The Bubble: Trump is a bully and ending Iran deal shows he's looking for war, liberals say

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump exiting Iran nuclear deal has huge implications President Trump’s decision to scrap the Iran nuclear deal, established under President Obama, has major implications across the globe and for the White House.

Each week, USA TODAY's OnPolitics blog takes a look at how media from the left and the right reacted to a political news story, giving liberals and conservatives a peek into the other's media bubble.

This week, commentators debated President Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that was negotiated under former president Barack Obama. Conservatives hailed Trump's move as bold and necessary because the deal was weighed heavily in Iran's favor.

Liberals defended the deal as imperfect but the only viable way of at least delaying Iran's development of nuclear weapons without resorting to war.

Last week: Liberals and conservatives debate whether Michelle Wolf went too far

Conservative bubble: Trump showed world 'there's a new sheriff in town'

The Washington Examiner's editorial board said the decision to withdraw from the "disastrous" agreement "was an important step toward a needed policy reset with one of America's most malicious enemies."

Trump's move "could deal a crippling blow" to the Iranian regime, which is already dealing with protests and labor unrest and will now face tough sanctions, the board argued.

And, "Trump’s decision does the actual opposite of showing the U.S. isn’t serious about its commitments — it communicates to the world that there’s a new sheriff in town who is going to follow through on what he says, unlike Obama (of the infamous red line in Syria)."

Analysis: What does Trump's Iran move mean for a potential agreement with North Korea?

Liberal bubble: Trump is a bully, and looking for war

"Trump seems to believe that his angry tweets at 'little Rocket Man' have brought Kim Jong Un to his knees, and it is a foregone conclusion that the North Korean dictator will surrender his nuclear weapons," said Salon's Heather Digby Parton. "Indeed, in Trump's mind this has already happened. He's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, after all. So naturally, the Iranian government is terrified and will scurry to ingratiate itself with him too."

And although Trump hasn't said the words "regime change," he has surrounded himself with hawks who want exactly that, Digby Parton said.

"They are looking for a war. They are always looking for a war," she said. "Really, Trump is too. He's a bully. It's his nature."

More: Five ways Donald Trump's decision to tear up the Iran deal just made us less safe

Conservative bubble: Trump 'acted prudently'

Trump "acted prudently" after more than a year of consultations with allies and experts before pulling out of the Iran deal, the president's national security adviser, John Bolton, said in an op-ed for The Washington Post.

Bolton assured readers that when it comes to North Korean and Iranian nuclear proliferation, "The president prefers to handle these issues diplomatically."

But he stressed that "Trump has been willing to take unconventional action to turn momentum to America’s favor" and that "while the future remains uncertain and challenging, one thing we know for sure is that the president will always put America First."

More: Lawmakers once opposed to the Iran deal now blast Trump's decision to withdraw

Liberal bubble: Trump acted out of spite, ignorance or both

"With his decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, President Trump has committed his most irresponsible act in foreign policy to date," wrote Fred Kaplan in Slate.

Kaplan said Trump's move "can only be attributed to one or more of three motives: a misunderstanding of the deal’s terms, a need to torpedo yet another one of President Obama’s accomplishments, or a desire to weaken or destroy the government of Iran."

So Trump has wrecked one of the most successful arms-control deals in modern history, destroyed any possible leverage to negotiate a new one, further disrupted unity with our allies, further damaged U.S. credibility, strengthened hard-line factions in Iran, exacerbated instability in the Middle East, and possibly boosted the chance of war

More: Trump touts withdrawal from Iran nuke deal; Europe tries to preserve it

Conservative bubble: Good riddance to the Obama legacy

If one listens to the critics of Trump's decision to pull out of the deal, "one might think that Iran has been acting responsibly for the last three years" and "that Obama left the Middle East a bright and beautiful place, not a hellhole filled with human carnage bought with dollars spent by Iran but funneled through the United States," said Ben Shapiro on The Daily Wire.

"None of that is true, of course," Shapiro said. "Obama left the Middle East a smoking wreckage heap — a situation so grim that even Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have been forced to ally with Israel to allay fears of an Iranian regional takeover."

Barack Obama had a peculiar vision of the Middle East remade: Iran ascendant, the power of Israel checked, the Saudis chastened. He achieved that vision at the cost of tens of thousands of lives across the region. President Trump is undoing that legacy. Good riddance.

More: Iran lawmakers shout 'death to America,' burn U.S. flag after Trump nixes nuclear deal

Liberal bubble: U.S. joins nations that disrespect the rule of law

Writing in The Hill, former Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jonathan Granoff said by pulling out of the deal, the U.S. "violated an international agreement it solemnly entered into, putting it in a class with nations that pointedly disrespect international cooperation, the rule of law, peace, and nuclear nonproliferation."

"It’s not just a deal between the U.S. and Iran; by virtue of the UN Security Council resolution the deal is between Iran and the entire world," Granoff said. "U.S. withdrawal demonstrates callous disregard for world opinion, and diminishes the world’s trust in America’s word, honor and commitments."

More: Obama administration sold a bad Iran nuclear deal to the American public