"And making dark jokes about how he can assassinate Khamenei if he wants is a bit chilling"
I don't have a problem with Trump saying that to Khamenei, but it's probably better not to let the public hear about it. We see, right here, the hand wringing that type of transparency can generate.
You do realize that an emboldened Iraq, which was almost broken under Trump 1.0, is 100% Biden's fault, right? He just loved giving them $8 billion, unless it was one of those unelected dingbats in the cabal that was running the country and the autopen while he was filling a dribble cup.
Finger pointing aside, while in general, being concerned about the US getting drawn into another democrat/neocon/rino type of war is wise, there's nothing Trump has done that makes your seemingly near certain worry justified, imo. He's done nothing that even points to us being dragged into another 'boots on the ground' type war.
In fact, Trump is dead set against us being dragged into more of those wars, as I guess I assumed you would know from paying attention to what he says and does, unless you're doing so thru the lens of a clearly biased media.
As far as destabilizing the region, the barn door is open and the horse is out.. The region was destabilized long-term when W. Bush went into Iraq. Nothing we can do in the short term will make it better now, other than crippling Iran. I don't think we need to support Israel if they decide to go for regime change, which as we all know from recent events, is messy and probably would not go the way we'd like it to.
"And overall be a lot of bloodshed for little in return. I wouldn't push that button quite so readily if I was in charge."
There's been no bloodshed for the US. If Israel's enemies, like Iran, want Israel to leave them alone, then perhaps NOT paying for attacks like Oct. 7 would be a good approach.
I don't know about the "backtracking" you're referring to. I would speculate that comes from the media, who would insult the corn flakes he has for breakfast if they thought doing so would turn even one person against him.