Trump is a puppet. But whoever is really running this catastrophe needs a war. The one thing we can be sure of is that this regime does not care one whit for the Iranian people and their just cause.
AnnabeI, I believe you are correct. Another thing we can be sure of is that this regime does not want to lose the upcoming elections. Possibly they have seen the actions of other dictators such as Netanyahu who use to excuse of war to win elections and stay in power. They will not win the midterm elections unless they take drastic actions such as a war that would possibly justify a state of emergency. Trump desperately wants some action to make him look like a powerful winner. As now he’s looking more and more like a loser.
That's my prediction too. This is setting up the case for declaring a national emergency to cancel an election that Trump knows he's going to lose. Trump cares as little for the freedom of Iranians as he does does for the freedom of the Venezuelans. Think of the most selfish reason for taking any action, apply that to explaining Trump's actions, and you'll never be wrong.
When I use the term “Trump,” what I really mean is the whole group that is advising Trump and putting these misguided ideas for actions into his vacuous and unstable brain. I think of Steven Miller as his most vicious advisor and loss in the upcoming elections to Democrats would mean the eventual end of Miller’s power and his agenda to turn the United States into a white Christian nationalist country.
“Before delving into the heart of our story, here’s a quick thought experiment: Imagine if the Epstein Files were dripping with encounters between Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump’s first cousins.”
“Which is why the media’s silence over Gov. JB Pritzker's (D-Ill.) family involvement in the Epstein Files is so deafening: The media has gone out of its way to shield Gov. Pritzker from culpability.”
Most of the commenters here are soldier ants for the REAL Epstein class …
*I recently had, for no particular reason, a vision of Hillary as a giant female angler fish, with Bill as one of the male appendages. I can't unsee that one ...
This has been my thought as well. Not only would a war be a way for the corrupt orange felon to cancel elections, it would also be a diversion from his guilt in the Trump/Epstein files.
Trumpists will consider war if the election odds broadly turn against them. I feel deep in my being that war is coming. Problem is I can’t tell if it will be international vs civil war. I say this with all seriousness, not trying to be provocative or get personal attention. I’m afraid because war is hell on earth and its wounds never seem to truly heal. To provoke a war crisis in order to manipulate an election is treason and Trumpists have long ago crossed that Rubicon. I will never forget “January 6th.”
Yes. I think we need legal input. It doesn't appear to me that a president can cancel in this situation, especially when the war is on the other side of the world (AND WE are starting it, with NO clear, substantially spelled out reason that doesn't change by the hour, and no stated reason why any "dispute" couldn't be resolved or at least worked on in a civil manner. We have not been invaded. There is no insurrection (by citizens, anyway). Could be exactly what the Professor suggests, and looky looky - what a convenient additional distraction from the epstein files (as IF we're dropping THAT).
Richard, I remember when Zelenskyy told Trump that Ukraine couldn’t hold an election during wartime. Trump’s head jerked up and he said “You can’t hold an election during war?” I thought then that his little pea brain fixated on that. Of course Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections during war. But hey, Trump has Executive Orders…..
Right on, Richard. Dumpty got all excited when Zelenskyy mentioned in a recent Oval Office meeting that Ukraine doesn’t hold elections during wartime (as mandated in their constitution). The felon wants to do the same here, but we have no such constitutional ban so he’ll probably just attack Iran and then sign an executive order suspending elections. 🙄
(IMO) the 'real' reason - #47 may/is getting ready to go to war with Iran - is - because I want to ! ! ! and with only a 'concept of a plan' to deal with this and/or aftermath ~
Marc, war has never stopped our elections before, so it is imperative that we make sure it does not stop them this time. We need no war, but Trump and the toddler pool are pushing for one, thinking it will keep the stock market up with all the contracts for weapons. The military budget is far far too large and Congress is responsible for that too.
Threatening war with Iran is a distraction to keep public attention away from Trump’s destruction of affordability, democracy, and the rule of law in America. What’s happening in America is a criminal insurrection defined in federal law. The insurrection is led by Trump with criminal support from members of his administration including IC, Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court, and 37 million registered Republicans.
Most people and the entire news media have not recognized the insurrection.
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. The illegal jailing hasn’t stopped. The insurrection continues every day. Hundreds of judges around the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since October that President Donald Trump’s administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully, a Reuters review of court records found. The decisions amount to a sweeping legal rebuke of Trump’s immigration actions which are part of the insurrection. The administration has continued jailing people indefinitely even after courts ruled the policy was illegal.
Democrats have temporarily stopped some of the funding for DHS, but ICE operations are continuing.
The insurrection in 2026 massively rejects and disobeys the laws and authority of courts of the United States which is a criminal felony according to the federal law on insurrection, 18 U.S. Code § 2383 which states “whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the united states.”
The law clearly says that an insurrection is underway in America.
Protests are good, but protesters, have not recognized the ongoing criminal felony insurrection led by Trump. Protests should say STOP THE INSURRECTION.
The insurrection started on January 6, 2021, and was planned in PROJECT 2025 to continue in 2025 and 2026. The authoritarian illegal war with armed military ICE agents attacking and killing innocent American citizens redefined as enemy combatants, is defined as a felony crime in federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383).
Ignorance of the law by “we the people” drives the failure to recognize crimes and enforce the law which threatens democracy. The threat is supported by the weak and corrupt federal legal system.
From January 6, 2021, through 2024, the weak federal legal system enabled the illegal election of Trump who should have been convicted of the felony crime of insurrection and imprisoned. Trump should have been prevented from being on the ballot in 2024, but Section 3 of the 14th Amendment that prohibited him from holding office was not enforced by the corrupt Supreme Court. In 2025, Trump is exploiting the weak legal system to engage in his many illegal actions such as illegally ignoring court orders, illegally canceling funding authorized and directed for specific purpose by Congress, illegally creating and collecting tariffs, and illegally putting military into city streets with false claims of “fighting crime”.
“We the People” must save democracy and DEMAND that Democrats, who will take control of the federal government after winning in 2028, enforce the law against insurrection to put criminal insurrectionists including Trump, Republicans in Congress, and six justice on the Supreme Court in jail and fine each one of the 37.4 million registered Republicans $100,000 who are violating another federal law.
Federal law defines membership in groups that advocate the overthrow of government with force or violence as a criminal felony. See 18 U.S.C. § 2385 entitled Advocating overthrow of government. The penalties under 18 U.S.C. § 2385 are fines up to $250,000 or imprisonment of not more than twenty years, or both.
If the 37.4 million registered Republicans in 2025 are fined $100,000, the new federal revenue would be $ 3.7 trillion which would fund many progressive programs that would improve affordability of healthcare, housing, education and childcare, and could reduce the deficient of $1.8 trillion which occurred in 2025.
Appreciate and depend on your knowledge of the Constitution. The fines, alone, tell us to stay united to recover some of the funds the trump traitors have literally thrown away, tax payer funds , to continue their illegal acts of crime. I also think the Senate Democrats are doing the right thing to enlist independent progressive reporters to join Democrats to expose illegal corruption and report the truth by digital reporting, thus they can by pass national networks that are being targeted now for telling the truth. `
More distractions from a desperate administration that sees the writing on the wall: 47 shares Bolsonaro’s future. It’s just a matter of time. Meanwhile, arrest warrants can be issued for misprision of felony or treason at the state level in RI, VT, VA, IL, DE, or CA (state laws that apply to federal acts).
“Arguments regarding potential treason-related charges often center on allegations that Trump was aware of planned violence on January 6, 2021, and failed to act. Other discussions involved his responses to 2016 election interference. Trump's Usage: Trump himself frequently accused political opponents of treason, though these allegations did not meet the strict legal definition.” (Google AI)
We are nearing the end of our National "James Bond" thriller "No Time For Democracy to Die". Lyutsifer Safin and Spectre are clearly collapsing as the people rise up in resistance. Sanity is coming. No one wants Trump's lies, his syncophats and theirslavish prison state.
M-O-N-E-Y! There is big money in war which is why every Republican president puts us in a war and let me just add that Robert knew this answer before he posted this question. The day trump gave Israel the thumbs up to begin WW3 which is what this is the GOP hosted a news conference & I pinned the post that made trump call it off when I said, “welcome to WW3, trump promised during the 2024 campaign he would reinstate the draft. Two presidents have instated the draft, Lincoln for the civil war & FDR for WW2 - in Japan (not to be confused with Western Europe -FDR died & his VP Truman sent American boys on a clean up mission). When your husbands, your brothers, your sons, your children begin arriving home in coffins draped by old glory you will know who to blame. The one thing trump cannot tolerate is not being able to lie (squirm) his way out of his never ending disasters.
One thing for sure is that it is NOT because Trump gives a damn about the “people of Iran”
However, the truly scary thing is that there are several reasons why Trump might be motivated to attack Iran.
1) Hope to create a “rally around the president” effect when the nation is engaged in a military conflict;
2) To serve the interests of his fellow war criminal Netanyahu;
3) To generate additional profits for the military industrial complex (perhaps including investments by his own family members?);
And of course…
4) To divert attention from the Epstein files.
It is indeed terrifying that we are in a situation where the whims of one lunatic could in fact launch us into another war. Lets hope he gets distracted by some other action that would serve his interests with less damage.
Trump is the one who enabled Iran to reach the point of developing a nuclear weapon when he pulled the US out of the multi-lateral agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program during his first term.
Actually the ruling class doesn't need a war, although they certainly bring enormous profits. They have all the tools necessary to consolidate power. Herewith a possible scenario:
Dystopian? Or emerging reality?
In the early summer of 2026, facing rising criticism and open revolt against the regime from both republicans and democrats, the ruling class brings out the big guns. As most of you know by now, we live in a surveillance society, as are most industrialized nations. The ruling class, among them the techbroligarchs, control all means of communication. Internet, cellphone, cable, satellite. Using the power of AI-assisted algorithms run by huge server farms, a significant portion of the left wing antifa vermin are identified and denied service on any communication platform or device. Any and all independent media, progressive substacks, newsletters, subversive or critical utube channels are completely shut down. Particularly offensive traitors have their bank accounts frozen and/or drained.
The New York Times hails the new peace and serenity, cautiously asserting that the supreme court really did have our best interests at heart as we go into the midterm elections. The electorate rewards the regime for this new-found harmony and the new congress of 2027 celebrates its cohesive and unified membership. Colleges and universities across the land join in the celebration as Erika Kirk makes a triumphant fundraising tour of their campuses. Patriotic congressional leaders submit bills to fund young republican clubs in every university, which are now shed of the antifa vermin which previously poisoned the minds of our youth.
Meanwhile, the senate has been working hard on a bill to lay out the framework and infrastructure for full implementation of the 13th amendment, which specifically allows prison labor in Section 2. Those traitors previously identified by AI-assisted algorithms will now be assigned work, and if that work is done properly and competently, will be rewarded with some small food allowance.
Medicare and medicaid are eliminated, as well as the overly dependent elderly which had previously presented an overwhelming and nonsustainable burden on the insurance industry. Denials of coverage were now far more timely and efficient, resulting in record profits.
The market soared further with the tax relief afforded employers with the abolishment of the socialistic and universally hated social security ponzi scheme.
New government-sponsored (but not insured) bitcoin retirement accounts were created as people flocked to invest in these completely safe securities.
The Epstein files explode with new details. In addition to rape and trafficking crimes, now "murder"; not just Epstein, but girls, potential witnesses, and cohorts. Americans and the world are further horrified. While the trump regime tries to bury these crimes along with the bodies, other countries pick up the slack and launch their own investigations with gusto and purpose. The truth can't be hidden, despite a corrupt DOJ and compromised US media/propaganda machine.
The US economy is tanking, locked out of international trade, and devoid of allies as the dollar sinks to new lows. People are jobless, hungry, fed up, and calls for REVOLT increase. Boycotts, strikes, and mass protests erupt as republican lawmakers flee for cover. Republican support continues to drop dramatically. Warmongering efforts fail, mostly due to abject "ineptitude" and end up costly, distracting vanity projects commandeered by comic book styled characters.
All the while, trump continues his humiliating public decline, weighed down by an increasingly loaded poopy diaper and Pablum-brain drivel. The incompetents in the WH, now desperate to stave off the pitchforks headed their way, continue to apply their number one tool against the people, "cruelty", spreading it thickly to quash dissent. But, it's failing because they've underestimated the courage of the American people to free their country from tyranny.
November arrives....a long fraught and messy road to electoral "victory" for democrats.
I agree; someone is running him. But he isn't helping, because he has the attention span of a gnat, and will throw aside an idea the second a new one pops into his diseased brain. He is the perfect cover for whatever is going on behind the scenes. I'm not sure it's worth getting into a lather as we will have a new objective in three minutes. I suggest we "follow the money." I'd type more IF BARNABY WOULD GET OFF THE KEYBOARD!! Cats! :D
Beware of False Claims. Trump claims to be the most peaceful president in history. In 2025, Trump launched at least 658 air and drone strikes against Iraq, Somalia, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, and Venezuela. Trump is the king of Bull S___!
Trump calling himself the most peaceful president in history is an unfunny joke. He would win awards for dishonesty, narcissism, sociopathy, greed, and the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins, but never for peace.
No, I think what we see here is the culmination of fascism. It seeks enemies both internal and external. It glorifies violence and militarism as well as conquest. This is all a part of that. Trump also has a lot of friends in the oil industry who stand to gain. His followers will follow him down this road to perdition, they will allow their own children to be sacrificed on the fires of war, because it serves their identity. I wrote about it this week.
"This not only explains the reaction to Bad Bunny, but it perfectly encapsulates the American fascist project. It is about a sense of acidic aggrievement and entitlement. This was a moment where white people and the Continental United States weren’t the center of attention. Facts, like Puerto Rico is part of the United States, Bad Bunny is a U.S. citizen, Lady Gaga performed and she’s white, and that the show was in no way anti-American don’t matter. To them this was but another slight in a long list of outrages that demands payback. A symbol that they no longer hold all the cultural capital. That’s why they demand a strong leader. They want someone who will torment their enemies for trying to usurp their rightful place of dominance and restore them to the prestige they imagine they’ve lost. Trump directly addressed these people when he promised his voters, “retribution.”"
Too right. Except the part where you say they will allow their own children to be sacrificed. No way that will happen. It will be everyone else’s children. In ref: Vietnam. ‘I ain’t no senators son’…
Is anyone old enough to remember when Iran was a secular society led by the social democrat Mossadeq?
He was destablised by the British and the Americans and replaced by the Shah because he was preparing to nationalise Iran's oil wealth and the shareholders of the big oil corporations didn't like the prospect.
Pahlavi was a Western puppet, and Savak, his secret police, were hated and feared in equal measure.
The revolution which overthrew him gave us the mullahs who are, if anything, worse.
But the lesson is clear. American (and British) intervention in Iran has always been to the detriment of the Iranian people.
Thank you for the recommendation. Just ordered it and his follow up The New Silk Roads. I’ve read several historical novels on Iran that speaks about the west’s interventions from the female perspective that helped to destabilize Iran.
> A free and diverse press is widely considered fundamental to the functioning of democracy, though the extent of its necessity can be debated. Overall, it is not merely helpful but structurally essential for a healthy democratic system.
As far as it goes that‘s quite true. It’s just that governments in Canada and the UK, and the US until Elon freed up X, have fallen far short of that ideal. Both in Canada and the UK the press have aided in covering up serious issues on behalf of the Laurentian/grauniadofcom blobs.
When one of Justin’s possible biological fathers was imposing a one-size-fits-all straitjacket bilingualism over the whole of Canada the press were complicit in his fibs and “little white lies”.
Similarly Peregrine Worsthorne once noted that the U.K. press were complicit in covering up the way Britain was turned into a multiracial society with no public input.
> 1. Informing Citizens
Democracy depends on informed decision-making. Citizens must evaluate policies, leaders, and competing visions for society. Without reliable information, voting becomes symbolic rather than meaningful. In this sense, a free press is indispensable to democratic participation.
There have been several incidents in the above countries where the press has been complicit in suppressing independent voices and serious issues. Check out the Canadian groupie media’s piling on in attempts to squash rebel news.
Rebel does real investigations into areas Canada’s groupie media won’t cover:
> The Washington Post’s reporting on the Watergate scandal led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.
Remember News of the Screws? It was a better paper than the won’t-be-missed Compost-on-the-Potomac. It got shut down. The Compost has published so many untruths they were probably just Schaking Miff up about Watergate as well
> Such cases show how a free press can directly protect democratic institutions by ensuring leaders are accountable.
Rubbish. The fake news media shielded Justin, Biden, and Ofwillie, while piling on the Donald, and Pierre Poilievre.
> 3. Promoting Diversity of Views
Democracy is not only about voting; it is about pluralism. A diverse press ensures:
Minority voices are heard
Different ideological perspectives are represented
Absolute rucking fubbish. Such perspectives are actively suppressed, cheered on by the fake news media.
> If media ownership is concentrated or politically controlled, public discourse narrows. Even in formally democratic states, lack of media diversity can distort public opinion.
Said without a trace of irony.
> For example, state-controlled media in countries such as Russia demonstrates how restricted press freedom can limit genuine political competition.
Exactly the same could be said of Canada. The overfunded, bloated CBC is a sort of T Rex in the room. Already reduced to the status of groupies by the government, most Canadian journalists’ ultimate goal is to work for the CBC, and they’re not going to jeopardise that goal by critiquing the fake news Laurentian blob.
Professor Reich: i am certainly no expert here, but my recent readings suggest these threats directed at iran are meant to placate that warmonger netanyahu, although apparently (today), netanyahu is advising caution?
some days, i can't keep up with wtf is happening in the middle east. the political positions there are more changeable than the weather. however, that said, i don't trust any of the men doing the negotiating since they are happily chasing the gawdawlmighty dollar in their quest for world destruction.
so i think i'll just go back to my usual suspicion: this is about the epstein files. (TrumpStein files.) not only is distraction a typical orange rapist tactic, but all the men involved in this are also named in the epstein files (netanyahu's behavior is especially deplorable), so, i dunno ... why not?
I think distraction could be part of it, but Israel is very influential on this Administration. They have long wanted the Iranian Regime gone and they want the U.S. to do it for them. You should look up their colonialist notion of "Greater Israel," the insane idea that their nation should stretch from the Euphrates to the Nile. Foreign policy reactionaries have long wanted a war on Iran. Plus, fascism is naturally aggressive and militaristic. All these factors are at play here.
whoa! i didn't know that! now that's a deeply threatening philosophy. what do they base that on, besides loving war and murder and rape and all sorts of other human abuses?
time to catch up on my real-life dystopian reading, i guess!
@ Grrl. I believe you can have more confidence in your conclusions; TrumpStein indeed. Smoke and mirrors on the international fronts in order to cover on-going rape of the nation's wealth and distract from the evidence that tawdry, disgusting, child molesters are the same robber barons who are rigging the system against regular folks and citizens.
Iran is reported to have some 3,000 short and medium-range ballistic missiles so Netanyahu may fear that if Iran were to retaliate by striking Israel the US would be too preoccupied protecting its own military bases in the region to help Israel withstand such an attack. I am sure that other countries in the region (especially those harbouring US bases) share those fears.
Having been a military spouse for many years and the daughter of a lifelong member of the US Air Force, I have always wondered why politicians are so eager to send other people and other people’s children off to war. I believe that if they think it’s good to send other people into war zones, they should experience it themselves. It would give them a little perspective of their own.
Until recently it was almost a given that a lot of rulers and politicians had served in earlier conflicts. Members of the Royal Family were expected to, and Prince Andrew broke with tradition …..
…. By serving in the RAF instead of the Navy, and gaining war hero status as a fighter pilot in the Falklands.
Harry served in the Marines, and his old comrades are worried about what that dreadful woman has done to him.
Eisenhower obviously, JFK, Nixon, Jimmuh, and Abu Dubya all served in combat.
Vietnam was a total disaster on many levels, not least the demoralisation factor, with conscripts prey to all sorts of sinister pressures.
The fake news media are much to blame, e.g., turning Tet into a defeat.
Lessons were learned in the Falklands. Media access was tightly controlled; when an American journalist complained he was told by a British officer “you chaps lost Vietnam on your TV screens, we’re not going to make the same mistake”.
I’ve seen British boy soldiers threaten violence against the subversive elements who would have found young American conscripts easy prey.
Whatever. But most of today's legislators have never served, owing to the lack of a draft. Trump is the prime example... never serving, five deferments (fake), and yet sending our military (sons, brothers, fathers, cousins, sisters, daughters, mothers, etc) into combat. Yes, Vietnam was a disaster. It's why my husband cut short his military career after ten years. The war was started because of a rumor... one that proved to be untrue. "The Fog of War" details a lot of it.
It's a given that the US absolutely refuses to ever learn anything from any other country. But this admin appears to be incapable of learning anything from even the US. Do none of the buffoons in the admin remember General Powell's "Pottery Barn" rule? You break it, you own it. GW Bush's last run at dropping some "freedom and democracy" on the Mideast in Iraq, boldly stepping into the role of Israel, KSA, and the Gulf State's US taxpayer financed mercenary army, was a complete fiasco. The US wasted over $4Trillion, lost thousands of lives, and left the region in chaos. This isn’t ancient history, its just two decades ago. How stupid can Trump and his henchmen be? Iran is much bigger than Iraq, and can be supplied by land and sea via routes that can't be blocked. If Iran is attacked, they're not going to just give up. If you had to come up with an example of a quagmire, this is it. Where is congress? What level of lawlessness and stupidity will finally make them act?
Money money money nothing else pathetic 79 year ol and his bizarre coterie of goons enriching themselves wasting massive national resources sailing around as he turns to US navy et al into a bunch of privateers for his clan's gain.
Trump doesn't have goals. He's always playing defense, but learned decades ago how to mask his insecurity with the appearance of aggression. Meanwhile, we are focused on him every minute of every day. He looms over everything, he manufactures anxiety in every corner of the world. We need an exorcism, a intervention on a biblical scale. Maybe the Pope can do something?
He needs a war (doesn't matter to him where, doesn't matter to him who suffers) so he can declare a state of emergency and cancel the misterms, maybe even the next Presidential election - all to save his miserable skin. That's my theory.
Could the answer to the question in your article’s title be, TO DISTRACT FROM THE EPSTEIN FILES? Or maybe he’s still having a tantrum because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize…
Didn’t the proceeds from the two captured Venezuelan oil tankers end up in a trump account? Maybe Witkoff is negotiating a shakedown, nice oil field you got there….
It’s exhausting trying to discern wtf the mad criminal king is up to.
and I heard that the $$ from Venezuelan oil was deposited in Qatar (origin of his 'golden A F 1) and only HE can have access to it (?) Then I heard $50 million had been sent back to Venezuela... can't keep track of the many many different 'story' reports of WTF is going on ~ but I keep my 'skepticles' on to not get broadsided by whatever 'news' is out there ~ and draw my own conclusions - as errant they may be ~
Trump is a puppet. But whoever is really running this catastrophe needs a war. The one thing we can be sure of is that this regime does not care one whit for the Iranian people and their just cause.
AnnabeI, I believe you are correct. Another thing we can be sure of is that this regime does not want to lose the upcoming elections. Possibly they have seen the actions of other dictators such as Netanyahu who use to excuse of war to win elections and stay in power. They will not win the midterm elections unless they take drastic actions such as a war that would possibly justify a state of emergency. Trump desperately wants some action to make him look like a powerful winner. As now he’s looking more and more like a loser.
That's my prediction too. This is setting up the case for declaring a national emergency to cancel an election that Trump knows he's going to lose. Trump cares as little for the freedom of Iranians as he does does for the freedom of the Venezuelans. Think of the most selfish reason for taking any action, apply that to explaining Trump's actions, and you'll never be wrong.
When I use the term “Trump,” what I really mean is the whole group that is advising Trump and putting these misguided ideas for actions into his vacuous and unstable brain. I think of Steven Miller as his most vicious advisor and loss in the upcoming elections to Democrats would mean the eventual end of Miller’s power and his agenda to turn the United States into a white Christian nationalist country.
I am using Epstein class for Trump fro this point on.
Not really accurate, though.
In the UK we have Sir Keir Epstabber.
And there’s Hillary’s male appendage*
When I first saw the name “Prickster” mentioned in connection with Epstein, I thought of the insurrectionist rebel governor.
Then I found this:
https://pjmedia.com/scott-pinsker/2026/02/17/the-creepy-media-cover-up-of-gov-pritzkers-family-ties-to-jeffrey-epstein-n4949602
“Before delving into the heart of our story, here’s a quick thought experiment: Imagine if the Epstein Files were dripping with encounters between Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump’s first cousins.”
“Which is why the media’s silence over Gov. JB Pritzker's (D-Ill.) family involvement in the Epstein Files is so deafening: The media has gone out of its way to shield Gov. Pritzker from culpability.”
Most of the commenters here are soldier ants for the REAL Epstein class …
*I recently had, for no particular reason, a vision of Hillary as a giant female angler fish, with Bill as one of the male appendages. I can't unsee that one ...
Yes. I agree with you about Miller.
This has been my thought as well. Not only would a war be a way for the corrupt orange felon to cancel elections, it would also be a diversion from his guilt in the Trump/Epstein files.
We’ve never canceled an election - even during civil war or WW2
Trumpists will consider war if the election odds broadly turn against them. I feel deep in my being that war is coming. Problem is I can’t tell if it will be international vs civil war. I say this with all seriousness, not trying to be provocative or get personal attention. I’m afraid because war is hell on earth and its wounds never seem to truly heal. To provoke a war crisis in order to manipulate an election is treason and Trumpists have long ago crossed that Rubicon. I will never forget “January 6th.”
What I was going to say.
Yes. I think we need legal input. It doesn't appear to me that a president can cancel in this situation, especially when the war is on the other side of the world (AND WE are starting it, with NO clear, substantially spelled out reason that doesn't change by the hour, and no stated reason why any "dispute" couldn't be resolved or at least worked on in a civil manner. We have not been invaded. There is no insurrection (by citizens, anyway). Could be exactly what the Professor suggests, and looky looky - what a convenient additional distraction from the epstein files (as IF we're dropping THAT).
Richard, I remember when Zelenskyy told Trump that Ukraine couldn’t hold an election during wartime. Trump’s head jerked up and he said “You can’t hold an election during war?” I thought then that his little pea brain fixated on that. Of course Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections during war. But hey, Trump has Executive Orders…..
Right on, Richard. Dumpty got all excited when Zelenskyy mentioned in a recent Oval Office meeting that Ukraine doesn’t hold elections during wartime (as mandated in their constitution). The felon wants to do the same here, but we have no such constitutional ban so he’ll probably just attack Iran and then sign an executive order suspending elections. 🙄
Or the freedom of Americans, come to that.
(IMO) the 'real' reason - #47 may/is getting ready to go to war with Iran - is - because I want to ! ! ! and with only a 'concept of a plan' to deal with this and/or aftermath ~
Thereʻs another factor: Iran is a danger to Israel, Trump is great pals with Netanyahu. and Israel may want the regime to run a war for them
- Karen Cooper
Marc, war has never stopped our elections before, so it is imperative that we make sure it does not stop them this time. We need no war, but Trump and the toddler pool are pushing for one, thinking it will keep the stock market up with all the contracts for weapons. The military budget is far far too large and Congress is responsible for that too.
Marc
Threatening war with Iran is a distraction to keep public attention away from Trump’s destruction of affordability, democracy, and the rule of law in America. What’s happening in America is a criminal insurrection defined in federal law. The insurrection is led by Trump with criminal support from members of his administration including IC, Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court, and 37 million registered Republicans.
Most people and the entire news media have not recognized the insurrection.
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. The illegal jailing hasn’t stopped. The insurrection continues every day. Hundreds of judges around the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since October that President Donald Trump’s administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully, a Reuters review of court records found. The decisions amount to a sweeping legal rebuke of Trump’s immigration actions which are part of the insurrection. The administration has continued jailing people indefinitely even after courts ruled the policy was illegal.
Democrats have temporarily stopped some of the funding for DHS, but ICE operations are continuing.
The insurrection in 2026 massively rejects and disobeys the laws and authority of courts of the United States which is a criminal felony according to the federal law on insurrection, 18 U.S. Code § 2383 which states “whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the united states.”
The law clearly says that an insurrection is underway in America.
Protests are good, but protesters, have not recognized the ongoing criminal felony insurrection led by Trump. Protests should say STOP THE INSURRECTION.
The insurrection started on January 6, 2021, and was planned in PROJECT 2025 to continue in 2025 and 2026. The authoritarian illegal war with armed military ICE agents attacking and killing innocent American citizens redefined as enemy combatants, is defined as a felony crime in federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383).
Ignorance of the law by “we the people” drives the failure to recognize crimes and enforce the law which threatens democracy. The threat is supported by the weak and corrupt federal legal system.
From January 6, 2021, through 2024, the weak federal legal system enabled the illegal election of Trump who should have been convicted of the felony crime of insurrection and imprisoned. Trump should have been prevented from being on the ballot in 2024, but Section 3 of the 14th Amendment that prohibited him from holding office was not enforced by the corrupt Supreme Court. In 2025, Trump is exploiting the weak legal system to engage in his many illegal actions such as illegally ignoring court orders, illegally canceling funding authorized and directed for specific purpose by Congress, illegally creating and collecting tariffs, and illegally putting military into city streets with false claims of “fighting crime”.
“We the People” must save democracy and DEMAND that Democrats, who will take control of the federal government after winning in 2028, enforce the law against insurrection to put criminal insurrectionists including Trump, Republicans in Congress, and six justice on the Supreme Court in jail and fine each one of the 37.4 million registered Republicans $100,000 who are violating another federal law.
Federal law defines membership in groups that advocate the overthrow of government with force or violence as a criminal felony. See 18 U.S.C. § 2385 entitled Advocating overthrow of government. The penalties under 18 U.S.C. § 2385 are fines up to $250,000 or imprisonment of not more than twenty years, or both.
If the 37.4 million registered Republicans in 2025 are fined $100,000, the new federal revenue would be $ 3.7 trillion which would fund many progressive programs that would improve affordability of healthcare, housing, education and childcare, and could reduce the deficient of $1.8 trillion which occurred in 2025.
Excellent!
Appreciate and depend on your knowledge of the Constitution. The fines, alone, tell us to stay united to recover some of the funds the trump traitors have literally thrown away, tax payer funds , to continue their illegal acts of crime. I also think the Senate Democrats are doing the right thing to enlist independent progressive reporters to join Democrats to expose illegal corruption and report the truth by digital reporting, thus they can by pass national networks that are being targeted now for telling the truth. `
This is certainly no way to win a peace prize.....
Maybe Trump will try to bully the Nobel Peace Prize Committee too. Invade Sweden next?
More distractions from a desperate administration that sees the writing on the wall: 47 shares Bolsonaro’s future. It’s just a matter of time. Meanwhile, arrest warrants can be issued for misprision of felony or treason at the state level in RI, VT, VA, IL, DE, or CA (state laws that apply to federal acts).
“Arguments regarding potential treason-related charges often center on allegations that Trump was aware of planned violence on January 6, 2021, and failed to act. Other discussions involved his responses to 2016 election interference. Trump's Usage: Trump himself frequently accused political opponents of treason, though these allegations did not meet the strict legal definition.” (Google AI)
Accusing others of their own actions is more than DARVO. Its formal name is “Association in a mirror (AiM)” and it’s a tactic to incite hate. https://loyola-chicago-law-journal.scholasticahq.com/article/76889-accusation-in-a-mirror.pdf
We are nearing the end of our National "James Bond" thriller "No Time For Democracy to Die". Lyutsifer Safin and Spectre are clearly collapsing as the people rise up in resistance. Sanity is coming. No one wants Trump's lies, his syncophats and theirslavish prison state.
🙏 Well said!
One thing for sure is that it is not because he gives a damn about “ the people” of Iran.
M-O-N-E-Y! There is big money in war which is why every Republican president puts us in a war and let me just add that Robert knew this answer before he posted this question. The day trump gave Israel the thumbs up to begin WW3 which is what this is the GOP hosted a news conference & I pinned the post that made trump call it off when I said, “welcome to WW3, trump promised during the 2024 campaign he would reinstate the draft. Two presidents have instated the draft, Lincoln for the civil war & FDR for WW2 - in Japan (not to be confused with Western Europe -FDR died & his VP Truman sent American boys on a clean up mission). When your husbands, your brothers, your sons, your children begin arriving home in coffins draped by old glory you will know who to blame. The one thing trump cannot tolerate is not being able to lie (squirm) his way out of his never ending disasters.
One thing for sure is that it is NOT because Trump gives a damn about the “people of Iran”
However, the truly scary thing is that there are several reasons why Trump might be motivated to attack Iran.
1) Hope to create a “rally around the president” effect when the nation is engaged in a military conflict;
2) To serve the interests of his fellow war criminal Netanyahu;
3) To generate additional profits for the military industrial complex (perhaps including investments by his own family members?);
And of course…
4) To divert attention from the Epstein files.
It is indeed terrifying that we are in a situation where the whims of one lunatic could in fact launch us into another war. Lets hope he gets distracted by some other action that would serve his interests with less damage.
Annabel-- Trump's inability to pronounce his bowels correctly, forces many to leave the room.
Donald Hodgins
Donald’s Substack
1m
Because Trump's obliteration wasn't so obliterated after all. Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.
Trump is the one who enabled Iran to reach the point of developing a nuclear weapon when he pulled the US out of the multi-lateral agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program during his first term.
Actually the ruling class doesn't need a war, although they certainly bring enormous profits. They have all the tools necessary to consolidate power. Herewith a possible scenario:
Dystopian? Or emerging reality?
In the early summer of 2026, facing rising criticism and open revolt against the regime from both republicans and democrats, the ruling class brings out the big guns. As most of you know by now, we live in a surveillance society, as are most industrialized nations. The ruling class, among them the techbroligarchs, control all means of communication. Internet, cellphone, cable, satellite. Using the power of AI-assisted algorithms run by huge server farms, a significant portion of the left wing antifa vermin are identified and denied service on any communication platform or device. Any and all independent media, progressive substacks, newsletters, subversive or critical utube channels are completely shut down. Particularly offensive traitors have their bank accounts frozen and/or drained.
The New York Times hails the new peace and serenity, cautiously asserting that the supreme court really did have our best interests at heart as we go into the midterm elections. The electorate rewards the regime for this new-found harmony and the new congress of 2027 celebrates its cohesive and unified membership. Colleges and universities across the land join in the celebration as Erika Kirk makes a triumphant fundraising tour of their campuses. Patriotic congressional leaders submit bills to fund young republican clubs in every university, which are now shed of the antifa vermin which previously poisoned the minds of our youth.
Meanwhile, the senate has been working hard on a bill to lay out the framework and infrastructure for full implementation of the 13th amendment, which specifically allows prison labor in Section 2. Those traitors previously identified by AI-assisted algorithms will now be assigned work, and if that work is done properly and competently, will be rewarded with some small food allowance.
Medicare and medicaid are eliminated, as well as the overly dependent elderly which had previously presented an overwhelming and nonsustainable burden on the insurance industry. Denials of coverage were now far more timely and efficient, resulting in record profits.
The market soared further with the tax relief afforded employers with the abolishment of the socialistic and universally hated social security ponzi scheme.
New government-sponsored (but not insured) bitcoin retirement accounts were created as people flocked to invest in these completely safe securities.
Scenario #2
The Epstein files explode with new details. In addition to rape and trafficking crimes, now "murder"; not just Epstein, but girls, potential witnesses, and cohorts. Americans and the world are further horrified. While the trump regime tries to bury these crimes along with the bodies, other countries pick up the slack and launch their own investigations with gusto and purpose. The truth can't be hidden, despite a corrupt DOJ and compromised US media/propaganda machine.
The US economy is tanking, locked out of international trade, and devoid of allies as the dollar sinks to new lows. People are jobless, hungry, fed up, and calls for REVOLT increase. Boycotts, strikes, and mass protests erupt as republican lawmakers flee for cover. Republican support continues to drop dramatically. Warmongering efforts fail, mostly due to abject "ineptitude" and end up costly, distracting vanity projects commandeered by comic book styled characters.
All the while, trump continues his humiliating public decline, weighed down by an increasingly loaded poopy diaper and Pablum-brain drivel. The incompetents in the WH, now desperate to stave off the pitchforks headed their way, continue to apply their number one tool against the people, "cruelty", spreading it thickly to quash dissent. But, it's failing because they've underestimated the courage of the American people to free their country from tyranny.
November arrives....a long fraught and messy road to electoral "victory" for democrats.
Very true, but they do care about Israel, Iran is a danger to them, and Trump is pals with Netanyahu. Israel may want the regime to run a war for them
- Karen Cooper
They also don’t seem to care “one whit” about American lives that would be lost in a war with Iran!
I agree; someone is running him. But he isn't helping, because he has the attention span of a gnat, and will throw aside an idea the second a new one pops into his diseased brain. He is the perfect cover for whatever is going on behind the scenes. I'm not sure it's worth getting into a lather as we will have a new objective in three minutes. I suggest we "follow the money." I'd type more IF BARNABY WOULD GET OFF THE KEYBOARD!! Cats! :D
It seems like the big-money-and-power people, in any generation, ALWAYS need a war.
How else can they sell weapons and mercenary groups?
How else can they sell fear?
Beware of False Claims. Trump claims to be the most peaceful president in history. In 2025, Trump launched at least 658 air and drone strikes against Iraq, Somalia, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, and Venezuela. Trump is the king of Bull S___!
His destruction of USAID is an act of genocide.
Keith--Trump's ego suffers from an acute case of premature obliteration.
The administration NEVER looks back, NEVER looks at history. It only seems to slither from one thing to the next…
Trump calling himself the most peaceful president in history is an unfunny joke. He would win awards for dishonesty, narcissism, sociopathy, greed, and the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins, but never for peace.
Yet another distraction from the Trumpstein files?
No, I think what we see here is the culmination of fascism. It seeks enemies both internal and external. It glorifies violence and militarism as well as conquest. This is all a part of that. Trump also has a lot of friends in the oil industry who stand to gain. His followers will follow him down this road to perdition, they will allow their own children to be sacrificed on the fires of war, because it serves their identity. I wrote about it this week.
"This not only explains the reaction to Bad Bunny, but it perfectly encapsulates the American fascist project. It is about a sense of acidic aggrievement and entitlement. This was a moment where white people and the Continental United States weren’t the center of attention. Facts, like Puerto Rico is part of the United States, Bad Bunny is a U.S. citizen, Lady Gaga performed and she’s white, and that the show was in no way anti-American don’t matter. To them this was but another slight in a long list of outrages that demands payback. A symbol that they no longer hold all the cultural capital. That’s why they demand a strong leader. They want someone who will torment their enemies for trying to usurp their rightful place of dominance and restore them to the prestige they imagine they’ve lost. Trump directly addressed these people when he promised his voters, “retribution.”"
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com/p/bad-bunnys-performance-exposed-the
(Btw y'all I'm a writer trying to get off the ground. If you can subscribe)
-Mathew
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com
Too right. Except the part where you say they will allow their own children to be sacrificed. No way that will happen. It will be everyone else’s children. In ref: Vietnam. ‘I ain’t no senators son’…
No - really ?
(Sarcasm)
Absolutely!
Is anyone old enough to remember when Iran was a secular society led by the social democrat Mossadeq?
He was destablised by the British and the Americans and replaced by the Shah because he was preparing to nationalise Iran's oil wealth and the shareholders of the big oil corporations didn't like the prospect.
Pahlavi was a Western puppet, and Savak, his secret police, were hated and feared in equal measure.
The revolution which overthrew him gave us the mullahs who are, if anything, worse.
But the lesson is clear. American (and British) intervention in Iran has always been to the detriment of the Iranian people.
August 19, 1953. I remember it well. Historical patterns always pop up like a web to ensnare the forgetful.
For reference see “The Silk Roads” by Peter Francopian. Best education on the Middle East and Asia you can get in a single book.
Thank you for the recommendation. Just ordered it and his follow up The New Silk Roads. I’ve read several historical novels on Iran that speaks about the west’s interventions from the female perspective that helped to destabilize Iran.
“the female perspective that helped to destabilize Iran”
Kate Millett?
But Americans do not remember history.
Yep, look at the pictures even in the 70s.
So why couldn’t they have repeated the process with Fidel, and saved the Cuban people from a lifetime of horror?
Irrelevant whataboutery. Please cease and desist.
William,
In response an earlier comment of yours:
> A free and diverse press is widely considered fundamental to the functioning of democracy, though the extent of its necessity can be debated. Overall, it is not merely helpful but structurally essential for a healthy democratic system.
As far as it goes that‘s quite true. It’s just that governments in Canada and the UK, and the US until Elon freed up X, have fallen far short of that ideal. Both in Canada and the UK the press have aided in covering up serious issues on behalf of the Laurentian/grauniadofcom blobs.
When one of Justin’s possible biological fathers was imposing a one-size-fits-all straitjacket bilingualism over the whole of Canada the press were complicit in his fibs and “little white lies”.
Similarly Peregrine Worsthorne once noted that the U.K. press were complicit in covering up the way Britain was turned into a multiracial society with no public input.
> 1. Informing Citizens
Democracy depends on informed decision-making. Citizens must evaluate policies, leaders, and competing visions for society. Without reliable information, voting becomes symbolic rather than meaningful. In this sense, a free press is indispensable to democratic participation.
There have been several incidents in the above countries where the press has been complicit in suppressing independent voices and serious issues. Check out the Canadian groupie media’s piling on in attempts to squash rebel news.
Rebel does real investigations into areas Canada’s groupie media won’t cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Un5t7ozyKI
And if the Donald could set in motion the abolition of the BB Xi …. wonderful!!!
Ironic that they may have problems with Ofcom as well ….
Florida juries are “Trumpy”…. serves you right. Payback for the DC and NYC jury pools.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juRBm9NlaTE
And another case, which I only became aware of this evening:
https://x.com/caylanford/status/2023849250724212744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2023849250724212744%7Ctwgr%5Ec3df926336b3525b2a88d93fa7e7ac05fab0f797%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smalldeadanimals.com%2F2026%2F02%2F18%2Fyou-dont-hate-the-media-nearly-enough-14%2F
https://caylanford.substack.com/p/views-from-the-pyre
Commentary at Kate’s, in her “You Don’t Hate the Media Nearly Enough” occasional series:
https://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2026/02/18/you-dont-hate-the-media-nearly-enough-14/#comments
The Klares are squealing:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2025/11/19/opinion/alberta-lawsuit-caylan-ford-ucp-media-slapp
Good.
> The Washington Post’s reporting on the Watergate scandal led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.
Remember News of the Screws? It was a better paper than the won’t-be-missed Compost-on-the-Potomac. It got shut down. The Compost has published so many untruths they were probably just Schaking Miff up about Watergate as well
> Such cases show how a free press can directly protect democratic institutions by ensuring leaders are accountable.
Rubbish. The fake news media shielded Justin, Biden, and Ofwillie, while piling on the Donald, and Pierre Poilievre.
> 3. Promoting Diversity of Views
Democracy is not only about voting; it is about pluralism. A diverse press ensures:
Minority voices are heard
Different ideological perspectives are represented
Absolute rucking fubbish. Such perspectives are actively suppressed, cheered on by the fake news media.
> If media ownership is concentrated or politically controlled, public discourse narrows. Even in formally democratic states, lack of media diversity can distort public opinion.
Said without a trace of irony.
> For example, state-controlled media in countries such as Russia demonstrates how restricted press freedom can limit genuine political competition.
Exactly the same could be said of Canada. The overfunded, bloated CBC is a sort of T Rex in the room. Already reduced to the status of groupies by the government, most Canadian journalists’ ultimate goal is to work for the CBC, and they’re not going to jeopardise that goal by critiquing the fake news Laurentian blob.
Professor Reich: i am certainly no expert here, but my recent readings suggest these threats directed at iran are meant to placate that warmonger netanyahu, although apparently (today), netanyahu is advising caution?
https://www.bicom.org.uk/iran-and-their-proxies/#post-6546
some days, i can't keep up with wtf is happening in the middle east. the political positions there are more changeable than the weather. however, that said, i don't trust any of the men doing the negotiating since they are happily chasing the gawdawlmighty dollar in their quest for world destruction.
so i think i'll just go back to my usual suspicion: this is about the epstein files. (TrumpStein files.) not only is distraction a typical orange rapist tactic, but all the men involved in this are also named in the epstein files (netanyahu's behavior is especially deplorable), so, i dunno ... why not?
I think distraction could be part of it, but Israel is very influential on this Administration. They have long wanted the Iranian Regime gone and they want the U.S. to do it for them. You should look up their colonialist notion of "Greater Israel," the insane idea that their nation should stretch from the Euphrates to the Nile. Foreign policy reactionaries have long wanted a war on Iran. Plus, fascism is naturally aggressive and militaristic. All these factors are at play here.
-Mathew
https://bettergracesandliberations.substack.com
whoa! i didn't know that! now that's a deeply threatening philosophy. what do they base that on, besides loving war and murder and rape and all sorts of other human abuses?
time to catch up on my real-life dystopian reading, i guess!
@ Grrl. I believe you can have more confidence in your conclusions; TrumpStein indeed. Smoke and mirrors on the international fronts in order to cover on-going rape of the nation's wealth and distract from the evidence that tawdry, disgusting, child molesters are the same robber barons who are rigging the system against regular folks and citizens.
Iran is reported to have some 3,000 short and medium-range ballistic missiles so Netanyahu may fear that if Iran were to retaliate by striking Israel the US would be too preoccupied protecting its own military bases in the region to help Israel withstand such an attack. I am sure that other countries in the region (especially those harbouring US bases) share those fears.
Distraction, as usual, from his Epstein criminal activities.
Anyone who declares war should join the armed forces and include their own family members in the military. On the front lines.
The bone-spur Battalion?
The only problem, Donna, is that T-rump wouldn't understand which way to shoot!
Well, he has to face so many enemies within that that’s not surprising.
I used to believe that when I was sixteen. Gained a bit of perspective since ….
Having been a military spouse for many years and the daughter of a lifelong member of the US Air Force, I have always wondered why politicians are so eager to send other people and other people’s children off to war. I believe that if they think it’s good to send other people into war zones, they should experience it themselves. It would give them a little perspective of their own.
Until recently it was almost a given that a lot of rulers and politicians had served in earlier conflicts. Members of the Royal Family were expected to, and Prince Andrew broke with tradition …..
…. By serving in the RAF instead of the Navy, and gaining war hero status as a fighter pilot in the Falklands.
Harry served in the Marines, and his old comrades are worried about what that dreadful woman has done to him.
Eisenhower obviously, JFK, Nixon, Jimmuh, and Abu Dubya all served in combat.
Vietnam was a total disaster on many levels, not least the demoralisation factor, with conscripts prey to all sorts of sinister pressures.
The fake news media are much to blame, e.g., turning Tet into a defeat.
Lessons were learned in the Falklands. Media access was tightly controlled; when an American journalist complained he was told by a British officer “you chaps lost Vietnam on your TV screens, we’re not going to make the same mistake”.
I’ve seen British boy soldiers threaten violence against the subversive elements who would have found young American conscripts easy prey.
Whatever. But most of today's legislators have never served, owing to the lack of a draft. Trump is the prime example... never serving, five deferments (fake), and yet sending our military (sons, brothers, fathers, cousins, sisters, daughters, mothers, etc) into combat. Yes, Vietnam was a disaster. It's why my husband cut short his military career after ten years. The war was started because of a rumor... one that proved to be untrue. "The Fog of War" details a lot of it.
No, this isn't a "wag the dog" action. Trump is being paid off by Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf States.
Probably.
That’s nefarious enough to be true!
It's a given that the US absolutely refuses to ever learn anything from any other country. But this admin appears to be incapable of learning anything from even the US. Do none of the buffoons in the admin remember General Powell's "Pottery Barn" rule? You break it, you own it. GW Bush's last run at dropping some "freedom and democracy" on the Mideast in Iraq, boldly stepping into the role of Israel, KSA, and the Gulf State's US taxpayer financed mercenary army, was a complete fiasco. The US wasted over $4Trillion, lost thousands of lives, and left the region in chaos. This isn’t ancient history, its just two decades ago. How stupid can Trump and his henchmen be? Iran is much bigger than Iraq, and can be supplied by land and sea via routes that can't be blocked. If Iran is attacked, they're not going to just give up. If you had to come up with an example of a quagmire, this is it. Where is congress? What level of lawlessness and stupidity will finally make them act?
I'm afraid the republicans in Congress are completely feckless.
I genuinely feel sorry for you.
Money money money nothing else pathetic 79 year ol and his bizarre coterie of goons enriching themselves wasting massive national resources sailing around as he turns to US navy et al into a bunch of privateers for his clan's gain.
More distraction to influence the midterms.
He’s trying to change the subject and distract us. Again. Crying wolf. Sick bastard.
I agree.
Woof! Woof! Wag the dog! And pay off your Saudi bribemasters by eliminating their rivals in Islamoworld.
Trump doesn't have goals. He's always playing defense, but learned decades ago how to mask his insecurity with the appearance of aggression. Meanwhile, we are focused on him every minute of every day. He looms over everything, he manufactures anxiety in every corner of the world. We need an exorcism, a intervention on a biblical scale. Maybe the Pope can do something?
I'm guessing this is tongue in cheek (the last part), but good lord, something needs to happen!
He needs a war (doesn't matter to him where, doesn't matter to him who suffers) so he can declare a state of emergency and cancel the misterms, maybe even the next Presidential election - all to save his miserable skin. That's my theory.
That CANNOT be allowed to succeed…..
Could the answer to the question in your article’s title be, TO DISTRACT FROM THE EPSTEIN FILES? Or maybe he’s still having a tantrum because he didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize…
Because... midterms. He'd prefer not to have them. (Oh and Epstein)
He is turning us into a protection racket. Mafioso 101. And he's creating large scale betting racket.
This ^^^^ it's just one more way to grift.
Didn’t the proceeds from the two captured Venezuelan oil tankers end up in a trump account? Maybe Witkoff is negotiating a shakedown, nice oil field you got there….
It’s exhausting trying to discern wtf the mad criminal king is up to.
and I heard that the $$ from Venezuelan oil was deposited in Qatar (origin of his 'golden A F 1) and only HE can have access to it (?) Then I heard $50 million had been sent back to Venezuela... can't keep track of the many many different 'story' reports of WTF is going on ~ but I keep my 'skepticles' on to not get broadsided by whatever 'news' is out there ~ and draw my own conclusions - as errant they may be ~
The Trump prediction betting scheme: https://youtu.be/R9bvJShSCBs
Utterly corrupt