradictory statements about a given issue, and one never knows what he will actually do. He does this, I believe, to keep enemies off-balance.

This may have been good for America in the making of trade deals, and for tariffs, and for military operations like removing Venezuelan leader Maduro, and the strike of the Iranian nuclear facility.

The Second Signpost

However, Trump’s M.O. will likely apply to the Second Signpost as well.

When will Trump begin the attack on Iran? Will it be to remove the regime? Why so many planes with more firepower than was present at the Iraq War, but with just a tiny fraction of ground troops than were there for the Iraq War?

Will he attack before the next meeting with Iranian delegates on Thursday to discuss the nuclear deal?

Will he begin the attack before the SOTU, after the SOTU, or even during the SOTU? Or next week?

President Trump held his “gang of 8” meeting today with the leaders of both houses of Congress. Senator Chuck Shumer emerged saying this will be big, and that the administration’s case against Iran needs to be presented to the American people.

But that’s really Trump’s style isn’t it? George W Bush argued and wrangled for months before executing the First Signpost, removing Saddam.

But Trump tends to shoot from the hip.

I suspect we won’t have long to wait to see the answers to these questions. The SOTU starts at 9 pm EST.

And to add to the suspense mentioned in the last post, Iran is gathering large ground forces at the Iraqi border. To do so means the IRGC is anticipating something. Hmm . . .