Sort of off topic, Erick, but I see you're backing Dooley for senate. However, I have reread the substack of your picks and don't know why you are backing him. Why is he qualified for the senate? I must be missing something.
I think that after the successful raid in Argentina with Argentine citizens standing by ready to step in, Trump felt invincible. Shortly after this happened there was an uprising in Iran. Trump sent a message that 'help was on the way'. The uprising was shut down. The internet was shut down.
A few weeks late the bombings began. I even read that weapons intended for the Iranian people were sent via another country but were stolen by another Muslim group.
I think that after so many Iranian leaders were killed, Trump expected the Iranian protestors would step up and take over the government. When this did not happen, problems arose i.e. Strait of Hormuz. This did not go as smoothly as the Argentine endeavor. Trump is still waiting for the Iranians to take over the government and doesn't seem to know what to do next.
Erick, I have decided the Fluffers around Trump throw out ideas and he is snatching the ones he thinks will put him in the history books. I have come to believe Trump's ego is stroked by people around him and he just flops in the wind, proof even a blind squirrel can find a nut every now and again.
The damage is done. The insane midnight "Truths" and other crap have made "Mr. 100 Quadrillion Levels of Chess" a lame duck. And, sadly, his grasping antics are going to put us in the grip of the Democrats for the next few years. Donald John Trump has cost the GOP both Georgia Senate seats, one seat twice. Now, he's screwing up the courts.
I had hopes of a repeat of the first three years of Trump's first term. An administration with the discipline of Vought and a plan. That's not what we got. Trump is a menace and the sooner he is a lame duck, the better.
(For anyone who has already read it, I beg your indulgence for this reposting of a comment I made much earlier today.)
You weren't just wrong, Erick. You were played, right along with the entire country. Contrary to your assertion that there never really was a plan, there was, and it worked to perfection.
Bombs started falling on Iranian cities on February 28th. Just six days later, after months of fighting any release of the Epstein files whatsoever and then failing to release those most damaging to the President, the files containing allegations of an alleged assault by Trump on a then 13-year-old girl were finally released on March 6th.
And nobody even noticed.
Anticipating the objection (the deflection, really) that the allegations were unfounded, that isn't my point. In the absence of the military action in Iran. their mere existence in the Epstein files would absolutely have dominated the news. Instead, news coverage was diverted to a military action that from the very start, had people scratching their heads to make sense of its timing and underlying strategy. A wag-the-dog motivation (referencing here the 1997 film "Wag the Dog," in which a President distracts attention from allegations of sexual misconduct by launching a phony war) fully explains both the timing and the apparent lack of any underlying strategy.
I commented several weeks ago that I thought Trump was over his head in Iran. And I still think that. I still think it is a war we should never have initiated. For one, seeing how close our nation is to insolvency and how our debt exceeds GNP, we really cannot afford to be over there.
Plan? Deal? We are dealing with a people and a nation with a totally different worldview than us in the postmodern west. This is a president that probably doesn't understand this (I don't see any evidence that he does). How can you make a deal with leaders who have a diametrically opposing set of presuppositions?
You are absolutely correct about our debt. But national defense is in the Constitution. BUT, do you know what is NOT in the Constitution? Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, housing, food stamps, etc. WE CAN SAVE LOTS OF MONEY simply by adhering to the Constitution!
And you are absolutely correct about the Constitution! And don't forget income tax isn't in the Constitution either. What I am not certain or confident about is if this war with Iran was truly defensive. Our founders were very skeptical about getting involved in foreign entanglements.
What is in the Constitution is something called the "necessary and proper" clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18), which allows Congress to create the means to execute its other "enumerated" powers.
With regard to the notion that the Constitution only permits that which is explicitly mentioned within its terms, you might consider that the Constitution only lists four federal crimes: treason, piracy, counterfeiting, and offenses against the law of nations. Unless one wants to throw open the doors of our federal prisons, one has to accept the notion of "necessary and proper."
It seems that you are right in your current view. What a waste of lives and money. The US will be no better off than before. The Iranian regime will just be more empowered. Disappointment on so many levels. The United States will be weaker among those in the Middle East who would have stood with the US. They will begin to look for someone else who they feel that they can trust. Israel will be no better off. Just goes to show all of the people in the US that Mr. Trump cannot be trusted.
I too hope there is a plan or at least a commitment to see this effort thru to some real improvement, otherwise the President made a serious mistake in even swatting at the IRGC. Clearly the President does not "have all the cards" or we wouldn't have stopped Project Freedom after only 2 ships get out. The religious fanatics in the IRGC don't need much resources to wage a guerilla warfare against shipping or their neighboring oilfields -- and we need to draw them out and eliminate those resources wherever they pop up. Right now Trump looks like he is being played. He needs to understand he has bet his entire legacy on this, and Republican congressional ability to accomplish anything over the next two years. He needs to toughen up and show he can buckle the IRGC and bring down gas prices or he will go down as a failed President. He holds enough cards to do it if he demonstrates a clear direction.
I fear the President wants to make a deal more than he wants to rid the world of a nuclear obsessed Iranian regime. The only way to negotiate with the mullahs and the IRGC is with bombs, missiles, and bullets. Power and force is their language. They want to die for the cause if they cannot bring in their Mahdi. Come up with a plan to grind them to dust and do it.
Tucker Carlson has an endless stream of people to interview who have never heard of the Madhi or the Twelvers. They have never listened to the Iranian two minute hate of “Death to America, Death to Isreal”.
Their regime is a religious military dictatorship. It has to be removed as we removed the leadership system in Germany and Japan. No compromise.
On another note. The members in NATO relied on America to provide the military means and logistics in a war with the Soviet Union. This made sense in 1956 since Europe was still recovering from the war. Not today. They can spend money on soldiers and equipment to deter Russia.
Years ago I read a commentary about a buffer zone between Russia and its neighbors to the west. NATO would move back to Germany and the countries would have their own military as usual. Russia would move most of its military eastward. All the stuff you need for an invasion. The military left would be a strong blocking force to slow down an invasion.
Not whining-that was fact. All Presidents have had weaknesses of various kinds and what makes, breaks, or assists and mitigates them are those around them and support they give. To undermine is to give aid to the enemy. You get a better outcome with a unified front instead of an undermining one especially when dealing w enemies. Also give you more position w allies. So not all on Trump he did at least try to remove a known threat but there is a lot blame to go around.
Regime change may not be necessary. Our "cold war" with the Soviet Union demonstrates that containment can work until a flawed political system crumbles of its own accord.
Don't misunderstand me. Regime change would be great, if it can be accomplished. However, as is becoming abundantly apparent, we can't get there simply by making the Iranian people suffer under bombing or economic deprivation. Maintaining power over a suffering people is what despotic regimes do, and usually quite well. Rather, regime change will require troops on the ground that the American people are unwilling to put there.
Returning to the issue of containment, people are wrong if they think that Iran's surrender of its nuclear material would be sufficient. Without inspectors on the ground, as we had under Obama's agreement, all we would have is the virtual equivalent of a pinkie swear that Iran will not still forge ahead clandestinely. Having walked away from that agreement, Trump has to accomplish either regime change or at the very least, an agreement that is just as good. Unfortunately, I am not all that optimistic in either regard.
Obama's inspectors only saw what Iran wanted so that was a moot point, especially as it did lead to false sense of security. Was hoping Trump would do it right as NO one has before but maybe if TDS hadn't shorted out so many brains he could have gotten and listened to better advice. The TDS media whipping up opposition, Dems gone nuts & almost or supporting Iran's side, going after Israel not Hamas, and EU cowards absolutely did help IRCG, why give in just wait till our side undercuts him.
If Obama's inspectors (actually, the inspectors were not Obama's but the U.N.'s nuclear "watchdog" organization) only saw what Iran wanted, then Trump needs to get inspectors in who see what they need to see. My point (which is far from moot) is that we need more than the mere surrender of existing nuclear material and a pinkie swear that the Iranians will go and sin no more. Rather, their compliance with any agreement needs to be verifiable.
And spare me your whining about the Democrats and the media. This play (which I happen to support, by the way) belongs to Trump and no one else.
If Trump devolves to some deficient " 10 point deal" with the IRCG it will only validate how profoundly stupid he really is.
Destroying the IRCG had to the only point to all of this. Not simply restore the Strait of Hormuz back to what is was.
What fool starts this without accepting the possiblity of real casualties?
At some point , the American right needs to abandon Trump. Yes he is preferable to another Democrat. I concede that. But he is a ignorant vain fool , from tarrifs to Ukraine to now this insane indecisive dalliance with Iran.
Should have done it a month ago and finished the job. File threats will not change Irans nuclear ambitions. They have kept us engaged in false hopes and shipping turmoil while the Iranian military has reinforced their war readiness. I despise the facts of our current situation but hope we have not waited too long to resolve this without WWlll.
I hope so, too, Erick. I keep hoping they are making plans to act during this ceasefire, needs more time for things to get into place, and doesn't want those plans to get to the leakers. There are some cases in which we don't need to know. Praying.
I won't speculate on Trump's plan or lack thereof. Even the people in his inner circle say that he CONSTANTLY makes crazy and contradictory statements; some think it's a strategy to keep everyone guessing, others think he's just nuts. What I DO know is that he told the protesting Iranian people that help was on the way, then dragged his feet while another 15,000 (?) Iranians were slaughtered. I DO know that he / we haven't succeeded in collapsing the Iranian regime from within (i.e., uprising) or economically, which seems like a huge oversight. In short, the appearance is certainly one of waffling and inconsistency, and one has to wonder why we're putting up with these jackasses instead of continuing to pound them.
There comes a point when all you're really doing is making the rubble bounce. Our choices are (a) regime change (which will require troops on the ground) or (b) a negotiated solution that includes on-the-ground inspections (like we already had under the deal Obama struck). Anything less than that and all we have done is make an implacable foe even more determined in its opposition.
Quit listening to the MSM. Go for the kill shot. If it isn’t the price of gas, it is something else.
Should have been done under President Carter but he flaked out and we are dealing with the aftermath since. Iran considers it Persian and will always be at war with its non-Persian neighbors.
Sort of off topic, Erick, but I see you're backing Dooley for senate. However, I have reread the substack of your picks and don't know why you are backing him. Why is he qualified for the senate? I must be missing something.
I think that after the successful raid in Argentina with Argentine citizens standing by ready to step in, Trump felt invincible. Shortly after this happened there was an uprising in Iran. Trump sent a message that 'help was on the way'. The uprising was shut down. The internet was shut down.
A few weeks late the bombings began. I even read that weapons intended for the Iranian people were sent via another country but were stolen by another Muslim group.
I think that after so many Iranian leaders were killed, Trump expected the Iranian protestors would step up and take over the government. When this did not happen, problems arose i.e. Strait of Hormuz. This did not go as smoothly as the Argentine endeavor. Trump is still waiting for the Iranians to take over the government and doesn't seem to know what to do next.
Erick, I have decided the Fluffers around Trump throw out ideas and he is snatching the ones he thinks will put him in the history books. I have come to believe Trump's ego is stroked by people around him and he just flops in the wind, proof even a blind squirrel can find a nut every now and again.
The damage is done. The insane midnight "Truths" and other crap have made "Mr. 100 Quadrillion Levels of Chess" a lame duck. And, sadly, his grasping antics are going to put us in the grip of the Democrats for the next few years. Donald John Trump has cost the GOP both Georgia Senate seats, one seat twice. Now, he's screwing up the courts.
I had hopes of a repeat of the first three years of Trump's first term. An administration with the discipline of Vought and a plan. That's not what we got. Trump is a menace and the sooner he is a lame duck, the better.
(For anyone who has already read it, I beg your indulgence for this reposting of a comment I made much earlier today.)
You weren't just wrong, Erick. You were played, right along with the entire country. Contrary to your assertion that there never really was a plan, there was, and it worked to perfection.
Bombs started falling on Iranian cities on February 28th. Just six days later, after months of fighting any release of the Epstein files whatsoever and then failing to release those most damaging to the President, the files containing allegations of an alleged assault by Trump on a then 13-year-old girl were finally released on March 6th.
And nobody even noticed.
Anticipating the objection (the deflection, really) that the allegations were unfounded, that isn't my point. In the absence of the military action in Iran. their mere existence in the Epstein files would absolutely have dominated the news. Instead, news coverage was diverted to a military action that from the very start, had people scratching their heads to make sense of its timing and underlying strategy. A wag-the-dog motivation (referencing here the 1997 film "Wag the Dog," in which a President distracts attention from allegations of sexual misconduct by launching a phony war) fully explains both the timing and the apparent lack of any underlying strategy.
The Atlantic is your source? Putting Hegseth in worst possible light? 🤣🤣🤣
All Trump has to do is torch the oil wells. Regime collapse absolutely will follow
I commented several weeks ago that I thought Trump was over his head in Iran. And I still think that. I still think it is a war we should never have initiated. For one, seeing how close our nation is to insolvency and how our debt exceeds GNP, we really cannot afford to be over there.
Plan? Deal? We are dealing with a people and a nation with a totally different worldview than us in the postmodern west. This is a president that probably doesn't understand this (I don't see any evidence that he does). How can you make a deal with leaders who have a diametrically opposing set of presuppositions?
I'm pretty cynical about this whole thing.
You are absolutely correct about our debt. But national defense is in the Constitution. BUT, do you know what is NOT in the Constitution? Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, housing, food stamps, etc. WE CAN SAVE LOTS OF MONEY simply by adhering to the Constitution!
And you are absolutely correct about the Constitution! And don't forget income tax isn't in the Constitution either. What I am not certain or confident about is if this war with Iran was truly defensive. Our founders were very skeptical about getting involved in foreign entanglements.
What is in the Constitution is something called the "necessary and proper" clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18), which allows Congress to create the means to execute its other "enumerated" powers.
With regard to the notion that the Constitution only permits that which is explicitly mentioned within its terms, you might consider that the Constitution only lists four federal crimes: treason, piracy, counterfeiting, and offenses against the law of nations. Unless one wants to throw open the doors of our federal prisons, one has to accept the notion of "necessary and proper."
It seems that you are right in your current view. What a waste of lives and money. The US will be no better off than before. The Iranian regime will just be more empowered. Disappointment on so many levels. The United States will be weaker among those in the Middle East who would have stood with the US. They will begin to look for someone else who they feel that they can trust. Israel will be no better off. Just goes to show all of the people in the US that Mr. Trump cannot be trusted.
I too hope there is a plan or at least a commitment to see this effort thru to some real improvement, otherwise the President made a serious mistake in even swatting at the IRGC. Clearly the President does not "have all the cards" or we wouldn't have stopped Project Freedom after only 2 ships get out. The religious fanatics in the IRGC don't need much resources to wage a guerilla warfare against shipping or their neighboring oilfields -- and we need to draw them out and eliminate those resources wherever they pop up. Right now Trump looks like he is being played. He needs to understand he has bet his entire legacy on this, and Republican congressional ability to accomplish anything over the next two years. He needs to toughen up and show he can buckle the IRGC and bring down gas prices or he will go down as a failed President. He holds enough cards to do it if he demonstrates a clear direction.
I fear the President wants to make a deal more than he wants to rid the world of a nuclear obsessed Iranian regime. The only way to negotiate with the mullahs and the IRGC is with bombs, missiles, and bullets. Power and force is their language. They want to die for the cause if they cannot bring in their Mahdi. Come up with a plan to grind them to dust and do it.
Tucker Carlson has an endless stream of people to interview who have never heard of the Madhi or the Twelvers. They have never listened to the Iranian two minute hate of “Death to America, Death to Isreal”.
Their regime is a religious military dictatorship. It has to be removed as we removed the leadership system in Germany and Japan. No compromise.
On another note. The members in NATO relied on America to provide the military means and logistics in a war with the Soviet Union. This made sense in 1956 since Europe was still recovering from the war. Not today. They can spend money on soldiers and equipment to deter Russia.
Years ago I read a commentary about a buffer zone between Russia and its neighbors to the west. NATO would move back to Germany and the countries would have their own military as usual. Russia would move most of its military eastward. All the stuff you need for an invasion. The military left would be a strong blocking force to slow down an invasion.
Not whining-that was fact. All Presidents have had weaknesses of various kinds and what makes, breaks, or assists and mitigates them are those around them and support they give. To undermine is to give aid to the enemy. You get a better outcome with a unified front instead of an undermining one especially when dealing w enemies. Also give you more position w allies. So not all on Trump he did at least try to remove a known threat but there is a lot blame to go around.
Regime change may not be necessary. Our "cold war" with the Soviet Union demonstrates that containment can work until a flawed political system crumbles of its own accord.
Don't misunderstand me. Regime change would be great, if it can be accomplished. However, as is becoming abundantly apparent, we can't get there simply by making the Iranian people suffer under bombing or economic deprivation. Maintaining power over a suffering people is what despotic regimes do, and usually quite well. Rather, regime change will require troops on the ground that the American people are unwilling to put there.
Returning to the issue of containment, people are wrong if they think that Iran's surrender of its nuclear material would be sufficient. Without inspectors on the ground, as we had under Obama's agreement, all we would have is the virtual equivalent of a pinkie swear that Iran will not still forge ahead clandestinely. Having walked away from that agreement, Trump has to accomplish either regime change or at the very least, an agreement that is just as good. Unfortunately, I am not all that optimistic in either regard.
Obama's inspectors only saw what Iran wanted so that was a moot point, especially as it did lead to false sense of security. Was hoping Trump would do it right as NO one has before but maybe if TDS hadn't shorted out so many brains he could have gotten and listened to better advice. The TDS media whipping up opposition, Dems gone nuts & almost or supporting Iran's side, going after Israel not Hamas, and EU cowards absolutely did help IRCG, why give in just wait till our side undercuts him.
If Obama's inspectors (actually, the inspectors were not Obama's but the U.N.'s nuclear "watchdog" organization) only saw what Iran wanted, then Trump needs to get inspectors in who see what they need to see. My point (which is far from moot) is that we need more than the mere surrender of existing nuclear material and a pinkie swear that the Iranians will go and sin no more. Rather, their compliance with any agreement needs to be verifiable.
And spare me your whining about the Democrats and the media. This play (which I happen to support, by the way) belongs to Trump and no one else.
If Trump devolves to some deficient " 10 point deal" with the IRCG it will only validate how profoundly stupid he really is.
Destroying the IRCG had to the only point to all of this. Not simply restore the Strait of Hormuz back to what is was.
What fool starts this without accepting the possiblity of real casualties?
At some point , the American right needs to abandon Trump. Yes he is preferable to another Democrat. I concede that. But he is a ignorant vain fool , from tarrifs to Ukraine to now this insane indecisive dalliance with Iran.
Face reality.
Should have done it a month ago and finished the job. File threats will not change Irans nuclear ambitions. They have kept us engaged in false hopes and shipping turmoil while the Iranian military has reinforced their war readiness. I despise the facts of our current situation but hope we have not waited too long to resolve this without WWlll.
I hope so, too, Erick. I keep hoping they are making plans to act during this ceasefire, needs more time for things to get into place, and doesn't want those plans to get to the leakers. There are some cases in which we don't need to know. Praying.
I won't speculate on Trump's plan or lack thereof. Even the people in his inner circle say that he CONSTANTLY makes crazy and contradictory statements; some think it's a strategy to keep everyone guessing, others think he's just nuts. What I DO know is that he told the protesting Iranian people that help was on the way, then dragged his feet while another 15,000 (?) Iranians were slaughtered. I DO know that he / we haven't succeeded in collapsing the Iranian regime from within (i.e., uprising) or economically, which seems like a huge oversight. In short, the appearance is certainly one of waffling and inconsistency, and one has to wonder why we're putting up with these jackasses instead of continuing to pound them.
There comes a point when all you're really doing is making the rubble bounce. Our choices are (a) regime change (which will require troops on the ground) or (b) a negotiated solution that includes on-the-ground inspections (like we already had under the deal Obama struck). Anything less than that and all we have done is make an implacable foe even more determined in its opposition.
Quit listening to the MSM. Go for the kill shot. If it isn’t the price of gas, it is something else.
Should have been done under President Carter but he flaked out and we are dealing with the aftermath since. Iran considers it Persian and will always be at war with its non-Persian neighbors.