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𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐄𝐅𝐒 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄 — 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃 𝟏𝟑,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐓𝐒, 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐑𝐆𝐂 𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐘, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐄𝐇𝐑𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐍𝐔𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌. Herridge, one of the few remaining serious national-security reporters in American media,... posed the question in a clip with a former colleague who served alongside General Caine in Iraq: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱? So here is what people should know. 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐧 ’𝐑𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧’ 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 is an F-16 pilot who flew combat sorties over Iraq. He spent years working the Iraq/Syria counter-ISIS mission on the ground — the kind of war where you live next to the people you’re protecting, not in a Pentagon suite. He was the officer President Trump met in Al-Asad Airbase and later said had more sense of the actual battlefield than the whole joint staff combined. In early 2025, Trump elevated him — bypassing the traditional four-star queue — to 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐟𝐟, the highest uniformed post in the United States military. The result, so far: 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐮𝐫𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐑𝐆𝐂 𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐮𝐥𝐟. 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝. 𝐀 𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. Mark Rutte — the NATO Secretary General — told CNN on live air the world is 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 safer now. And the Democrat response? CNN panels asking whether Caine is lying about the results. Scott Jennings had to defend him on air because his colleagues could not believe a career officer and a man of high honor could possibly tell the truth. 𝐃𝐚𝐧 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝟒𝟎-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲.show more

M.A. Rothman

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BREAKING: Karo-Lying Leavitt was left squirming after the media held her feet to the fire, demanding she explain why Trump would appoint a top official who he then trashed as “weak” after he resigned in protest! Yesterday, the Trump administration was rocked by the abrupt departure of counterterror chief Joe Kent, who resigned in protest of Trump’s illegal Iran War because he believed it was being waged on behalf of Israel. Kent is no hero; he is a white supremacist and far-right extremist, which is why he got the job in the first place. But that didn’t stop Trump from trashing him as being “weak on security” in response to his resignation, which of course brings up new questions we need to have answered. Reporters asked Leavitt to explain the president’s decisions, and she was left scrambling. “The White House was warned last year when the president nominated Joe Kent that he had a history of conspiracy theories and ties to white nationalists. So why did the president nominate him?” asked a reporter. Good question! “The president spoke on this a little bit yesterday in the Oval Office. He said he always thought Joe Kent was a good guy, uh obviously has a commendable military record and experience. However, uh he was not someone who was involved in the presidential daily brief, part of the president's intelligence briefings over the last several months,” stuttered Leavitt. “We have not seen him here at the White House for quite some time and the president feels it's deeply disappointing that after the president gave him an opportunity in this administration to serve the American people that he would resign with a letter filled with falsehoods accusing the president of the United States by being controlled by a foreign country. That's both insulting and laughable all at the same time. The president is the leader of the most powerful country and military in the world. Nobody tells him what to do.” It couldn’t be more telling that when told this man had ties to white nationalists, Leavitt replies that Trump thought he was a “good guy,” and then immediately brings up that he doesn’t show up for work. But the media wouldn’t let this go. “Yesterday, the president posted that he always thought Kent was weak on security. Why would he appoint a counterterrorism center who he thought was weak on security?” asked the media in a follow-up. Another good question! “Again, I just told you the president gave Joe Kent a chance. He thought he was a good guy with good military experience and unfortunately he proved he was not up for the job and we don't want somebody leading the counterterrorism task force who cannot agree that the number one state sponsor of terror in this world uh did not pose a threat to the United States.” Karoline Leavitt herself said just two weeks ago that Iran did not pose a threat to the United States, but hey, who’s counting? Good to know we’re appointing top counterterrorism officials based on the fact that Trump thinks they’re a “good guy,” who is now a weak liar after disagreeing with the President on something. The ease with which this woman lies would astound the most devoted of Hitler’s propagandists. But there is something perversely amusing about watching her be left holding the bag for all of Trump’s terrible decisions. What a bunch of assh*les, the whole lot of them.

BREAKING: Karo-Lying Leavitt was left squirming after the media held her feet to the fire, demanding she explain why Trump would appoint a top official who he then trashed as “weak” after he resigned in protest! Yesterday, the Trump administration was rocked by the abrupt departure of counterterror chief Joe Kent, who resigned in protest of Trump’s illegal Iran War because he believed it was being waged on behalf of Israel. Kent is no hero; he is a white supremacist and far-right extremist, which is why he got the job in the first place. But that didn’t stop Trump from trashing him as being “weak on security” in response to his resignation, which of course brings up new questions we need to have answered. Reporters asked Leavitt to explain the president’s decisions, and she was left scrambling. “The White House was warned last year when the president nominated Joe Kent that he had a history of conspiracy theories and ties to white nationalists. So why did the president nominate him?” asked a reporter. Good question! “The president spoke on this a little bit yesterday in the Oval Office. He said he always thought Joe Kent was a good guy, uh obviously has a commendable military record and experience. However, uh he was not someone who was involved in the presidential daily brief, part of the president's intelligence briefings over the last several months,” stuttered Leavitt. “We have not seen him here at the White House for quite some time and the president feels it's deeply disappointing that after the president gave him an opportunity in this administration to serve the American people that he would resign with a letter filled with falsehoods accusing the president of the United States by being controlled by a foreign country. That's both insulting and laughable all at the same time. The president is the leader of the most powerful country and military in the world. Nobody tells him what to do.” It couldn’t be more telling that when told this man had ties to white nationalists, Leavitt replies that Trump thought he was a “good guy,” and then immediately brings up that he doesn’t show up for work. But the media wouldn’t let this go. “Yesterday, the president posted that he always thought Kent was weak on security. Why would he appoint a counterterrorism center who he thought was weak on security?” asked the media in a follow-up. Another good question! “Again, I just told you the president gave Joe Kent a chance. He thought he was a good guy with good military experience and unfortunately he proved he was not up for the job and we don't want somebody leading the counterterrorism task force who cannot agree that the number one state sponsor of terror in this world uh did not pose a threat to the United States.” Karoline Leavitt herself said just two weeks ago that Iran did not pose a threat to the United States, but hey, who’s counting? Good to know we’re appointing top counterterrorism officials based on the fact that Trump thinks they’re a “good guy,” who is now a weak liar after disagreeing with the President on something. The ease with which this woman lies would astound the most devoted of Hitler’s propagandists. But there is something perversely amusing about watching her be left holding the bag for all of Trump’s terrible decisions. What a bunch of assh*les, the whole lot of them.

Occupy Democrats

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𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 “𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐑” 𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒. 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒. 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐒. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃. Victor Davis Hanson — the most decorated classical military historian in America, author of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘴 and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱, Hoover Institution senior fellow, lifelong scholar of how wars actually end — spent thirteen minutes on the Daily Signal this week doing what no cable news anchor has bothered to do since February. He compared this war to every other war in American history and then showed his work. His conclusion, in his own words: “𝘞𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 93 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘰𝘧-𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘢, 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘲, 𝘠𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯, 𝘎𝘢𝘻𝘢, 𝘓𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯 — 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵, 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳.” Read that sentence and then read it again. 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝. 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝. That is not a Trump rally soundbite. That is Victor Davis Hanson, the man who wrote the textbooks on Thermopylae, Cannae, and the Pacific War, rendering verdict in real time on the fastest decisive American military victory since the First Gulf War, and arguably since 1945. Here is what Hanson walked through, and every single beat of it is lethal to the legacy narrative. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 Hanson opens by naming names. The Democratic grandees in the House and Senate. The New York Times. The Washington Post. NPR. PBS. The Wall Street Journal news section. And — this is the key part — the disaffected ex-MAGA right that spent six weeks screaming 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘐𝘐𝘐 from podcasts and Substacks. He points out that these two camps share 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧. First, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, because a Trump military success would destroy their entire post-2024 political project. Second, and more devastating: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧. Not one of them, Hanson notes, bothered to measure the Iran campaign against 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘺𝘢 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘧𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘯. Not one of them asked how many missiles the U.S. had destroyed, whether American aircraft had been shot down (45 were lost in the First Gulf War alone), whether the enemy command structure had been taken out. Instead, they just asserted the conclusion they needed: 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳. That is not analysis. That is a feelings-forward prayer dressed up as journalism, and Hanson calls it for exactly what it is. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝: 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 Hanson’s single most important factual paragraph of the 13 minutes: “𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘪 𝘈𝘪𝘳 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.” He lists them individually. Memorize this list, because it is the actual accounting of what 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 did to a regime that spent 46 years promising 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢: 𝐎𝐧𝐞. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — IRGC command network shattered. Qassem-era terror infrastructure leadership dead or in hiding. 𝐓𝐰𝐨. The regular Iranian Army — senior general officer corps hollowed out by precision strike. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞. The theocratic apparat — including the Supreme Leader himself. The Assembly of Experts is reportedly unable to convene. 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫. The elected politicians — the facade government, the President, the Foreign Minister, the Majlis leadership. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐭. 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. That is not a 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘦. That is not a 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦. That is the most surgical decapitation of a hostile nation-state since the Japanese surrender ceremony on the USS Missouri. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞-𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝 Hanson then does something cable news cannot do in 45-second segments: he reconstructs the entire strategic arc. Three phases. Execute them in order. Win. 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞: 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Find the tunnels. Find the hidden airfields. Find the silos. Find the people in bunkers. Kill the command structure. Leave the regime with 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 and nothing with which to rebuild. 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐨: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞. Hanson: “𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.” Self-interested? Yes — Trump wanted oil prices down before midterms. But it was also, Hanson argues, to 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘯. Iran refused, betting that Western street protests and MAGA apostates would pressure Trump to fold. 𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝. 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞: 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. When Iran announced it would close the Strait of Hormuz to everyone who was not 𝘱𝘳𝘰-𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯, Hanson says Trump just took the pen out of their hand. “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢. 𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴.” Translation: 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧. 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩. 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐓 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. That is not a close fight. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐍𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 Here is the paragraph that should be read aloud on every network tonight and will be read aloud on none of them. Hanson, coolly: “𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘖𝘣𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘺𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘢. 𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺.” Get the implications of that. Every American president from Truman to Obama — Democrat and Republican alike — hit 𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥-𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 in every major air campaign of the last 75 years. Truman flattened North Korean hydroelectric plants and killed civilians by the thousands. Clinton blacked out a million and a half Serbs and bombed Belgrade bridges on the Danube for weeks. Obama leveled Libyan television and ports. 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩, 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐦 𝐊𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐮𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐲. He has kept the war confined to the regime’s war-making capability and left the civilian grid intact. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. Every talking head who called this a 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳 owes Hanson an apology for not knowing the historical baseline he is using. $𝟒𝟎𝟎 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 Hanson cites the economists now 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦 at major research universities in Europe and the United States who have started to measure what the American counter-blockade is actually doing to Tehran. The number: $𝟒𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠. Lost oil sales. Lost petrochemical exports. Lost critical imports of mechanical goods, electrical components, and food. A regime that was already bankrupt before the war, that had hyperinflation eating its own middle class before the first bomb dropped, is now losing half a billion dollars every 24 hours. Hanson is blunt: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥, 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥.” 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞: 𝐀 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐧 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Hanson’s most historically evocative passage is about the Iranian street. He notes that the regime’s ruling cliques are right now motivated by 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘴: they do not know who is in charge, they have watched 30-40-50 of their colleagues get killed, and they are fighting each other for the remains of power. But the fear underneath all of that is the one that matters: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸.” Hanson’s historical parallel is devastating and correct. The Berlin Wall did not come down the day Reagan said 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭. It came down 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. The collapse of the IRGC’s street-level power over 90 million Iranians may take exactly that long. But it is coming, and the mullahs know it, and that is why they are freelancing contradictory statements on Twitter every 12 hours while their own Supreme Leader is dead and nobody has been elevated. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 The closing minute of Hanson’s commentary is the hinge of everything. He warns that the coming negotiation is a trap unless it is structured correctly. His words: “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘶𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 20 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥.” And then the hammer: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘒𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘢 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘴, 𝘎𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘰𝘮, 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘨, 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.” Translation: any JCPOA-style agreement that depends on the next Democratic president to enforce it is worthless on the day it is signed. The Iranian regime has never kept a deal. The Democratic Party has never enforced one. Therefore, Hanson concludes, 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. That is not a preference. That is a strategic necessity. Anything short of unconditional surrender or regime collapse just sets the clock ticking on the next war — this time with a nuclear-armed ayatollah. 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝟗𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝟒𝟔-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝟑𝟓 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟓. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.

𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 “𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐑” 𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐒. 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒. 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐃𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐒. 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃. Victor Davis Hanson — the most decorated classical military historian in America, author of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘴 and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱, Hoover Institution senior fellow, lifelong scholar of how wars actually end — spent thirteen minutes on the Daily Signal this week doing what no cable news anchor has bothered to do since February. He compared this war to every other war in American history and then showed his work. His conclusion, in his own words: “𝘞𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 93 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨-𝘰𝘧-𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘢, 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘲, 𝘠𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯, 𝘎𝘢𝘻𝘢, 𝘓𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯 — 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵, 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳.” Read that sentence and then read it again. 𝐒𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝. 𝐅𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬. 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝. That is not a Trump rally soundbite. That is Victor Davis Hanson, the man who wrote the textbooks on Thermopylae, Cannae, and the Pacific War, rendering verdict in real time on the fastest decisive American military victory since the First Gulf War, and arguably since 1945. Here is what Hanson walked through, and every single beat of it is lethal to the legacy narrative. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 Hanson opens by naming names. The Democratic grandees in the House and Senate. The New York Times. The Washington Post. NPR. PBS. The Wall Street Journal news section. And — this is the key part — the disaffected ex-MAGA right that spent six weeks screaming 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘐𝘐𝘐 from podcasts and Substacks. He points out that these two camps share 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧. First, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, because a Trump military success would destroy their entire post-2024 political project. Second, and more devastating: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧. Not one of them, Hanson notes, bothered to measure the Iran campaign against 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘺𝘢 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘎𝘶𝘭𝘧 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘧𝘨𝘩𝘢𝘯. Not one of them asked how many missiles the U.S. had destroyed, whether American aircraft had been shot down (45 were lost in the First Gulf War alone), whether the enemy command structure had been taken out. Instead, they just asserted the conclusion they needed: 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳. That is not analysis. That is a feelings-forward prayer dressed up as journalism, and Hanson calls it for exactly what it is. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝: 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬, 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 Hanson’s single most important factual paragraph of the 13 minutes: “𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭𝘪 𝘈𝘪𝘳 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.” He lists them individually. Memorize this list, because it is the actual accounting of what 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 did to a regime that spent 46 years promising 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢: 𝐎𝐧𝐞. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — IRGC command network shattered. Qassem-era terror infrastructure leadership dead or in hiding. 𝐓𝐰𝐨. The regular Iranian Army — senior general officer corps hollowed out by precision strike. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞. The theocratic apparat — including the Supreme Leader himself. The Assembly of Experts is reportedly unable to convene. 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫. The elected politicians — the facade government, the President, the Foreign Minister, the Majlis leadership. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐭. 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲. 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬. That is not a 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘦. That is not a 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦. That is the most surgical decapitation of a hostile nation-state since the Japanese surrender ceremony on the USS Missouri. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞-𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐝 Hanson then does something cable news cannot do in 45-second segments: he reconstructs the entire strategic arc. Three phases. Execute them in order. Win. 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐧𝐞: 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Find the tunnels. Find the hidden airfields. Find the silos. Find the people in bunkers. Kill the command structure. Leave the regime with 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 and nothing with which to rebuild. 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐰𝐨: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞. Hanson: “𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴.” Self-interested? Yes — Trump wanted oil prices down before midterms. But it was also, Hanson argues, to 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘯. Iran refused, betting that Western street protests and MAGA apostates would pressure Trump to fold. 𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐝. 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞: 𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. When Iran announced it would close the Strait of Hormuz to everyone who was not 𝘱𝘳𝘰-𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯, Hanson says Trump just took the pen out of their hand. “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢. 𝘚𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘶𝘺𝘴.” Translation: 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧. 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩. 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐓 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬. That is not a close fight. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐍𝐨 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 Here is the paragraph that should be read aloud on every network tonight and will be read aloud on none of them. Hanson, coolly: “𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘖𝘣𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘺𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘒𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘢. 𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺.” Get the implications of that. Every American president from Truman to Obama — Democrat and Republican alike — hit 𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥-𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 in every major air campaign of the last 75 years. Truman flattened North Korean hydroelectric plants and killed civilians by the thousands. Clinton blacked out a million and a half Serbs and bombed Belgrade bridges on the Danube for weeks. Obama leveled Libyan television and ports. 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩, 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐦 𝐊𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐮𝐫, 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭, 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐲. He has kept the war confined to the regime’s war-making capability and left the civilian grid intact. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. Every talking head who called this a 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘳 owes Hanson an apology for not knowing the historical baseline he is using. $𝟒𝟎𝟎 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 Hanson cites the economists now 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦 at major research universities in Europe and the United States who have started to measure what the American counter-blockade is actually doing to Tehran. The number: $𝟒𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠. Lost oil sales. Lost petrochemical exports. Lost critical imports of mechanical goods, electrical components, and food. A regime that was already bankrupt before the war, that had hyperinflation eating its own middle class before the first bomb dropped, is now losing half a billion dollars every 24 hours. Hanson is blunt: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥, 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥.” 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞: 𝐀 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐧 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Hanson’s most historically evocative passage is about the Iranian street. He notes that the regime’s ruling cliques are right now motivated by 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘴: they do not know who is in charge, they have watched 30-40-50 of their colleagues get killed, and they are fighting each other for the remains of power. But the fear underneath all of that is the one that matters: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞. “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸.” Hanson’s historical parallel is devastating and correct. The Berlin Wall did not come down the day Reagan said 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭. It came down 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐭 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. The collapse of the IRGC’s street-level power over 90 million Iranians may take exactly that long. But it is coming, and the mullahs know it, and that is why they are freelancing contradictory statements on Twitter every 12 hours while their own Supreme Leader is dead and nobody has been elevated. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝 The closing minute of Hanson’s commentary is the hinge of everything. He warns that the coming negotiation is a trap unless it is structured correctly. His words: “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘶𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 20 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥.” And then the hammer: “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘒𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘢 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘴, 𝘎𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯 𝘕𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘰𝘮, 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘉𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘨, 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.” Translation: any JCPOA-style agreement that depends on the next Democratic president to enforce it is worthless on the day it is signed. The Iranian regime has never kept a deal. The Democratic Party has never enforced one. Therefore, Hanson concludes, 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞. That is not a preference. That is a strategic necessity. Anything short of unconditional surrender or regime collapse just sets the clock ticking on the next war — this time with a nuclear-armed ayatollah. 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬. 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝟗𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝟒𝟔-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝟑𝟓 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟓. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.

M.A. Rothman

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𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐍𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄. 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐓. 𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐒𝐎 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓. Bill Maher spent eight minutes on Real Time last Friday doing something no Democrat with a national microphone has done honestly in a decade. He told his own party why they lost. The core of the monologue: “𝘝𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘷𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘢.” Read that again. Slowly. The second-most-famous liberal talk-show host in America — a man who has spent 30 years telling audiences how dumb Republicans are — just told Democrats that the issues do not matter, that voters pick based on 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘢, and that Donald Trump has all three while the Democratic Party has none of them. This is not a small admission. This is the entire 2024 post-mortem in a single sentence, delivered by a Democrat. Let me walk through what else he said, because it gets better — and worse, depending on which side of the aisle you sit on. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 The Democratic Party’s current approval rating is 𝟐𝟏 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 (Gallup, March 2026). Maher’s joke: “𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘒𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘴”. Funny because it is accurate. And the Gallup internal is the part that should terrify every DNC strategist: 𝟒𝟓 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫, up 11 points in four years. Nearly half the Democratic base is telling pollsters, on the record, that its own leadership is too far left to win. When almost half your own voters want you to move toward your opponent’s position, you do not have a messaging problem. You have a 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 problem. 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤: 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 Maher nominated Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania as the Democratic Party’s Trump. Not the populist-movement Trump. The 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴-𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦-𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳-𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴-𝘯𝘰𝘵-𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥-𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘕𝘎𝘖-𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 Trump. Here is Maher’s inventory of Fetterman’s heresies, each of which would have been a career-ender in the Democratic Party of 2020: 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫: Fetterman says wanting a secure border is not 𝘹𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘤 or 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵. It is common sense. 𝐎𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥: When pro-Hamas protesters showed up at his home, Fetterman went to his roof 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. Read that again. A sitting Democratic United States Senator publicly flew the Star of David in the faces of his own party’s base. 𝐎𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲: Fetterman says four words 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, per Maher: “𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐞.” Translate that honestly. Maher just told his audience that the reason Republicans are nervous about 2028 is not a policy agenda. It is the possibility that 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞 Maher’s proposed running mate was former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the reasons he gave are almost more revealing than the Fetterman case. Buttigieg 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬 a month ago. Stopped. Quietly scrubbed them. Maher flagged it on national television. Buttigieg’s own recent words, quoted by Maher: Democrats would do better “𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴”. That is a former Democratic presidential candidate publicly renouncing intersectional identity politics. In 2020 he would have been canceled for that sentence. In 2026 he is using it as a positioning play for 2028. Buttigieg also told Democrats to stop “𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢”. Maher’s rejoinder: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡.” That one is going on the highlight reel. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐀 𝐉𝐨𝐤𝐞 Strip away the Mar-a-Lago bits, the CVS clothing line, the 6-foot-8 gag, and look at what Maher actually said about Trump’s victory: “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘸𝘰𝘯. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘹. 𝘎𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘨𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.” Translation: Trump won because he met voters where they actually were on crime and immigration. Americans were not yearning for the agenda; they were yearning for a politician who would 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 about borders, crime, men in women’s sports, and elementary-school pronoun drills. Every Democratic post-mortem since November 2024 has blamed Latinos, blamed young men, blamed podcasts, blamed Elon Musk, blamed disinformation, blamed Russia again for some reason, blamed misogyny, blamed low-information voters, and blamed Joe Biden for staying in too long. Bill Maher — alone, on a Friday night, on a premium cable show — finally said the real answer. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧/𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐠 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 Here is the problem with Maher’s prescription, and it is the same problem that has been cooking the Democratic Party for 15 years. The Democratic primary electorate — the activists, the donor class, the DSA wing, the 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥 caucus, the identity-studies faculty, the Planned Parenthood board, the teachers unions, the Working Families Party — will never nominate John Fetterman. They will not nominate anyone who waves an Israeli flag at his own base. They will not nominate anyone who says 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦. They will not nominate anyone who agrees with Trump on the border. Maher knows this. Every Democrat in Washington knows this. The primary will eat any Fetterman-type candidate alive before the first snow falls in New Hampshire. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞-𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐢 𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲. The Democratic Party does not actually want to win. It wants to be right about race, gender, and climate. Those are not the same goal, and for twenty years the party has been choosing the second one. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐃𝐮𝐞 I have disagreed with Bill Maher on plenty. I still do. But on this one, he is telling the truth at volume about his own side, on his own network, to his own audience, and he knows the next three weeks of his DMs will be brutal. That is 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚 he said voters reward. He is modeling the trait he is asking his party to rediscover. The fact that the Democratic Party cannot find more than a handful of its elected officials willing to do the same is the entire diagnosis, all by itself. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐨. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 '𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐞' 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲. 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐲. 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥.

𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐀𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐍𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄. 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐈𝐌 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐓. 𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐒𝐎 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓. Bill Maher spent eight minutes on Real Time last Friday doing something no Democrat with a national microphone has done honestly in a decade. He told his own party why they lost. The core of the monologue: “𝘝𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘷𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮. 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘢.” Read that again. Slowly. The second-most-famous liberal talk-show host in America — a man who has spent 30 years telling audiences how dumb Republicans are — just told Democrats that the issues do not matter, that voters pick based on 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘢, and that Donald Trump has all three while the Democratic Party has none of them. This is not a small admission. This is the entire 2024 post-mortem in a single sentence, delivered by a Democrat. Let me walk through what else he said, because it gets better — and worse, depending on which side of the aisle you sit on. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 The Democratic Party’s current approval rating is 𝟐𝟏 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 (Gallup, March 2026). Maher’s joke: “𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘒𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘦’𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘴”. Funny because it is accurate. And the Gallup internal is the part that should terrify every DNC strategist: 𝟒𝟓 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫, up 11 points in four years. Nearly half the Democratic base is telling pollsters, on the record, that its own leadership is too far left to win. When almost half your own voters want you to move toward your opponent’s position, you do not have a messaging problem. You have a 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 problem. 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐤: 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐅𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 Maher nominated Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania as the Democratic Party’s Trump. Not the populist-movement Trump. The 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘴-𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦-𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳-𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴-𝘯𝘰𝘵-𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥-𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘕𝘎𝘖-𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 Trump. Here is Maher’s inventory of Fetterman’s heresies, each of which would have been a career-ender in the Democratic Party of 2020: 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫: Fetterman says wanting a secure border is not 𝘹𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘤 or 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵. It is common sense. 𝐎𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥: When pro-Hamas protesters showed up at his home, Fetterman went to his roof 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥𝐢 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐠 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. Read that again. A sitting Democratic United States Senator publicly flew the Star of David in the faces of his own party’s base. 𝐎𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲: Fetterman says four words 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, per Maher: “𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐞.” Translate that honestly. Maher just told his audience that the reason Republicans are nervous about 2028 is not a policy agenda. It is the possibility that 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞 Maher’s proposed running mate was former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the reasons he gave are almost more revealing than the Fetterman case. Buttigieg 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬 a month ago. Stopped. Quietly scrubbed them. Maher flagged it on national television. Buttigieg’s own recent words, quoted by Maher: Democrats would do better “𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘯 𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴”. That is a former Democratic presidential candidate publicly renouncing intersectional identity politics. In 2020 he would have been canceled for that sentence. In 2026 he is using it as a positioning play for 2028. Buttigieg also told Democrats to stop “𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘢”. Maher’s rejoinder: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐜𝐡.” That one is going on the highlight reel. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐀 𝐉𝐨𝐤𝐞 Strip away the Mar-a-Lago bits, the CVS clothing line, the 6-foot-8 gag, and look at what Maher actually said about Trump’s victory: “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 𝘸𝘰𝘯. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘹. 𝘎𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘨𝘰𝘴𝘩, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.” Translation: Trump won because he met voters where they actually were on crime and immigration. Americans were not yearning for the agenda; they were yearning for a politician who would 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 about borders, crime, men in women’s sports, and elementary-school pronoun drills. Every Democratic post-mortem since November 2024 has blamed Latinos, blamed young men, blamed podcasts, blamed Elon Musk, blamed disinformation, blamed Russia again for some reason, blamed misogyny, blamed low-information voters, and blamed Joe Biden for staying in too long. Bill Maher — alone, on a Friday night, on a premium cable show — finally said the real answer. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐲. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐅𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧/𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐠 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 Here is the problem with Maher’s prescription, and it is the same problem that has been cooking the Democratic Party for 15 years. The Democratic primary electorate — the activists, the donor class, the DSA wing, the 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘥 caucus, the identity-studies faculty, the Planned Parenthood board, the teachers unions, the Working Families Party — will never nominate John Fetterman. They will not nominate anyone who waves an Israeli flag at his own base. They will not nominate anyone who says 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘬𝘦. They will not nominate anyone who agrees with Trump on the border. Maher knows this. Every Democrat in Washington knows this. The primary will eat any Fetterman-type candidate alive before the first snow falls in New Hampshire. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞-𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐮𝐥𝐬𝐢 𝐆𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲. The Democratic Party does not actually want to win. It wants to be right about race, gender, and climate. Those are not the same goal, and for twenty years the party has been choosing the second one. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐃𝐮𝐞 I have disagreed with Bill Maher on plenty. I still do. But on this one, he is telling the truth at volume about his own side, on his own network, to his own audience, and he knows the next three weeks of his DMs will be brutal. That is 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚 he said voters reward. He is modeling the trait he is asking his party to rediscover. The fact that the Democratic Party cannot find more than a handful of its elected officials willing to do the same is the entire diagnosis, all by itself. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐨. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 '𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐞' 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲. 𝐁𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐲. 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥.

M.A. Rothman

85,434 Aufrufe • vor 4 Monaten

NEW: David Sacks asks Democratic Presidential candidate Congressman Dean Phillips about the recently released report from German General Harald Kujat, which states that Russia and Ukraine sought peace at the start of the war, but the U.S. and NATO aimed to escalate the conflict in pursuit of regime change in Russia. ----- The report released last week by Michael von der Schulenburg, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General who worked for over 34 years for the United Nations and retired German General Harald Kujat, is a detailed reconstruction of the Russian and Ukrainian attempt at peace at the start of the war which was blocked by the Biden administration and Western nations: 1. Just one month after the start of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators had come very close to an agreement for a ceasefire and to an outline for a comprehensive peace solution to the conflict. 2) In contrast to today, President Zelensky and his government had made great efforts to negotiate peace with Russia and bring the war to a quick end. 3) Contrary to Western interpretations, Ukraine and Russia agreed at the time that the planned NATO expansion was the reason for the war. They therefore focused their peace negotiations on Ukraine’s neutrality and its renunciation of NATO membership. In return, Ukraine would have retained its territorial integrity except for Crimea. 4) There is little doubt that these peace negotiations failed due to resistance from NATO and in particular from the USA and the UK. The reasons is that such a peace agreement would have been tantamount to a defeat for NATO, an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and thus an end to the dream of a unipolar world dominated by the USA. 5. The failure of the peace negotiations in March 2022 led to dangerous intensification of the war that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, especially young people, deeply traumatized a young generation and inflicted the most severe mental and physical wounds on them. Ukraine has been exposed to enormous destruction, internal displacements, and mass impoverishment. This si accompanied by a large-scale depopulation of the country. Not only Russia, but also NATO and the West bear a heavy share of the blame for this disaster. 6) Ukraine’s negotiating position today is far worse than it was in March 2022. Ukraine will now lose large parts of its territory. 7. The blocking of the peace negotiations at that time has harmed everyone: Russia and Europe – but above all the people of Ukraine, who are paying with their blood the price for the ambitions of the major powers and will probably get nothing in return. ----- Democratic Presidential Candidate Dean Phillips momentarily concedes the truth in the last few sentences of his answer: "So, to answer your question, had there been a peace deal at that point that simply would have been we would give you territory back in return for not entering NATO, who in their right mind would say that was a bad deal?" ----- President Joe Biden. He is the reason there was no peace deal. He is the reason Ukraine is destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of young men and women in Ukraine are now dead. President Joe Biden played a leading role in starting the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, which killed millions of people and wasted trillions of dollars while not serving the national security interest of the American people. President Biden turned down a peace deal at the start of the war because NATO and the Western military-industrial complex that Joe Biden has served his entire 50-year career in Washington DC were willing to sacrifice the youth of Ukraine in the pursuit of regime change in Russia. You should be ashamed of yourself if this is what you voted for.

NEW: David Sacks asks Democratic Presidential candidate Congressman Dean Phillips about the recently released report from German General Harald Kujat, which states that Russia and Ukraine sought peace at the start of the war, but the U.S. and NATO aimed to escalate the conflict in pursuit of regime change in Russia. ----- The report released last week by Michael von der Schulenburg, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General who worked for over 34 years for the United Nations and retired German General Harald Kujat, is a detailed reconstruction of the Russian and Ukrainian attempt at peace at the start of the war which was blocked by the Biden administration and Western nations: 1. Just one month after the start of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators had come very close to an agreement for a ceasefire and to an outline for a comprehensive peace solution to the conflict. 2) In contrast to today, President Zelensky and his government had made great efforts to negotiate peace with Russia and bring the war to a quick end. 3) Contrary to Western interpretations, Ukraine and Russia agreed at the time that the planned NATO expansion was the reason for the war. They therefore focused their peace negotiations on Ukraine’s neutrality and its renunciation of NATO membership. In return, Ukraine would have retained its territorial integrity except for Crimea. 4) There is little doubt that these peace negotiations failed due to resistance from NATO and in particular from the USA and the UK. The reasons is that such a peace agreement would have been tantamount to a defeat for NATO, an end to NATO’s eastward expansion and thus an end to the dream of a unipolar world dominated by the USA. 5. The failure of the peace negotiations in March 2022 led to dangerous intensification of the war that has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, especially young people, deeply traumatized a young generation and inflicted the most severe mental and physical wounds on them. Ukraine has been exposed to enormous destruction, internal displacements, and mass impoverishment. This si accompanied by a large-scale depopulation of the country. Not only Russia, but also NATO and the West bear a heavy share of the blame for this disaster. 6) Ukraine’s negotiating position today is far worse than it was in March 2022. Ukraine will now lose large parts of its territory. 7. The blocking of the peace negotiations at that time has harmed everyone: Russia and Europe – but above all the people of Ukraine, who are paying with their blood the price for the ambitions of the major powers and will probably get nothing in return. ----- Democratic Presidential Candidate Dean Phillips momentarily concedes the truth in the last few sentences of his answer: "So, to answer your question, had there been a peace deal at that point that simply would have been we would give you territory back in return for not entering NATO, who in their right mind would say that was a bad deal?" ----- President Joe Biden. He is the reason there was no peace deal. He is the reason Ukraine is destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of young men and women in Ukraine are now dead. President Joe Biden played a leading role in starting the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, which killed millions of people and wasted trillions of dollars while not serving the national security interest of the American people. President Biden turned down a peace deal at the start of the war because NATO and the Western military-industrial complex that Joe Biden has served his entire 50-year career in Washington DC were willing to sacrifice the youth of Ukraine in the pursuit of regime change in Russia. You should be ashamed of yourself if this is what you voted for.

KanekoaTheGreat

1,243,712 Aufrufe • vor 2 Jahren

🚨THE UKRAINE -RUSSIAN WAR WAS PROVOKED NATO DID NOT PROMOTE PEACE, NATO PROMOTED WARS How did this start? Zbigniew Brzezinski in the United States said, "We can surround Russia. We can weaken Russia. We can make Russia fall into pieces." He literally wrote in 1997, he said, "Oh, there'll be a confederation of three weak states, a European Russia, Siberian Russia, Far East Russia." This, this was a senior advisor to the US. They decided 30 years ago, we're gonna surround Russia in the Black Sea, we're going to weaken Russia, we're going to put our military all around Russia. They broke the nuclear balance and nuclear arms control framework in 2002. This was the worst move of all. United States walked out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. And the Russians said, "Oh. You, you wanna have a first strike? You'll attack us in a decapitation strike and then you'll use your anti-ballistic missile system to prevent deterrents." In 2002, the United States just walked out of the ABM Treaty and the Russians said, "Excuse me? What, what, what the hell are you doing? This is our balance." And it came in the context of NATO enlargement. It came in the context of the United States bombing Belgrade for 78 straight days in 1999 to break Serbia in two, but in Kosovo, that region broken apart from Serbia, to put the largest NATO military base in Southeastern Europe, "Camp Bondsteel", in that base. So, the Russians are saying, "Are you kidding? You bomb Belgrade, you expand NATO even though you promised not to do so, you walk out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the list goes on and on. You attack Iraq on completely phony pretenses, you launch a CIA operation to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, you send NATO to overthrow Gaddafi, late in, 2011, and you say NATO's gonna expand to Ukraine and to Georgia. You blame Russia for this? This was an America drunk with its power, saying we can do anything we want and with a plan, and the plan third-rate or fourth-rate or fifth-rate country or to break it was to turn Russia into a apart. On February 21st, 2014, three foreign ministers of the European Union negotiated with Mr. Yanukovych that he would stay in power and that there would be elections eight months later, and this was also agreed with President Putin. The next morning, a US-backed coup violently overthrew Yanukovych, and it took the United States a nanosecond to say, "We support the new government." Europe, because it's so filled with principles, "No, no, no. Yanukovych is president." No, of course it didn't say that. It said, "Whatever daddy said."So, daddy said that it's, now a new government brought in by a coup, and Europe suddenly couldn't even remember 24 hours that it negotiated an agreement with Yanukovych that he would stay in power. And they said, "No, no. He resigned." Oh, we don't think Russia should stay in Crimea anymore." It's been Russia's naval fleet since 1783. The coup is not a coincidence. The coup is to get Russia out of Sevastopol. That's the point. It was the reason why there was a Crimean War in 1853 when Britain and France said, "Get Russia out of the Black Sea." It was Brzezinski's idea in 1997. When Trump comes in in the first term, US pours in the military aid and builds up a million-person army, the largest in Europe actually. What happened when Russia invaded in February 24th, 2022? Within about a week, Zelenskyy said, "Okay, we can be neutral, we can be neutral." And the Ukrainians sent a note to the Russians, "Neutral. We, we don't need the NATO invasion. You stop fighting, we'll declare neutrality." I know in detail this story because I talked to the negotiators at length, and to the Turkish mediators, because a process started in Istanbul to have Ukraine and Russia sit down with each other. And on April 15th, they initialed a document which was almost complete. What happened? The United States and Britain walked in and told the Ukrainians, "No, you continue fighting." The European mainstream media blocks the most basic facts on all of this. This, war could have ended so many times it avoided entirely. Now Europe is in this unbelievable warmongering period led by the German chancellor, of all people and all countries, absolutely unpleasant, Merz, Macron, Starmer. In 2023, I had a conversation with President Macron. And I said, "Mr. President, this war came from NATO enlargement." He said, "You're absolutely right." I said, "Mr. President, this war could end if NATO would just be clear that it's not going to enlarge Ukraine." "You're absolutely right." Yes, nice conversation. He said exactly the opposite in public, and until today says exactly the opposite. --------------------------------------------------- *In 2001, Putin Wanted Russia to Join NATO. Two Times That We Were Ready to Join NATO. Both times we were turned down. Ukraine is the only NON-NATO nation supporting every NATO mission. In Afghanistan and Iraq Ukrainian troops are helping to support democracies. Putin says the current crisis in Ukraine is a direct result of years of aggressive NATO policies. ▶The biggest threat in the world is NATO. ▶NATO has been encircling Russia since the nineties. ▶NATO exists to solve the problems created by NATO’s existence. ▶ NATO has never defended anyone, but only attacked. ▶NATO is a military Alliance that feeds on war. ▶To justify its existence, NATO constantly needs an external enemies and conflicts. ▶The purpose of the NATO alliance is "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. ▶Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: The Casus Belli of the Ukraine War is NATO Enlargement, US Coup, CIA Operations All Over Ukraine. ▶Jeffrey Sachs on Trump: Until President Trump Says Publicly, "NATO Will NOT Enlarge," This War Will Continue. That's his JOB. The way to end this war is to say publicly, "NATO enlargement was a mistake, it was a provocation, it was a threat to Russia's security." ▶Jeffrey Sachs: Russia is not going to stop fighting as long as NATO enlargement is on the table. This is the basic reason why we are at war. ▶Prof. John Mearsheimer: NATO Expansion Was Really the Key. Ukraine was becoming a de facto member of NATO. ▶Larry C. Johnson A former CIA Officer: 30 Years of Provocation by the West, 30 Years of Western Efforts to Bring Ukraine INTO NATO, 30 Years of Using, Making, Ukraine a de FACTO Member of NATO by Virtue of the FACT That, They've Conducted More NATO Military Exercises in Ukraine, Than 24 Other NATO Countries Over the Last 30 years, so That's Remarkable for a Country That's NOT 🚨Not dissolving NATO in 1990 was a big mistake, and it’s time to fix that mistake.

🚨THE UKRAINE -RUSSIAN WAR WAS PROVOKED NATO DID NOT PROMOTE PEACE, NATO PROMOTED WARS How did this start? Zbigniew Brzezinski in the United States said, "We can surround Russia. We can weaken Russia. We can make Russia fall into pieces." He literally wrote in 1997, he said, "Oh, there'll be a confederation of three weak states, a European Russia, Siberian Russia, Far East Russia." This, this was a senior advisor to the US. They decided 30 years ago, we're gonna surround Russia in the Black Sea, we're going to weaken Russia, we're going to put our military all around Russia. They broke the nuclear balance and nuclear arms control framework in 2002. This was the worst move of all. United States walked out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. And the Russians said, "Oh. You, you wanna have a first strike? You'll attack us in a decapitation strike and then you'll use your anti-ballistic missile system to prevent deterrents." In 2002, the United States just walked out of the ABM Treaty and the Russians said, "Excuse me? What, what, what the hell are you doing? This is our balance." And it came in the context of NATO enlargement. It came in the context of the United States bombing Belgrade for 78 straight days in 1999 to break Serbia in two, but in Kosovo, that region broken apart from Serbia, to put the largest NATO military base in Southeastern Europe, "Camp Bondsteel", in that base. So, the Russians are saying, "Are you kidding? You bomb Belgrade, you expand NATO even though you promised not to do so, you walk out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the list goes on and on. You attack Iraq on completely phony pretenses, you launch a CIA operation to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, you send NATO to overthrow Gaddafi, late in, 2011, and you say NATO's gonna expand to Ukraine and to Georgia. You blame Russia for this? This was an America drunk with its power, saying we can do anything we want and with a plan, and the plan third-rate or fourth-rate or fifth-rate country or to break it was to turn Russia into a apart. On February 21st, 2014, three foreign ministers of the European Union negotiated with Mr. Yanukovych that he would stay in power and that there would be elections eight months later, and this was also agreed with President Putin. The next morning, a US-backed coup violently overthrew Yanukovych, and it took the United States a nanosecond to say, "We support the new government." Europe, because it's so filled with principles, "No, no, no. Yanukovych is president." No, of course it didn't say that. It said, "Whatever daddy said."So, daddy said that it's, now a new government brought in by a coup, and Europe suddenly couldn't even remember 24 hours that it negotiated an agreement with Yanukovych that he would stay in power. And they said, "No, no. He resigned." Oh, we don't think Russia should stay in Crimea anymore." It's been Russia's naval fleet since 1783. The coup is not a coincidence. The coup is to get Russia out of Sevastopol. That's the point. It was the reason why there was a Crimean War in 1853 when Britain and France said, "Get Russia out of the Black Sea." It was Brzezinski's idea in 1997. When Trump comes in in the first term, US pours in the military aid and builds up a million-person army, the largest in Europe actually. What happened when Russia invaded in February 24th, 2022? Within about a week, Zelenskyy said, "Okay, we can be neutral, we can be neutral." And the Ukrainians sent a note to the Russians, "Neutral. We, we don't need the NATO invasion. You stop fighting, we'll declare neutrality." I know in detail this story because I talked to the negotiators at length, and to the Turkish mediators, because a process started in Istanbul to have Ukraine and Russia sit down with each other. And on April 15th, they initialed a document which was almost complete. What happened? The United States and Britain walked in and told the Ukrainians, "No, you continue fighting." The European mainstream media blocks the most basic facts on all of this. This, war could have ended so many times it avoided entirely. Now Europe is in this unbelievable warmongering period led by the German chancellor, of all people and all countries, absolutely unpleasant, Merz, Macron, Starmer. In 2023, I had a conversation with President Macron. And I said, "Mr. President, this war came from NATO enlargement." He said, "You're absolutely right." I said, "Mr. President, this war could end if NATO would just be clear that it's not going to enlarge Ukraine." "You're absolutely right." Yes, nice conversation. He said exactly the opposite in public, and until today says exactly the opposite. --------------------------------------------------- *In 2001, Putin Wanted Russia to Join NATO. Two Times That We Were Ready to Join NATO. Both times we were turned down. Ukraine is the only NON-NATO nation supporting every NATO mission. In Afghanistan and Iraq Ukrainian troops are helping to support democracies. Putin says the current crisis in Ukraine is a direct result of years of aggressive NATO policies. ▶The biggest threat in the world is NATO. ▶NATO has been encircling Russia since the nineties. ▶NATO exists to solve the problems created by NATO’s existence. ▶ NATO has never defended anyone, but only attacked. ▶NATO is a military Alliance that feeds on war. ▶To justify its existence, NATO constantly needs an external enemies and conflicts. ▶The purpose of the NATO alliance is "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. ▶Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: The Casus Belli of the Ukraine War is NATO Enlargement, US Coup, CIA Operations All Over Ukraine. ▶Jeffrey Sachs on Trump: Until President Trump Says Publicly, "NATO Will NOT Enlarge," This War Will Continue. That's his JOB. The way to end this war is to say publicly, "NATO enlargement was a mistake, it was a provocation, it was a threat to Russia's security." ▶Jeffrey Sachs: Russia is not going to stop fighting as long as NATO enlargement is on the table. This is the basic reason why we are at war. ▶Prof. John Mearsheimer: NATO Expansion Was Really the Key. Ukraine was becoming a de facto member of NATO. ▶Larry C. Johnson A former CIA Officer: 30 Years of Provocation by the West, 30 Years of Western Efforts to Bring Ukraine INTO NATO, 30 Years of Using, Making, Ukraine a de FACTO Member of NATO by Virtue of the FACT That, They've Conducted More NATO Military Exercises in Ukraine, Than 24 Other NATO Countries Over the Last 30 years, so That's Remarkable for a Country That's NOT 🚨Not dissolving NATO in 1990 was a big mistake, and it’s time to fix that mistake.

Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil

138,585 Aufrufe • vor 10 Monaten

Trump is so far out of his depth that even he can’t lie his way out of this one. His stupidity and hubris has led him down a path from which there is now no return. Take a listen to this clip featuring Lawrence Wilkerson, retired US Army Colonel and former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson has been around the block a few times and has some bitter experience of these kinds of misadventures. The obvious question in this moment is what represents a road too far? Well I’m afraid Trump is on it wearing a new pair of his golden sneakers, he’s opened up a Pandora’s box and it’s full of geopolitical vipers. In his tiny little mind he’s said to himself, ‘I have the biggest most powerful army on the planet and Iran will comply or die,’ without a thought to the consequences. He saw opportunity for self-enrichment and bet his presidency and the Republican Party’s future on it. He always likes to say ‘in the good ole days’ when referring to wanting to make America great. In his mind, segregation and women knowing their place is his kind of golden age in which old grey white men set the rules and everyone falls into line. Times have changed, the age of gunboat diplomacy are dead I’m afraid. The very nature of war has changed. The writing has been on the wall since the Vietnam war, A conflict in which for the first time at scale, the US faced an insurgent enemy who melted into the population and then waged a relentless war of opportunity. A war where shock and awe plays no part, yet the U.S. appears to have learned nothing. Iran has 93 million people who have lived in a theocratic dictatorship for almost half a century. Trump decided to make this a holy war because he felt it was easier to sell. In his eyes, everybody hates Muslims right?. In his mind, America is now a reborn white Christian nation ready to fight a holy crusade against the evil Islamists. Mixing political power and religion has long been the holy grail of Western dictators. They believe they are doing the Lord’s work by eradicating the people that don’t worship their God. This religious fervour blinds the perpetrator to the truth that war rarely delivers the power those prosecuting it seek. Trump has followed Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’ roadmap almost to the letter, but without the ground forces. He made the same assumption that victory could be had in weeks. As a result, he’s facing the same challenges Putin faced, a population that will never give up, they are forced to adapt to meet the challenges from a traditional large military adversary. Iran could never resist the overwhelming power of the US Air Force. They knew that, so while Trump brags about destroying air defences and the Iranian Navy, all indications to an idiot like Trump that he’s winning. The truth is, there was no real intention from Iran to fight this war on America’s terms. The Iranian leadership knows this is midterms year, Trump is spending a billion dollars a day to prosecute a war. They believe they can stretch out as long as is required. In their minds, they just have to wait him out. They don’t care how many civilians get killed because every civilian and child death is not only a recruitment Ad for the upcoming insurgency, it also paints the US as a monster on the world stage. Iran has a stock of millions of sacrificial lambs to expend on a war of attrition. They know this can’t be won from the air, and the US for all its power and might don’t have enough troops to win a war on the ground. The country is massive, the terrain is challenging and the Iranians are fighting in their own backyard. I have said it many times, the US has never won a war on its own EVER. Yet Trump’s malignant narcissism leads him to believe it will be different for him. He’s wrong, his dreams of empire are about to go up in flames and he’s going to take the American economy with him. It’s the definition of insanity. 🎥 TikTok -

Trump is so far out of his depth that even he can’t lie his way out of this one. His stupidity and hubris has led him down a path from which there is now no return. Take a listen to this clip featuring Lawrence Wilkerson, retired US Army Colonel and former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson has been around the block a few times and has some bitter experience of these kinds of misadventures. The obvious question in this moment is what represents a road too far? Well I’m afraid Trump is on it wearing a new pair of his golden sneakers, he’s opened up a Pandora’s box and it’s full of geopolitical vipers. In his tiny little mind he’s said to himself, ‘I have the biggest most powerful army on the planet and Iran will comply or die,’ without a thought to the consequences. He saw opportunity for self-enrichment and bet his presidency and the Republican Party’s future on it. He always likes to say ‘in the good ole days’ when referring to wanting to make America great. In his mind, segregation and women knowing their place is his kind of golden age in which old grey white men set the rules and everyone falls into line. Times have changed, the age of gunboat diplomacy are dead I’m afraid. The very nature of war has changed. The writing has been on the wall since the Vietnam war, A conflict in which for the first time at scale, the US faced an insurgent enemy who melted into the population and then waged a relentless war of opportunity. A war where shock and awe plays no part, yet the U.S. appears to have learned nothing. Iran has 93 million people who have lived in a theocratic dictatorship for almost half a century. Trump decided to make this a holy war because he felt it was easier to sell. In his eyes, everybody hates Muslims right?. In his mind, America is now a reborn white Christian nation ready to fight a holy crusade against the evil Islamists. Mixing political power and religion has long been the holy grail of Western dictators. They believe they are doing the Lord’s work by eradicating the people that don’t worship their God. This religious fervour blinds the perpetrator to the truth that war rarely delivers the power those prosecuting it seek. Trump has followed Putin’s ‘Special Military Operation’ roadmap almost to the letter, but without the ground forces. He made the same assumption that victory could be had in weeks. As a result, he’s facing the same challenges Putin faced, a population that will never give up, they are forced to adapt to meet the challenges from a traditional large military adversary. Iran could never resist the overwhelming power of the US Air Force. They knew that, so while Trump brags about destroying air defences and the Iranian Navy, all indications to an idiot like Trump that he’s winning. The truth is, there was no real intention from Iran to fight this war on America’s terms. The Iranian leadership knows this is midterms year, Trump is spending a billion dollars a day to prosecute a war. They believe they can stretch out as long as is required. In their minds, they just have to wait him out. They don’t care how many civilians get killed because every civilian and child death is not only a recruitment Ad for the upcoming insurgency, it also paints the US as a monster on the world stage. Iran has a stock of millions of sacrificial lambs to expend on a war of attrition. They know this can’t be won from the air, and the US for all its power and might don’t have enough troops to win a war on the ground. The country is massive, the terrain is challenging and the Iranians are fighting in their own backyard. I have said it many times, the US has never won a war on its own EVER. Yet Trump’s malignant narcissism leads him to believe it will be different for him. He’s wrong, his dreams of empire are about to go up in flames and he’s going to take the American economy with him. It’s the definition of insanity. 🎥 TikTok -

𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰

102,920 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten

𝟏𝟎𝟎-𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑-𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝟒 𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐓 𝐉𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟐 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐑’𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊 Most fighters who competed at UFC Freedom 250 came with rankings, highlight reels, and social media followings. One man in the building had something else entirely: a classified engagement that the United States government kept secret for more than 70 years. Royce Williams is 100 years old. During the Korean War, on November 18, 1952, the Navy pilot engaged a formation of Soviet MiG-15 fighters in a 35-minute dogfight over the Korean peninsula. He 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 with battle damage. Because Soviet and American pilots were not supposed to be fighting each other directly, the U.S. government classified the engagement. Williams kept his silence for more than seven decades. He received the Medal of Honor for that flight in February 2026 — some 74 years after the dogfight. At UFC Freedom 250, Williams flanked UFC lightweight veteran Michael Chandler for his ceremonial walk to the White House octagon. Also at Chandler’s side: Arlington first responder Captain David Jenkinson. Chandler had been enthusiastic all week about his D.C. appearance — the broadcast call captured what everyone in the crowd was thinking when Williams walked out: “𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺, 𝘩𝘶𝘩?” A fighter entering a cage beside a man who once won a 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐊𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚 and never breathed a word about it for seven decades. 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟕𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝. 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭.

𝟏𝟎𝟎-𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑-𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝟒 𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐓 𝐉𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟐 𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐄𝐑’𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊 Most fighters who competed at UFC Freedom 250 came with rankings, highlight reels, and social media followings. One man in the building had something else entirely: a classified engagement that the United States government kept secret for more than 70 years. Royce Williams is 100 years old. During the Korean War, on November 18, 1952, the Navy pilot engaged a formation of Soviet MiG-15 fighters in a 35-minute dogfight over the Korean peninsula. He 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫 with battle damage. Because Soviet and American pilots were not supposed to be fighting each other directly, the U.S. government classified the engagement. Williams kept his silence for more than seven decades. He received the Medal of Honor for that flight in February 2026 — some 74 years after the dogfight. At UFC Freedom 250, Williams flanked UFC lightweight veteran Michael Chandler for his ceremonial walk to the White House octagon. Also at Chandler’s side: Arlington first responder Captain David Jenkinson. Chandler had been enthusiastic all week about his D.C. appearance — the broadcast call captured what everyone in the crowd was thinking when Williams walked out: “𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘺, 𝘩𝘶𝘩?” A fighter entering a cage beside a man who once won a 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭-𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐊𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚 and never breathed a word about it for seven decades. 𝐑𝐨𝐲𝐜𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟕𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝. 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐭.

M.A. Rothman

68,235 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

🚨MADURO’S JUDGMENT DAY: THE NOOSE IS TIGHTENING Fox just dropped the hammer: “Maduro is praying to Jesus.” And he should be. 11 U.S. WARSHIPS — including the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier on Earth — are now positioned in the Caribbean. Venezuela is fully encircled. Trump is inside the White House holding continuous high-level briefings. The order is ready. The strike group is waiting. The message is brutally simple: ABDICATE POWER — OR ELSE. We now know Trump did speak to Maduro. And according to Fox’s inside reporting, here’s how that desperate call went: • Maduro begged for global amnesty — Trump said no. • Maduro offered “free and fair elections” — Trump said he already lost. • Maduro asked to keep control of the military — Trump told him to pack his bags. He’s out of options. He’s out of allies. And even with a $50 MILLION U.S. narcoterrorism bounty sitting on his head, the only thing keeping him in place is fear — fear of the Cubans who run his security state, and fear of the narco networks who will kill him the moment he tries to flee. But this time, the narcos aren’t calling the shots. Trump is. He has now closed Venezuelan airspace — an escalation that only means one thing: Washington is preparing for decisive action. And look at the chessboard: • Putin won’t save him — he’s working on bigger deals with Trump. • Xi won’t save him — China won’t jeopardize trade. • Europe won’t save him — Maduro’s cocaine pipelines have flooded West Africa, France, and Germany. • The UN won’t save him — investigators already list him for torture, murder, and crimes against humanity. Maduro stole an election, unleashed gangs and migrants on the hemisphere, and turned Venezuela into a narco-terrorist hub funneling fentanyl precursors and cocaine straight into American communities. The Monroe Doctrine is back. Deterrence is back. America is back. And behind the scenes? The CIA is already operating on Venezuelan soil, preparing options for President Trump under Operation Southern Spear — a direct homeland-defense mission targeting cartel networks that have killed more Americans than every U.S. war combined. But as the pressure mounts, the sabotage begins. The Washington Post suddenly leaks a story about a “double-tap strike,” accusing Secretary Hegseth of war crimes — while Democrat Senators openly tell U.S. soldiers to disobey orders. The same people who cheered bombing campaigns in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Ukraine… …now clutch their pearls because Trump is hitting drug boats in international waters. The same political class that shrugged when Obama killed an innocent family in Kabul now screams “war crime” when Trump targets narco-terrorists. This is the setup: Leak classified intel. Manufacture a “war crimes” hoax. Undermine the mission. Protect the cartels. Damage Trump before a decisive foreign-policy victory. Even The View is calling for U.S. troops to be put on trial. But Trump already answered them with the law: interfering with military operations is punishable by up to 10 years in prison — Title 18 §2387. And make no mistake — he will enforce it. Right now, the strike group is locked on target. CIA teams are feeding intelligence. Cartel assets are being mapped. Airspace is sealed. And Maduro’s regime is collapsing from the inside. Word on the ground: He could be gone before Christmas. This is not Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. This is America’s backyard — a direct threat to the homeland. And Trump is not walking away without a win. Maduro has one choice: Leave now — or face what’s coming.

🚨MADURO’S JUDGMENT DAY: THE NOOSE IS TIGHTENING Fox just dropped the hammer: “Maduro is praying to Jesus.” And he should be. 11 U.S. WARSHIPS — including the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier on Earth — are now positioned in the Caribbean. Venezuela is fully encircled. Trump is inside the White House holding continuous high-level briefings. The order is ready. The strike group is waiting. The message is brutally simple: ABDICATE POWER — OR ELSE. We now know Trump did speak to Maduro. And according to Fox’s inside reporting, here’s how that desperate call went: • Maduro begged for global amnesty — Trump said no. • Maduro offered “free and fair elections” — Trump said he already lost. • Maduro asked to keep control of the military — Trump told him to pack his bags. He’s out of options. He’s out of allies. And even with a $50 MILLION U.S. narcoterrorism bounty sitting on his head, the only thing keeping him in place is fear — fear of the Cubans who run his security state, and fear of the narco networks who will kill him the moment he tries to flee. But this time, the narcos aren’t calling the shots. Trump is. He has now closed Venezuelan airspace — an escalation that only means one thing: Washington is preparing for decisive action. And look at the chessboard: • Putin won’t save him — he’s working on bigger deals with Trump. • Xi won’t save him — China won’t jeopardize trade. • Europe won’t save him — Maduro’s cocaine pipelines have flooded West Africa, France, and Germany. • The UN won’t save him — investigators already list him for torture, murder, and crimes against humanity. Maduro stole an election, unleashed gangs and migrants on the hemisphere, and turned Venezuela into a narco-terrorist hub funneling fentanyl precursors and cocaine straight into American communities. The Monroe Doctrine is back. Deterrence is back. America is back. And behind the scenes? The CIA is already operating on Venezuelan soil, preparing options for President Trump under Operation Southern Spear — a direct homeland-defense mission targeting cartel networks that have killed more Americans than every U.S. war combined. But as the pressure mounts, the sabotage begins. The Washington Post suddenly leaks a story about a “double-tap strike,” accusing Secretary Hegseth of war crimes — while Democrat Senators openly tell U.S. soldiers to disobey orders. The same people who cheered bombing campaigns in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Ukraine… …now clutch their pearls because Trump is hitting drug boats in international waters. The same political class that shrugged when Obama killed an innocent family in Kabul now screams “war crime” when Trump targets narco-terrorists. This is the setup: Leak classified intel. Manufacture a “war crimes” hoax. Undermine the mission. Protect the cartels. Damage Trump before a decisive foreign-policy victory. Even The View is calling for U.S. troops to be put on trial. But Trump already answered them with the law: interfering with military operations is punishable by up to 10 years in prison — Title 18 §2387. And make no mistake — he will enforce it. Right now, the strike group is locked on target. CIA teams are feeding intelligence. Cartel assets are being mapped. Airspace is sealed. And Maduro’s regime is collapsing from the inside. Word on the ground: He could be gone before Christmas. This is not Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. This is America’s backyard — a direct threat to the homeland. And Trump is not walking away without a win. Maduro has one choice: Leave now — or face what’s coming.

Jim Ferguson

115,218 Aufrufe • vor 9 Monaten

I just want to spell this out so that even a child can understand. Last night on live TV in Russia, presenters gloated about Putin’s new alignment with the US on Ukraine. One even hoping for an alliance against ‘satanic Europe’ Olga Skabeyeva known as Putin’s ‘Iron Doll’ clearly stated; “Trump does not set any conditions for Russia and Putin. Only for Zelensky and Ukraine” Just take a moment to absorb that. In an unimaginable act of betrayal. What can only be described as an American Russian puppet, has taken the decision to castrate the Ukrainian military and be complicit in the murder of women and children, in the country of an ally whose soldiers served on the battlefield of Iraq with his own. Overnight, Russians hit a Hotel in Kyiv in which both American and UK aid workers were staying. Fortunately they escaped injury, but no thanks to Trump Trump is a traitor to his country. He is compromised and as such, is a Russian asset sat behind the Resolute desk. There can be no other conclusion one can draw. This makes the Republican Party complicit in all current attacks on Ukraine and responsible for any resulting deaths. Tragically, I only hear a handful of Democrats sharing my outrage too. I am a HUGE admirer of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton but in this critical moment, their silence is frankly deafening. WHY gentlemen why? President Obama really should feel ashamed right now. In 2014 he and UK Prime Minister David Cameron reneged on the Budapest Memorandum, which gave security assurances that the U.S. and the UK would aid Ukraine in the event of aggression from Russia. Their excuse? An ‘assurance’ is NOT a ‘guarantee’. They say, ‘What’s in a word?’ Well 153,000 dead Ukrainians was what’s in that word. To add insult to injury, a felonious US President is now colluding with America’s oldest adversary to lift sanctions, pause offensive cyber operations and deny Ukraine vital intelligence. This WILL lead to the loss of life. It is beyond shameful. America seems completely oblivious to the fact that this dovetails into the theft of classified documents after Trump was dragged kicking and screaming from the White House. Not to mention the meeting Trump had with Putin in Helsinki and the meeting with Russian officials in the White House, where translators were removed from the room. So my question is, what does Trump have to do to prove he is an existential threat to US national security? This is like watching a Hollywood movie. The President of the United States has appointed a defense and security team in which his Director of National Intelligence is credibly suspected of being sympathetic to the Kremlin. And his Secretary of Defense is too dumb to recognize a threat if it smacked him in the face. A guy who would sell his country out for a blond he can knock around and a crate of whisky. What could possibly go wrong? There’s no wonder Trump ‘loves the poorly educated’. That’s one thing, but then add a Republican caucus cowering in a corner screaming, ‘Please don’t hurt us’. This defines the point at which you have created the perfect permissive environment in which to overturn 80 years of alliances and global security. Trump is a man who in business showed no loyalty to his country. He dodged the draft, persistently dodged paying his taxes and stole from his own charity. What on earth makes anyone think he has a grain of loyalty, morality or decency in this moment? His alignment with Putin is clear evidence that because of him, America is weak and less safe. Putin is now driving American foreign policy and bragging about it on Russian prime time TV. So my simple question to Republicans is this, WHAT WILL IT TAKE? What will it take to really PUT AMERICA FIRST right now? Because the U.S. is about to be abandoned by all its allies and friends all for a Russian asset to be installed in the Oval Office. Trump said looters should be shot and here he is, looting America. Make it make sense.

I just want to spell this out so that even a child can understand. Last night on live TV in Russia, presenters gloated about Putin’s new alignment with the US on Ukraine. One even hoping for an alliance against ‘satanic Europe’ Olga Skabeyeva known as Putin’s ‘Iron Doll’ clearly stated; “Trump does not set any conditions for Russia and Putin. Only for Zelensky and Ukraine” Just take a moment to absorb that. In an unimaginable act of betrayal. What can only be described as an American Russian puppet, has taken the decision to castrate the Ukrainian military and be complicit in the murder of women and children, in the country of an ally whose soldiers served on the battlefield of Iraq with his own. Overnight, Russians hit a Hotel in Kyiv in which both American and UK aid workers were staying. Fortunately they escaped injury, but no thanks to Trump Trump is a traitor to his country. He is compromised and as such, is a Russian asset sat behind the Resolute desk. There can be no other conclusion one can draw. This makes the Republican Party complicit in all current attacks on Ukraine and responsible for any resulting deaths. Tragically, I only hear a handful of Democrats sharing my outrage too. I am a HUGE admirer of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton but in this critical moment, their silence is frankly deafening. WHY gentlemen why? President Obama really should feel ashamed right now. In 2014 he and UK Prime Minister David Cameron reneged on the Budapest Memorandum, which gave security assurances that the U.S. and the UK would aid Ukraine in the event of aggression from Russia. Their excuse? An ‘assurance’ is NOT a ‘guarantee’. They say, ‘What’s in a word?’ Well 153,000 dead Ukrainians was what’s in that word. To add insult to injury, a felonious US President is now colluding with America’s oldest adversary to lift sanctions, pause offensive cyber operations and deny Ukraine vital intelligence. This WILL lead to the loss of life. It is beyond shameful. America seems completely oblivious to the fact that this dovetails into the theft of classified documents after Trump was dragged kicking and screaming from the White House. Not to mention the meeting Trump had with Putin in Helsinki and the meeting with Russian officials in the White House, where translators were removed from the room. So my question is, what does Trump have to do to prove he is an existential threat to US national security? This is like watching a Hollywood movie. The President of the United States has appointed a defense and security team in which his Director of National Intelligence is credibly suspected of being sympathetic to the Kremlin. And his Secretary of Defense is too dumb to recognize a threat if it smacked him in the face. A guy who would sell his country out for a blond he can knock around and a crate of whisky. What could possibly go wrong? There’s no wonder Trump ‘loves the poorly educated’. That’s one thing, but then add a Republican caucus cowering in a corner screaming, ‘Please don’t hurt us’. This defines the point at which you have created the perfect permissive environment in which to overturn 80 years of alliances and global security. Trump is a man who in business showed no loyalty to his country. He dodged the draft, persistently dodged paying his taxes and stole from his own charity. What on earth makes anyone think he has a grain of loyalty, morality or decency in this moment? His alignment with Putin is clear evidence that because of him, America is weak and less safe. Putin is now driving American foreign policy and bragging about it on Russian prime time TV. So my simple question to Republicans is this, WHAT WILL IT TAKE? What will it take to really PUT AMERICA FIRST right now? Because the U.S. is about to be abandoned by all its allies and friends all for a Russian asset to be installed in the Oval Office. Trump said looters should be shot and here he is, looting America. Make it make sense.

𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰

40,196 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr

Pepe Escobar (Pepe Escobar) and Zulfikar from Transition Protocol report that the Mecca Pact is moving from paper to concrete military integration. Saudi Arabia has told Trump directly to get out. Iran is ready. The petrodollar itself is now on the table. Pepe Escobar: “This is a war for oil. This is a war for an oil choke point. This is a war about an independent sovereign nation that moves energy bypassing the US dollar. This is a war to defend the petrodollar. And this is a war against existential threats to the United States — Iran, Russia and China.” Zulfikar: “Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, in furtherance of their Mecca Pact, have actually begun to take concrete steps — significant concrete steps. They have announced joint military exercises involving all three branches of the military, which are the army, the air force and the navy, and these exercises will be conducted very soon in all three countries. So this is the first step of military integration. The exercises are a first step of military integration, which is really significant. If there is going to be an involvement that invokes the military of all three countries, they have to be integrated, and this is the first step in that. So those people who did not take this pact seriously or thought that, well, this is just window dressing, blah blah blah, nothing is going to come out of it — no, no, no. Our reporting says that they are deeply committed to integrating their joint defenses so that if the death cult continues to have these wet dreams of attacking any one of them, they are not going to get very far. So that is an important part of the news. The other important part of the news is that the message to Trump from Saudi Arabia — the second phone call — was very, very significant: This is our problem, we are going to solve it, we are solving it, get the hell out of here. We don’t need you to meddle. Very clearly. So it was mentioned by Saudi Arabia in the direct phone call. He’s very direct when he talks and when he’s made up his mind. But it was backed up by the Pakistani negotiators to the people with whom they are speaking — and this is either directly with JD Vance sometimes or with his office — that we don’t want you here. The time has come for you to get out. Now, as you and I know, we are dealing with a malignant toddler. That is my definition of Trump. Another piece of news that I want to emphasize: Iran has a swarm capability of 2,000 fast boats equipped with torpedoes. 2,000 of them. This is in addition to their midget navy. This is in addition to their underground subterranean capability of attacking anybody who tries to breach the Strait of Hormuz. And in fact the word that I’m privy to announce to you from Mohsen Rezaei is that he actually wishes that the United States will make an attempt to breach the Strait of Hormuz because then that will give him the ability to sink a warship or two and he would be fully justified and that will be the final nail in the coffin of the malignant toddler’s wet dreams or delusional ideas. So the next few days — I’m not even saying a few weeks, the next few days — are extraordinarily important because if the final outcome of that is that Trump and the American empire come to the right decision to get the hell out of the region, that will be the beginning of the end of the American hegemony in the world, not just in that area. That will mean the first step towards the destruction of the petrodollar. And when the petrodollar is destroyed, the ability of the United States to simply print money and to finance its debt is going to be over. We are witnessing an extraordinary, extraordinary change in global politics, tectonic shifts; the next 5–10 years are going to be very different than the past 75 years.” This is no longer about one country or one strait. It is about the end of the system that has financed the empire for half a century. The next few days will tell.

Pepe Escobar (Pepe Escobar) and Zulfikar from Transition Protocol report that the Mecca Pact is moving from paper to concrete military integration. Saudi Arabia has told Trump directly to get out. Iran is ready. The petrodollar itself is now on the table. Pepe Escobar: “This is a war for oil. This is a war for an oil choke point. This is a war about an independent sovereign nation that moves energy bypassing the US dollar. This is a war to defend the petrodollar. And this is a war against existential threats to the United States — Iran, Russia and China.” Zulfikar: “Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, in furtherance of their Mecca Pact, have actually begun to take concrete steps — significant concrete steps. They have announced joint military exercises involving all three branches of the military, which are the army, the air force and the navy, and these exercises will be conducted very soon in all three countries. So this is the first step of military integration. The exercises are a first step of military integration, which is really significant. If there is going to be an involvement that invokes the military of all three countries, they have to be integrated, and this is the first step in that. So those people who did not take this pact seriously or thought that, well, this is just window dressing, blah blah blah, nothing is going to come out of it — no, no, no. Our reporting says that they are deeply committed to integrating their joint defenses so that if the death cult continues to have these wet dreams of attacking any one of them, they are not going to get very far. So that is an important part of the news. The other important part of the news is that the message to Trump from Saudi Arabia — the second phone call — was very, very significant: This is our problem, we are going to solve it, we are solving it, get the hell out of here. We don’t need you to meddle. Very clearly. So it was mentioned by Saudi Arabia in the direct phone call. He’s very direct when he talks and when he’s made up his mind. But it was backed up by the Pakistani negotiators to the people with whom they are speaking — and this is either directly with JD Vance sometimes or with his office — that we don’t want you here. The time has come for you to get out. Now, as you and I know, we are dealing with a malignant toddler. That is my definition of Trump. Another piece of news that I want to emphasize: Iran has a swarm capability of 2,000 fast boats equipped with torpedoes. 2,000 of them. This is in addition to their midget navy. This is in addition to their underground subterranean capability of attacking anybody who tries to breach the Strait of Hormuz. And in fact the word that I’m privy to announce to you from Mohsen Rezaei is that he actually wishes that the United States will make an attempt to breach the Strait of Hormuz because then that will give him the ability to sink a warship or two and he would be fully justified and that will be the final nail in the coffin of the malignant toddler’s wet dreams or delusional ideas. So the next few days — I’m not even saying a few weeks, the next few days — are extraordinarily important because if the final outcome of that is that Trump and the American empire come to the right decision to get the hell out of the region, that will be the beginning of the end of the American hegemony in the world, not just in that area. That will mean the first step towards the destruction of the petrodollar. And when the petrodollar is destroyed, the ability of the United States to simply print money and to finance its debt is going to be over. We are witnessing an extraordinary, extraordinary change in global politics, tectonic shifts; the next 5–10 years are going to be very different than the past 75 years.” This is no longer about one country or one strait. It is about the end of the system that has financed the empire for half a century. The next few days will tell.

🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉

19,893 Aufrufe • vor 17 Tagen

I vividly remember the day the American election results were being announced. I was flying from Toronto, Canada, via the United States to Britain. While on the plane, I wrote a number of posts on my social media platforms explaining that Donald Trump would be a tragedy not only for America, but for the rest of the world, particularly Africa. I was insulted by many Africans who supported Donald Trump and who are now remarkably quiet. That experience taught me an important lesson that many of the problems we see today, not only in governments but also in private companies and organisations, stem from a failure to understand the interconnectedness of decision-making and the world we live in. What struck me was that many of the people who attacked me were not uneducated zealots or political sycophants. Some held PhDs. Some had master’s degrees. Some were CEOs and senior executives, and many still occupy positions of significant authority and influence today. If their judgement on Donald Trump could be so profoundly wrong, then one has to ask a troubling question, if they could misjudge something so obvious and so consequential, what other mistakes are they making in the companies they run, the institutions they manage and the government departments they oversee? That is what worries me most. Their support for Donald Trump was not merely a political preference. It revealed a deeper inability to assess character, ideas, consequences and risk. It exposed how easily educated people can become captivated by personalities rather than principles, by rhetoric rather than substance. As Trevor Noah correctly observed, it was always difficult to understand why anyone would view Donald Trump as the ideal person to lead the United States, knowing full well that the President of the United States exercises enormous influence over the global economy, trade, diplomacy and security. Decisions made in Washington do not remain in Washington. They affect the entire world. Most of the things I warned about in November 2024 have come to pass. I did not predict them because I am particularly intelligent. I predicted them because Donald Trump is an open book. He has always been an open book. His worldview, his instincts, his prejudices, his methods and his priorities have never been hidden. You did not need a PhD in political science to understand who he was. You simply needed to pay attention. What concerns me is not Donald Trump himself. He was as clear as water. What concerns me is the number of serious people in serious positions of power who looked at him and saw nothing wrong. They examined the evidence, listened to the rhetoric, observed the behaviour and still concluded that he was the right person for the most powerful office on earth. That should worry all of us. Because if people can get something so fundamental, so consequential and yet so obvious completely wrong, what else are they getting wrong? What decisions are they making in boardrooms, ministries, universities, financial institutions and corporations that are shaping our lives in ways we cannot see? The consequences of poor judgement do not stop at politics. They affect economies, healthcare systems, education, investment decisions, employment opportunities and even the stability of nations. History is often shaped not by a lack of information, but by the inability of otherwise intelligent people to interpret obvious information correctly. Perhaps the greatest lesson here is that education alone is not enough. Degrees do not automatically produce wisdom. Titles do not guarantee judgement. Intelligence does not necessarily lead to discernment. The world is often governed by highly educated people who are still capable of making spectacular errors because they follow personalities instead of ideas and emotions instead of evidence. It is astonishing that there are still Africans today who support Donald Trump primarily because they believe he is a Christian and that Christians should support a Christian president. That, in itself, tells us how often people suspend reason in favour of identity, symbolism and emotion. These are not just reflections about America. They are reflections about human nature, leadership and decision-making. And they force us to ask an uncomfortable question, if so many influential people could be so wrong about something so clear, what other disasters are quietly unfolding around us because those making the decisions cannot see what is right in front of them?

I vividly remember the day the American election results were being announced. I was flying from Toronto, Canada, via the United States to Britain. While on the plane, I wrote a number of posts on my social media platforms explaining that Donald Trump would be a tragedy not only for America, but for the rest of the world, particularly Africa. I was insulted by many Africans who supported Donald Trump and who are now remarkably quiet. That experience taught me an important lesson that many of the problems we see today, not only in governments but also in private companies and organisations, stem from a failure to understand the interconnectedness of decision-making and the world we live in. What struck me was that many of the people who attacked me were not uneducated zealots or political sycophants. Some held PhDs. Some had master’s degrees. Some were CEOs and senior executives, and many still occupy positions of significant authority and influence today. If their judgement on Donald Trump could be so profoundly wrong, then one has to ask a troubling question, if they could misjudge something so obvious and so consequential, what other mistakes are they making in the companies they run, the institutions they manage and the government departments they oversee? That is what worries me most. Their support for Donald Trump was not merely a political preference. It revealed a deeper inability to assess character, ideas, consequences and risk. It exposed how easily educated people can become captivated by personalities rather than principles, by rhetoric rather than substance. As Trevor Noah correctly observed, it was always difficult to understand why anyone would view Donald Trump as the ideal person to lead the United States, knowing full well that the President of the United States exercises enormous influence over the global economy, trade, diplomacy and security. Decisions made in Washington do not remain in Washington. They affect the entire world. Most of the things I warned about in November 2024 have come to pass. I did not predict them because I am particularly intelligent. I predicted them because Donald Trump is an open book. He has always been an open book. His worldview, his instincts, his prejudices, his methods and his priorities have never been hidden. You did not need a PhD in political science to understand who he was. You simply needed to pay attention. What concerns me is not Donald Trump himself. He was as clear as water. What concerns me is the number of serious people in serious positions of power who looked at him and saw nothing wrong. They examined the evidence, listened to the rhetoric, observed the behaviour and still concluded that he was the right person for the most powerful office on earth. That should worry all of us. Because if people can get something so fundamental, so consequential and yet so obvious completely wrong, what else are they getting wrong? What decisions are they making in boardrooms, ministries, universities, financial institutions and corporations that are shaping our lives in ways we cannot see? The consequences of poor judgement do not stop at politics. They affect economies, healthcare systems, education, investment decisions, employment opportunities and even the stability of nations. History is often shaped not by a lack of information, but by the inability of otherwise intelligent people to interpret obvious information correctly. Perhaps the greatest lesson here is that education alone is not enough. Degrees do not automatically produce wisdom. Titles do not guarantee judgement. Intelligence does not necessarily lead to discernment. The world is often governed by highly educated people who are still capable of making spectacular errors because they follow personalities instead of ideas and emotions instead of evidence. It is astonishing that there are still Africans today who support Donald Trump primarily because they believe he is a Christian and that Christians should support a Christian president. That, in itself, tells us how often people suspend reason in favour of identity, symbolism and emotion. These are not just reflections about America. They are reflections about human nature, leadership and decision-making. And they force us to ask an uncomfortable question, if so many influential people could be so wrong about something so clear, what other disasters are quietly unfolding around us because those making the decisions cannot see what is right in front of them?

Hopewell Chin’ono

34,903 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

Zionist-Mafia Rubio Set to Oust Vance, Impeach Trump as BlackRock’s Merz Steals German Pensions—Soros Operative Bessent Loots U.S. Treasury While Global South Rises Against Dying Petrodollar Empire Harley Schlanger (Harley Schlanger): They’re going to set up Vance. And you know, Vance is not squeaky clean. Peter Thiel from Palantir has his hands all over Vance. But Vance was set up to follow through on the Memorandum of Understanding, which Rubio is now sabotaging. So the idea—and I got this from several people, different people in intelligence—is that Vance will be knocked out because of the failure of the attempt to have a ceasefire with Iran. Rubio will be put in as vice president, and then, after the midterm elections, Trump will be impeached. Now, that is a conspiracy theory, but it’s plausible, because the reason they want Rubio: Rubio goes back as a child to Cuban drug-pushing networks. He lived with his uncle, who was a drug pusher. When he got into Congress, who did he get in with right away? The veterans from the Bay of Pigs. Now, the Bay of Pigs, remember, was the CIA attempt to overthrow Castro. Now, furthermore, Rubio became a very close ally of Jeb Bush in Florida. And then on top of that, he has the Zionist connections. And these include billionaires like Paul Singer of Elliott Management, who calls himself a vulture capitalist, and Larry Ellison of Oracle, who was very close to Epstein. These are the Epstein billionaires. They’re the ones who pulled together the British, the Americans, the Israelis. Remember, Ehud Barak was part of the Epstein network—the former prime minister of Israel. But here’s the point, Sean: They’re trying to protect a collapsing empire. The empire is collapsing because of debt. Now, if people are quiet and accept cuts in their standard of living, they’ll be able to bail themselves out. That’s what they’ve always done. They use the Plunge Protection Team, which is another way of saying printing money or creating new credit that goes into the pockets of the swindlers, the international bankers, and is paid for out of the taxes of the average working person. And they use the wars to loot other countries. Now, what’s happened is they’re in a squeeze right now, because the nations of the Global South—the so-called developing sector nations—are now starting to say, “We want to have sovereignty.” You know, we were talking about this before, the Declaration of Independence. I was at an event with an ambassador from Ethiopia. He loves the United States. And he said, “We in Ethiopia want to be like the United States used to be, where we control our own sovereignty, our own future.” That’s the thinking of a lot of young people in Africa, in Asia, that are trying to break with the International Monetary Fund and the petrodollar empire. And who are they getting support from? Russia and China. Now, what happens in the West? We have Trump, who understands this is going on but doesn’t know what to do because he’s conflicted. He’s got these people in his cabinet: Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary. Sean, you know Bessent’s background—George Soros. So, why is Trump having a Soros operative running the Treasury? And they’re going to try and bail out the 20 or the 30—whatever it is now, $39 trillion—debt. They’re going to try and bail it out with your tax dollars. Let me just tell you what they’re doing in Germany, because this will give you a sense that the uprising that’s going to occur will be international. Merz, the chancellor of Germany, who wants more money for war against Russia, is going to try and cut the pension—the state pension fund in Germany—which will cause an explosion. But here’s what he wants to do: He wants to privatize it, turn it over to private funds to manage. What was Merz doing before he became chancellor of Germany? Head of BlackRock in Germany. So, this is the BlackRock hedge fund operation to steal the pensions, the same way they’re going to try and steal Social Security in this country. Now, will people put up with it? That’s the question. We’re seeing a blowback. You know, Merz is at 20% popularity. Starmer got driven out because of his connection to the Epstein class. Macron is basically a corpse—no support, under 10%. Now Trump is heading in that direction. If he doesn’t break with this network, he’s going to be next, and that will mean we’ll end up with Marco Rubio as president. So the rebellion is taking place internationally. Now, one of the things that happened with this Iran war is that because the Iranian people did not capitulate, they showed that the United States has hollowed out our military and that we depend on Israel’s intelligence. The Israelis told us—Barnea, the head of the Mossad, told Trump—“The Iranian government will collapse as soon as you kill the Grand Ayatollah.” Well, we just saw a funeral with 12 million people in the street. Doesn’t look like it’s collapsed. Trump was lied to. Will he learn the lesson? Has he learned from Russiagate? Has he learned from the opposition to him that you have to throw these people not only out of the cabinet but put them in jail—the Epstein crowd? And that’s where the American people come in. It’s really going to be up to us to raise a stink. And one of the things we can do is use Section 219 of the merger of the U.S. military with the Israeli military as a way to force Congress to recognize that the American people aren’t buying this anymore. So, you know, Sean, here’s the answer to your question: Is there a reason to see the glass as half full? Well, it depends on the American people. We’ve let the nation down quite a bit in recent years. We bought into the idea of entertainment and the rock-sex-drug counterculture and so on. But it’s rotten. The Epstein class shows us how rotten and corrupt this is, including the people at the top of the establishment. If we get our act together—and there are people running in the elections who are independent and not part of the Democratic and Republican parties—you know, it’s funny: some of them are leftists who oppose the Epstein class, and some are conservatives who oppose the Epstein class. I don’t really care what they call themselves. We’ve got to take this corrupt core down.

Zionist-Mafia Rubio Set to Oust Vance, Impeach Trump as BlackRock’s Merz Steals German Pensions—Soros Operative Bessent Loots U.S. Treasury While Global South Rises Against Dying Petrodollar Empire Harley Schlanger (Harley Schlanger): They’re going to set up Vance. And you know, Vance is not squeaky clean. Peter Thiel from Palantir has his hands all over Vance. But Vance was set up to follow through on the Memorandum of Understanding, which Rubio is now sabotaging. So the idea—and I got this from several people, different people in intelligence—is that Vance will be knocked out because of the failure of the attempt to have a ceasefire with Iran. Rubio will be put in as vice president, and then, after the midterm elections, Trump will be impeached. Now, that is a conspiracy theory, but it’s plausible, because the reason they want Rubio: Rubio goes back as a child to Cuban drug-pushing networks. He lived with his uncle, who was a drug pusher. When he got into Congress, who did he get in with right away? The veterans from the Bay of Pigs. Now, the Bay of Pigs, remember, was the CIA attempt to overthrow Castro. Now, furthermore, Rubio became a very close ally of Jeb Bush in Florida. And then on top of that, he has the Zionist connections. And these include billionaires like Paul Singer of Elliott Management, who calls himself a vulture capitalist, and Larry Ellison of Oracle, who was very close to Epstein. These are the Epstein billionaires. They’re the ones who pulled together the British, the Americans, the Israelis. Remember, Ehud Barak was part of the Epstein network—the former prime minister of Israel. But here’s the point, Sean: They’re trying to protect a collapsing empire. The empire is collapsing because of debt. Now, if people are quiet and accept cuts in their standard of living, they’ll be able to bail themselves out. That’s what they’ve always done. They use the Plunge Protection Team, which is another way of saying printing money or creating new credit that goes into the pockets of the swindlers, the international bankers, and is paid for out of the taxes of the average working person. And they use the wars to loot other countries. Now, what’s happened is they’re in a squeeze right now, because the nations of the Global South—the so-called developing sector nations—are now starting to say, “We want to have sovereignty.” You know, we were talking about this before, the Declaration of Independence. I was at an event with an ambassador from Ethiopia. He loves the United States. And he said, “We in Ethiopia want to be like the United States used to be, where we control our own sovereignty, our own future.” That’s the thinking of a lot of young people in Africa, in Asia, that are trying to break with the International Monetary Fund and the petrodollar empire. And who are they getting support from? Russia and China. Now, what happens in the West? We have Trump, who understands this is going on but doesn’t know what to do because he’s conflicted. He’s got these people in his cabinet: Scott Bessent, the Treasury Secretary. Sean, you know Bessent’s background—George Soros. So, why is Trump having a Soros operative running the Treasury? And they’re going to try and bail out the 20 or the 30—whatever it is now, $39 trillion—debt. They’re going to try and bail it out with your tax dollars. Let me just tell you what they’re doing in Germany, because this will give you a sense that the uprising that’s going to occur will be international. Merz, the chancellor of Germany, who wants more money for war against Russia, is going to try and cut the pension—the state pension fund in Germany—which will cause an explosion. But here’s what he wants to do: He wants to privatize it, turn it over to private funds to manage. What was Merz doing before he became chancellor of Germany? Head of BlackRock in Germany. So, this is the BlackRock hedge fund operation to steal the pensions, the same way they’re going to try and steal Social Security in this country. Now, will people put up with it? That’s the question. We’re seeing a blowback. You know, Merz is at 20% popularity. Starmer got driven out because of his connection to the Epstein class. Macron is basically a corpse—no support, under 10%. Now Trump is heading in that direction. If he doesn’t break with this network, he’s going to be next, and that will mean we’ll end up with Marco Rubio as president. So the rebellion is taking place internationally. Now, one of the things that happened with this Iran war is that because the Iranian people did not capitulate, they showed that the United States has hollowed out our military and that we depend on Israel’s intelligence. The Israelis told us—Barnea, the head of the Mossad, told Trump—“The Iranian government will collapse as soon as you kill the Grand Ayatollah.” Well, we just saw a funeral with 12 million people in the street. Doesn’t look like it’s collapsed. Trump was lied to. Will he learn the lesson? Has he learned from Russiagate? Has he learned from the opposition to him that you have to throw these people not only out of the cabinet but put them in jail—the Epstein crowd? And that’s where the American people come in. It’s really going to be up to us to raise a stink. And one of the things we can do is use Section 219 of the merger of the U.S. military with the Israeli military as a way to force Congress to recognize that the American people aren’t buying this anymore. So, you know, Sean, here’s the answer to your question: Is there a reason to see the glass as half full? Well, it depends on the American people. We’ve let the nation down quite a bit in recent years. We bought into the idea of entertainment and the rock-sex-drug counterculture and so on. But it’s rotten. The Epstein class shows us how rotten and corrupt this is, including the people at the top of the establishment. If we get our act together—and there are people running in the elections who are independent and not part of the Democratic and Republican parties—you know, it’s funny: some of them are leftists who oppose the Epstein class, and some are conservatives who oppose the Epstein class. I don’t really care what they call themselves. We’ve got to take this corrupt core down.

🅰pocalypsis 🅰pocalypseos 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 🅉

22,133 Aufrufe • vor 1 Monat

🚨The BIGGEST THREAT in the WORLD is NATO. 🚨Putin says the current crisis in Ukraine is a direct result of years of aggressive NATO policies. 🚨NATO Didn't Want Russia Because NATO Wanted a WAR With Russia 🚨From 2001 all the way to 2022, 21 years, NATO moved inexorably East, surrounding Russia. 🚨The Ukraine - Russian War Was Provoked! 🚨Tucker Carlson: Putin did not start this war. 🚨This was not, "An unprovoked invasion." "Putin just randomly went over the line into Eastern Ukraine and stole these oblasts. He stole this land that belonged to another people." 🚨That's a lie, and it's not a defense of Putin to call it everybody knows it now. The truth is that in 2001, Putin, same guy, same leader, asked the Bush Administration, in person, directly to George W. Bush, 🚨"I would like to join NATO. I would like to join the defensive alliance that exists to keep me from moving West into Western Europe." 🚨PUTIN: Two Times That We Were Ready to Join NATO. Both times we were turned down. 🚨Ukraine is the only NON-NATO nation supporting every NATO mission. In Afghanistan and Iraq Ukrainian troops are helping to support democracies. ▶NATO has been encircling Russia since the nineties. ▶NATO exists to solve the problems created by NATO’s existence. ▶ NATO has never defended anyone, but only attacked. ▶NATO is a military Alliance that feeds on war. ▶To justify its existence, NATO constantly needs an external enemies and conflicts. ▶The purpose of the NATO alliance is "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. ▶Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: The Casus Belli of the Ukraine War is NATO Enlargement, US Coup, CIA Operations All Over Ukraine. ▶Jeffrey Sachs on Trump: Until President Trump Says Publicly, "NATO Will NOT Enlarge," This War Will Continue. That's his JOB. The way to end this war is to say publicly, "NATO enlargement was a mistake, it was a provocation, it was a threat to Russia's security." ▶Jeffrey Sachs: Russia is not going to stop fighting as long as NATO enlargement is on the table. This is the basic reason why we are at war. ▶Prof. John Mearsheimer: NATO Expansion Was Really the Key. Ukraine was becoming a de facto member of NATO. ▶Larry C. Johnson A Former CIA Officer: 30 Years of Provocation by the West, 30 Years of Western Efforts to Bring Ukraine INTO NATO, 30 Years of Using, Making, Ukraine a de FACTO Member of NATO by Virtue of the FACT That, They've Conducted More NATO Military Exercises in Ukraine, Than 24 Other NATO Countries Over the Last 30 years, so That's Remarkable for a Country That's NOT 🚨Not dissolving NATO in 1990 was a big mistake, and it’s time to fix that mistake. The film tells the story of the emergence of the Western military alliance. NATO's true goal was "to keep the Russians out of Europe," as stated by the alliance's first Secretary General, Hastings Ismay. Officially, however, the bloc was declared to ensure global security in the post-war world. In 1955, in opposition to NATO, the USSR and its allies created the Warsaw Pact. It was the only restraining force standing in the way of the alliance. For nearly half a century, a fragile peace prevailed in Europe. After the collapse of the USSR, the North Atlantic bloc carried out dozens of destructive military operations in various parts of the world, systematically advancing toward Russia's borders by admitting new members. Yugoslavia became the first major "testing ground." Under the guise of a "humanitarian operation," the US dropped thousands of bombs on civilian homes, bridges, and factories. NATO members poisoned people with depleted uranium and sold their organs. The invasion of the Middle East by the United States, NATO's main ally, in Syria, Libya, and Iraq has reduced cities to rubble, leaving survivors homeless, without a homeland, and without a future. In the 1980s and 1990s, Western leaders verbally assured Moscow that NATO's military infrastructure would not advance eastward. In practice, the alliance's borders gradually moved closer to Russia. NATO deployed more and more missiles in Eastern European countries. Today, the alliance is discussing the right to "preventive action"—the ability to attack Russia without pretext or a declaration of war. The proposal was made by Germany, the country responsible for starting the First and Second World Wars. The nuclear threat no longer seems abstract.

🚨The BIGGEST THREAT in the WORLD is NATO. 🚨Putin says the current crisis in Ukraine is a direct result of years of aggressive NATO policies. 🚨NATO Didn't Want Russia Because NATO Wanted a WAR With Russia 🚨From 2001 all the way to 2022, 21 years, NATO moved inexorably East, surrounding Russia. 🚨The Ukraine - Russian War Was Provoked! 🚨Tucker Carlson: Putin did not start this war. 🚨This was not, "An unprovoked invasion." "Putin just randomly went over the line into Eastern Ukraine and stole these oblasts. He stole this land that belonged to another people." 🚨That's a lie, and it's not a defense of Putin to call it everybody knows it now. The truth is that in 2001, Putin, same guy, same leader, asked the Bush Administration, in person, directly to George W. Bush, 🚨"I would like to join NATO. I would like to join the defensive alliance that exists to keep me from moving West into Western Europe." 🚨PUTIN: Two Times That We Were Ready to Join NATO. Both times we were turned down. 🚨Ukraine is the only NON-NATO nation supporting every NATO mission. In Afghanistan and Iraq Ukrainian troops are helping to support democracies. ▶NATO has been encircling Russia since the nineties. ▶NATO exists to solve the problems created by NATO’s existence. ▶ NATO has never defended anyone, but only attacked. ▶NATO is a military Alliance that feeds on war. ▶To justify its existence, NATO constantly needs an external enemies and conflicts. ▶The purpose of the NATO alliance is "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down. ▶Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: The Casus Belli of the Ukraine War is NATO Enlargement, US Coup, CIA Operations All Over Ukraine. ▶Jeffrey Sachs on Trump: Until President Trump Says Publicly, "NATO Will NOT Enlarge," This War Will Continue. That's his JOB. The way to end this war is to say publicly, "NATO enlargement was a mistake, it was a provocation, it was a threat to Russia's security." ▶Jeffrey Sachs: Russia is not going to stop fighting as long as NATO enlargement is on the table. This is the basic reason why we are at war. ▶Prof. John Mearsheimer: NATO Expansion Was Really the Key. Ukraine was becoming a de facto member of NATO. ▶Larry C. Johnson A Former CIA Officer: 30 Years of Provocation by the West, 30 Years of Western Efforts to Bring Ukraine INTO NATO, 30 Years of Using, Making, Ukraine a de FACTO Member of NATO by Virtue of the FACT That, They've Conducted More NATO Military Exercises in Ukraine, Than 24 Other NATO Countries Over the Last 30 years, so That's Remarkable for a Country That's NOT 🚨Not dissolving NATO in 1990 was a big mistake, and it’s time to fix that mistake. The film tells the story of the emergence of the Western military alliance. NATO's true goal was "to keep the Russians out of Europe," as stated by the alliance's first Secretary General, Hastings Ismay. Officially, however, the bloc was declared to ensure global security in the post-war world. In 1955, in opposition to NATO, the USSR and its allies created the Warsaw Pact. It was the only restraining force standing in the way of the alliance. For nearly half a century, a fragile peace prevailed in Europe. After the collapse of the USSR, the North Atlantic bloc carried out dozens of destructive military operations in various parts of the world, systematically advancing toward Russia's borders by admitting new members. Yugoslavia became the first major "testing ground." Under the guise of a "humanitarian operation," the US dropped thousands of bombs on civilian homes, bridges, and factories. NATO members poisoned people with depleted uranium and sold their organs. The invasion of the Middle East by the United States, NATO's main ally, in Syria, Libya, and Iraq has reduced cities to rubble, leaving survivors homeless, without a homeland, and without a future. In the 1980s and 1990s, Western leaders verbally assured Moscow that NATO's military infrastructure would not advance eastward. In practice, the alliance's borders gradually moved closer to Russia. NATO deployed more and more missiles in Eastern European countries. Today, the alliance is discussing the right to "preventive action"—the ability to attack Russia without pretext or a declaration of war. The proposal was made by Germany, the country responsible for starting the First and Second World Wars. The nuclear threat no longer seems abstract.

Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil

48,105 Aufrufe • vor 2 Monaten

The CIA, George SOROS, and the BIDEN administration's connections to the NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTER. Why are there Google Trends searches of the shooter that spike hours BEFORE the shooting even happened? Rahmanullah Lakanwal settled in Washington State from Afghanistan through the "World Relief" organization, which receives U.S. taxpayer dollars through USAID. This same NGO works with pro-migration and open border groups that are heavily backed by George Soros, who also backed the transformation of Evangelical churches, which is connected to the housing efforts through the World Relief organization. Rahmanullah Lakanwal is reportedly a former member of the CIA-backed Kandahar Strike Force, based on a leaked ID and John Ratcliffe saying on Fox, that Lakanwal had CIA “partner force” ties in Kandahar from declassified briefings. Google search results for Rahmanullah Lakanwal spiked in the DC area on November 20, which is 6 full days before the attack, and then again multiple times on the morning of the attack. Digging deeper into the background and military experience of the shooter: The Afghan refugee fought in the late days of the U.S. war there as part of a “Zero Unit,” a paramilitary force that worked with the C.I.A. The units were known for their brutality and labeled “death squads” by human rights groups. The suspect, identified by federal officials as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, grew up in a village in the eastern province of Khost. A childhood friend who asked to be identified only as Muhammad because he feared Taliban reprisals said that Mr. Lakanwal had suffered from mental health issues and was disturbed by the casualties his unit had caused. “He would tell me and our friends that their military operations were very tough, their job was very difficult, and they were under a lot of pressure,” Muhammad said. Members of the Zero units were among the thousands of Afghans relocated to the United States under the Biden administration after the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021, which allowed the Taliban to retake control of the country. Federal officials said Mr. Lakanwal was part of that program and had resettled with his family in Washington State. “The Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including C.I.A., as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” the C.I.A. director, John Ratcliffe, said in a statement, adding that the accused assailant “should have never been allowed to come here.” An Afghan intelligence officer, speaking anonymously because he wasn’t allowed to comment publicly, confirmed that Mr. Lakanwal had served in Kandahar in one of the Zero Units, which were formally part of the Afghan intelligence service. The units had been trained for nighttime raids targeting suspected Taliban members and were accused by human rights groups of widespread killings of civilians. The intelligence officer said that one of Mr. Lakanwal’s brothers was the deputy commander of the Zero Unit in Kandahar, which was known as 03. Muhammad, Mr. Lakanwal’s childhood friend said he had last seen him a few weeks before the Taliban takeover in 2021, when Mr. Lakanwal came to Khost to marry his second wife. He had started smoking weed, Muhammad said, and ended up divorcing his new wife a few days after the wedding. Muhammed recalled that Mr. Lakanwal told him: “When he saw blood, bodies, and the wounded, he could not tolerate it, and it put a lot of pressure on his mind.” Taliban officials denounced the actions of the Zero Units during the war. “After that, they fled to the United States in search of a better life,” Mr. Badloon said in a social media post. “These traitors still do not let the Afghan people live in peace.” The C.I.A. has denied the allegations of brutality among the units, saying they were the result of Taliban propaganda. The question remains: Was this a terror attack or an inside job?

The CIA, George SOROS, and the BIDEN administration's connections to the NATIONAL GUARD SHOOTER. Why are there Google Trends searches of the shooter that spike hours BEFORE the shooting even happened? Rahmanullah Lakanwal settled in Washington State from Afghanistan through the "World Relief" organization, which receives U.S. taxpayer dollars through USAID. This same NGO works with pro-migration and open border groups that are heavily backed by George Soros, who also backed the transformation of Evangelical churches, which is connected to the housing efforts through the World Relief organization. Rahmanullah Lakanwal is reportedly a former member of the CIA-backed Kandahar Strike Force, based on a leaked ID and John Ratcliffe saying on Fox, that Lakanwal had CIA “partner force” ties in Kandahar from declassified briefings. Google search results for Rahmanullah Lakanwal spiked in the DC area on November 20, which is 6 full days before the attack, and then again multiple times on the morning of the attack. Digging deeper into the background and military experience of the shooter: The Afghan refugee fought in the late days of the U.S. war there as part of a “Zero Unit,” a paramilitary force that worked with the C.I.A. The units were known for their brutality and labeled “death squads” by human rights groups. The suspect, identified by federal officials as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, grew up in a village in the eastern province of Khost. A childhood friend who asked to be identified only as Muhammad because he feared Taliban reprisals said that Mr. Lakanwal had suffered from mental health issues and was disturbed by the casualties his unit had caused. “He would tell me and our friends that their military operations were very tough, their job was very difficult, and they were under a lot of pressure,” Muhammad said. Members of the Zero units were among the thousands of Afghans relocated to the United States under the Biden administration after the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops in August 2021, which allowed the Taliban to retake control of the country. Federal officials said Mr. Lakanwal was part of that program and had resettled with his family in Washington State. “The Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 due to his prior work with the U.S. government, including C.I.A., as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” the C.I.A. director, John Ratcliffe, said in a statement, adding that the accused assailant “should have never been allowed to come here.” An Afghan intelligence officer, speaking anonymously because he wasn’t allowed to comment publicly, confirmed that Mr. Lakanwal had served in Kandahar in one of the Zero Units, which were formally part of the Afghan intelligence service. The units had been trained for nighttime raids targeting suspected Taliban members and were accused by human rights groups of widespread killings of civilians. The intelligence officer said that one of Mr. Lakanwal’s brothers was the deputy commander of the Zero Unit in Kandahar, which was known as 03. Muhammad, Mr. Lakanwal’s childhood friend said he had last seen him a few weeks before the Taliban takeover in 2021, when Mr. Lakanwal came to Khost to marry his second wife. He had started smoking weed, Muhammad said, and ended up divorcing his new wife a few days after the wedding. Muhammed recalled that Mr. Lakanwal told him: “When he saw blood, bodies, and the wounded, he could not tolerate it, and it put a lot of pressure on his mind.” Taliban officials denounced the actions of the Zero Units during the war. “After that, they fled to the United States in search of a better life,” Mr. Badloon said in a social media post. “These traitors still do not let the Afghan people live in peace.” The C.I.A. has denied the allegations of brutality among the units, saying they were the result of Taliban propaganda. The question remains: Was this a terror attack or an inside job?

The SCIF

183,580 Aufrufe • vor 9 Monaten

Listen, if you’re tired of the diplomatic fluff and want someone to actually call out the chaos, you need to hear this. Claude Malhuret just went absolutely scorched-earth in the French Senate, and frankly, it’s a masterclass in truth-telling. He doesn't hold back on the "madmen" wrecking the global order—slamming putin for his relentless, bloody ego-trip in Ukraine and dragging Trump’s new "circus" of a cabinet for treating foreign policy like a private piggy bank. Malhuret is basically the only adult left in the room, cutting through the MAGA noise and the Kremlin’s lies with the kind of sharp, witty clarity we desperately need right now. It’s brutal, it’s honest, and it’s a total must-watch. Speech by Claude Malhuret regarding the situation in the Near and Middle East: "Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen of the Cabinet, in February 2022, a dangerous madman drunk on grandeur lit a fuse in Ukraine that blew up a powder keg and disrupted the world order. The war was supposed to last a week. It is now entering its fifth year. In February 2026, another dangerous madman lit another fuse in the Near East that once again threatens international balance. Was that war also supposed to last a week? One month later, the whole world is asking: 'What is going to happen?' The simple, short, and precise answer is this: God only knows. A year ago in this very place, I compared the Trump presidency to the court of Nero. I was wrong; it is a 'Court of Miracles.' An anti-vax former heroin addict as Secretary of Health; a climate skeptic as Secretary of Econology; an alcoholic TV host as Secretary of Defense; a former agent of Qatar as Attorney General; a putin groupie as National Security Advisor. A Turkish proverb says: 'When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king; the palace becomes a circus.' This 'fine team' decided to create a competitor to the UN. Since his Peace Council has existed, Trump has launched more military strikes than Biden did during his entire term. Every time an internal scandal resurfaces, bombs explode somewhere in the world as a diversion. Bomb more to gain more. There isn't a country where Trump hasn't taken advantage of the situation to enrich himself, never forgetting his family: a private Boeing gifted by Qatar, investments in all Gulf projects or elsewhere, manipulation of stock market prices benefiting a few insiders. A single one of these conflicts of interest would have triggered an immediate impeachment procedure here, but we are not here—we are in MAGA America: the conduct of public affairs at the service of private interests. After the customs duties, Greenland, the abandonment of Ukraine, the humiliation of allies, the ineffective back-and-forth in Venezuela and so many others, a new senseless adventure begins. Let me be clearly understood: I am the last to complain about the decapitation of the Mullahs' regime and the first to demand freedom for the Iranian people. But what is the strategy to achieve it? And have the collateral damages, including for the Iranians, been measured? The answer is: there is no strategy, and collateral damages are written off as losses. Just as in January, when Trump called on Iranians to take to the streets, only to leave them to be massacred by the Basij. After the pretext of an 'imminent' Iranian atomic bomb—contradicted by the Director of American Intelligence herself—and then the argument for regime change, it is Marco Rubio who finally let the cat out of the bag: we went in because we followed Netanyahu. In other words, we have no objective of our own. Trump ignored the warnings of the few who had the courage to tell him what would obviously happen: the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, the extension of the war to the entire Near East, and finally the global repercussions. 1/3

Listen, if you’re tired of the diplomatic fluff and want someone to actually call out the chaos, you need to hear this. Claude Malhuret just went absolutely scorched-earth in the French Senate, and frankly, it’s a masterclass in truth-telling. He doesn't hold back on the "madmen" wrecking the global order—slamming putin for his relentless, bloody ego-trip in Ukraine and dragging Trump’s new "circus" of a cabinet for treating foreign policy like a private piggy bank. Malhuret is basically the only adult left in the room, cutting through the MAGA noise and the Kremlin’s lies with the kind of sharp, witty clarity we desperately need right now. It’s brutal, it’s honest, and it’s a total must-watch. Speech by Claude Malhuret regarding the situation in the Near and Middle East: "Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen of the Cabinet, in February 2022, a dangerous madman drunk on grandeur lit a fuse in Ukraine that blew up a powder keg and disrupted the world order. The war was supposed to last a week. It is now entering its fifth year. In February 2026, another dangerous madman lit another fuse in the Near East that once again threatens international balance. Was that war also supposed to last a week? One month later, the whole world is asking: 'What is going to happen?' The simple, short, and precise answer is this: God only knows. A year ago in this very place, I compared the Trump presidency to the court of Nero. I was wrong; it is a 'Court of Miracles.' An anti-vax former heroin addict as Secretary of Health; a climate skeptic as Secretary of Econology; an alcoholic TV host as Secretary of Defense; a former agent of Qatar as Attorney General; a putin groupie as National Security Advisor. A Turkish proverb says: 'When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn't become a king; the palace becomes a circus.' This 'fine team' decided to create a competitor to the UN. Since his Peace Council has existed, Trump has launched more military strikes than Biden did during his entire term. Every time an internal scandal resurfaces, bombs explode somewhere in the world as a diversion. Bomb more to gain more. There isn't a country where Trump hasn't taken advantage of the situation to enrich himself, never forgetting his family: a private Boeing gifted by Qatar, investments in all Gulf projects or elsewhere, manipulation of stock market prices benefiting a few insiders. A single one of these conflicts of interest would have triggered an immediate impeachment procedure here, but we are not here—we are in MAGA America: the conduct of public affairs at the service of private interests. After the customs duties, Greenland, the abandonment of Ukraine, the humiliation of allies, the ineffective back-and-forth in Venezuela and so many others, a new senseless adventure begins. Let me be clearly understood: I am the last to complain about the decapitation of the Mullahs' regime and the first to demand freedom for the Iranian people. But what is the strategy to achieve it? And have the collateral damages, including for the Iranians, been measured? The answer is: there is no strategy, and collateral damages are written off as losses. Just as in January, when Trump called on Iranians to take to the streets, only to leave them to be massacred by the Basij. After the pretext of an 'imminent' Iranian atomic bomb—contradicted by the Director of American Intelligence herself—and then the argument for regime change, it is Marco Rubio who finally let the cat out of the bag: we went in because we followed Netanyahu. In other words, we have no objective of our own. Trump ignored the warnings of the few who had the courage to tell him what would obviously happen: the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, the extension of the war to the entire Near East, and finally the global repercussions. 1/3

Yasmina

91,064 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten

Don't believe what some say in the news about the Memorial. Here is what President Woodrow Wilson said on Dedication Day June 4, 1914 | Arlington National Cemetery | Dedication Day | Reconciliation Memorial I assure you that I am profoundly aware of the solemn significance of the thing that has now taken place. The Daughters of the Confederacy have presented a memorial of their dead to the Government of the United States. I hope that you have noted the history of the conception of this idea. It was suggested by a President of the United States who had himself been a distinguished officer in the Union Army. It was authorized by an act of Congress of the United States. The corner-stone of the monument was laid by a President of the United States elevated to his position by the votes of the party which had chiefly prided itself upon sustaining the war for the Union, and who, while Secretary of War, had himself given authority to erect it. And, now, it has fallen to my lot to accept in the name of the great Government, which I am privileged for the time to represent, this emblem of a reunited people. I am not so much happy as proud to participate in this capacity on such an occasion: proud that I should represent such a people. Am I mistaken, ladies and gentlemen, in supposing that nothing of this sort could have occurred in anything but a democracy? The people of a democracy are not related to their rulers as subjects are related to a government. They are themselves the sovereign authority, and as they are neighbors of each other, quickened by the same influences and moved by the same motives, they can understand each other. They are shot through with some of the deepest and profoundest instincts of human sympathy. They choose their governments; they select their rulers; they live their own life, and they will not have that life disturbed and discolored by fraternal misunderstandings. I know that a reuniting of spirits like this can take place more quickly in our time than in any other because men are now united by an easier transmission of those influences which make up the foundations of peace and of mutual understanding, but no process can work these effects unless there is a conducting medium. The conducting medium in this instance is the united heart of a great people. I am not going to detain you by trying to repeat any of the eloquent thoughts which have moved us this afternoon, for I rejoice in the simplicity of the task which is assigned to me. My privilege is this, ladies and gentlemen: To declare this chapter in the history of the United States closed and ended, and I bid you turn with me with your faces to the future, quickened by the memories of the past, but with nothing to do with the contests of the past, knowing, as we have shed our blood upon opposite sides, we now face and admire one another. I do not know how many years ago it was that the Century Dictionary was published, but I remember one day in the Century Cyclopedia of Names I had occasion to turn to the name of Robert E. Lee, and I found him there in that book published in New York City simply described as a great American general. The generosity of our judgments did not begin to-day. The generosity of our judgment was made up soon after this great struggle was over. Men came and sat together again in the Congress and united in all the efforts of peace and of government, and our solemn duty is to see that each one of us is in his own consciousness and in his own conduct a replica of this great reunited people. It is our duty and our privilege to be like the country we represent and, speaking no word of malice, no word of criticism even, stand shoulder to shoulder to lift the burdens of mankind in the future and show the paths of freedom to all the world. Please consider reposting. Thank you. @SecDef Pete Hegseth Christopher Bedford The Associated Press Brion McClanahan

Don't believe what some say in the news about the Memorial. Here is what President Woodrow Wilson said on Dedication Day June 4, 1914 | Arlington National Cemetery | Dedication Day | Reconciliation Memorial I assure you that I am profoundly aware of the solemn significance of the thing that has now taken place. The Daughters of the Confederacy have presented a memorial of their dead to the Government of the United States. I hope that you have noted the history of the conception of this idea. It was suggested by a President of the United States who had himself been a distinguished officer in the Union Army. It was authorized by an act of Congress of the United States. The corner-stone of the monument was laid by a President of the United States elevated to his position by the votes of the party which had chiefly prided itself upon sustaining the war for the Union, and who, while Secretary of War, had himself given authority to erect it. And, now, it has fallen to my lot to accept in the name of the great Government, which I am privileged for the time to represent, this emblem of a reunited people. I am not so much happy as proud to participate in this capacity on such an occasion: proud that I should represent such a people. Am I mistaken, ladies and gentlemen, in supposing that nothing of this sort could have occurred in anything but a democracy? The people of a democracy are not related to their rulers as subjects are related to a government. They are themselves the sovereign authority, and as they are neighbors of each other, quickened by the same influences and moved by the same motives, they can understand each other. They are shot through with some of the deepest and profoundest instincts of human sympathy. They choose their governments; they select their rulers; they live their own life, and they will not have that life disturbed and discolored by fraternal misunderstandings. I know that a reuniting of spirits like this can take place more quickly in our time than in any other because men are now united by an easier transmission of those influences which make up the foundations of peace and of mutual understanding, but no process can work these effects unless there is a conducting medium. The conducting medium in this instance is the united heart of a great people. I am not going to detain you by trying to repeat any of the eloquent thoughts which have moved us this afternoon, for I rejoice in the simplicity of the task which is assigned to me. My privilege is this, ladies and gentlemen: To declare this chapter in the history of the United States closed and ended, and I bid you turn with me with your faces to the future, quickened by the memories of the past, but with nothing to do with the contests of the past, knowing, as we have shed our blood upon opposite sides, we now face and admire one another. I do not know how many years ago it was that the Century Dictionary was published, but I remember one day in the Century Cyclopedia of Names I had occasion to turn to the name of Robert E. Lee, and I found him there in that book published in New York City simply described as a great American general. The generosity of our judgments did not begin to-day. The generosity of our judgment was made up soon after this great struggle was over. Men came and sat together again in the Congress and united in all the efforts of peace and of government, and our solemn duty is to see that each one of us is in his own consciousness and in his own conduct a replica of this great reunited people. It is our duty and our privilege to be like the country we represent and, speaking no word of malice, no word of criticism even, stand shoulder to shoulder to lift the burdens of mankind in the future and show the paths of freedom to all the world. Please consider reposting. Thank you. @SecDef Pete Hegseth Christopher Bedford The Associated Press Brion McClanahan

Defend Arlington

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𝐕𝐃𝐇: 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔. Victor Davis Hanson just did what no one in legacy media will do. He looked at the Iran war empirically. The verdict isn't close. Iran — 𝟗𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, the largest military power in the Middle East by every measure, feared by the Gulf monarchies and Europeans alike — has just suffered one of the most lopsided asymmetric defeats in modern history. Hanson: "𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵." The scorecard: Iran has lost 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 — possibly 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 — in a half-century of investment in missiles, drones, submarines, and capital ships. Gone. Their command and control is "𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳." Nobody — not the theocracy, not the IRGC, not the political class, not the army — knows who's actually in charge. They're afraid of each other. They're afraid to look soft. And they're afraid that cutting a deal means "𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦." Meanwhile, the American left spent one day calling Trump a warmonger and a "𝘏𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦." The next day, after he announced negotiations, they called him a "𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘰" — a Neville Chamberlain, a Jimmy Carter. Hanson nailed the pathology. They don't analyze the war empirically. They analyze it politically. In his words, Tom Friedman and Bill Kristol "𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱." 𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 are in that theater right now. Risking their lives to make sure Iran never puts a nuclear-tipped missile on Tel Aviv, London, or eventually Chicago. And half the political class is 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 because of who's in the Oval Office. Read that again. And the losers don't stop at Tehran. 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚: no more Venezuela. No more Latin America. No more Middle East. Assad is gone. The drone pipeline with Iran is severed. Bogged down in Ukraine, bleeding over a million and a half casualties. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚: took 80 percent of all Iranian oil. That pipeline is now contingent on the United States. And Beijing just watched America broadcast to the world that it's about to mass-produce a half-million to a million drones. Any fantasy of crossing 110 nautical miles to take Taiwan just got a lot more expensive. 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞, in Hanson's words, is "𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳." We asked them for bases and airspace. That was it. Spain closed its embassy in Israel — "𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵." France wouldn't let us use its airpower or clean up H-z-b in Lebanon, its own post-colonial responsibility. Italy wouldn't let our bombers land in Sicily. The United Kingdom — the nation that built the Royal Navy — "𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘳" to protect its own base in Cyprus. Turkey, a NATO member, is openly siding with Iran and threatening a NATO partner, Israel. Hanson's verdict: "𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘈𝘛𝘖, 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺." Going forward, the United States will pick and choose which NATO members are actually worth the alliance. The rest are "𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦." And the Strait of Hormuz? The left spent two weeks shrieking that closure would end the world. Reality: it carries 𝟐𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 of world oil, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝟖𝟎. The Saudis are expanding their Red Sea pipeline. The Emirates are expanding theirs. A pipeline across the desert through Jordan to Haifa is on the table. Within a few years, the Gulf "𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯." Their leverage becomes their liability. If the war ends in two or three weeks, Hanson estimates seven months to economic recovery. Then comes the realization. Iran is not threatening the Middle East. Iran has no ballistic missile threat. Iran has no immediate path to a nuclear weapon. Iran has no military. Its command and control is wiped out. Its population is stewing. "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭." Not the next day. Not the next month. But within months — or within two years, like the Soviet Union — regime change. This war was fought on Western American terms. No Fallujah. No house-to-house in Taji. No villages in Afghanistan where you can't tell friend from enemy. The asymmetry — by design — was total. The 24-hour news cycle will keep shrieking. The Democrat-media borg will keep cycling through whichever narrative hurts Trump most that morning. But the map has already been redrawn. 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝. 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬.

𝐕𝐃𝐇: 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘. 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐖𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔. Victor Davis Hanson just did what no one in legacy media will do. He looked at the Iran war empirically. The verdict isn't close. Iran — 𝟗𝟑 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, the largest military power in the Middle East by every measure, feared by the Gulf monarchies and Europeans alike — has just suffered one of the most lopsided asymmetric defeats in modern history. Hanson: "𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘢𝘳, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵." The scorecard: Iran has lost 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 — possibly 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 — in a half-century of investment in missiles, drones, submarines, and capital ships. Gone. Their command and control is "𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘳." Nobody — not the theocracy, not the IRGC, not the political class, not the army — knows who's actually in charge. They're afraid of each other. They're afraid to look soft. And they're afraid that cutting a deal means "𝘸𝘦'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦." Meanwhile, the American left spent one day calling Trump a warmonger and a "𝘏𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦." The next day, after he announced negotiations, they called him a "𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘰" — a Neville Chamberlain, a Jimmy Carter. Hanson nailed the pathology. They don't analyze the war empirically. They analyze it politically. In his words, Tom Friedman and Bill Kristol "𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘥 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱." 𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 are in that theater right now. Risking their lives to make sure Iran never puts a nuclear-tipped missile on Tel Aviv, London, or eventually Chicago. And half the political class is 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 because of who's in the Oval Office. Read that again. And the losers don't stop at Tehran. 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚: no more Venezuela. No more Latin America. No more Middle East. Assad is gone. The drone pipeline with Iran is severed. Bogged down in Ukraine, bleeding over a million and a half casualties. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚: took 80 percent of all Iranian oil. That pipeline is now contingent on the United States. And Beijing just watched America broadcast to the world that it's about to mass-produce a half-million to a million drones. Any fantasy of crossing 110 nautical miles to take Taiwan just got a lot more expensive. 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞, in Hanson's words, is "𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳." We asked them for bases and airspace. That was it. Spain closed its embassy in Israel — "𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴, 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵." France wouldn't let us use its airpower or clean up H-z-b in Lebanon, its own post-colonial responsibility. Italy wouldn't let our bombers land in Sicily. The United Kingdom — the nation that built the Royal Navy — "𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘳" to protect its own base in Cyprus. Turkey, a NATO member, is openly siding with Iran and threatening a NATO partner, Israel. Hanson's verdict: "𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘈𝘛𝘖, 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺." Going forward, the United States will pick and choose which NATO members are actually worth the alliance. The rest are "𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦." And the Strait of Hormuz? The left spent two weeks shrieking that closure would end the world. Reality: it carries 𝟐𝟎 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 of world oil, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝟖𝟎. The Saudis are expanding their Red Sea pipeline. The Emirates are expanding theirs. A pipeline across the desert through Jordan to Haifa is on the table. Within a few years, the Gulf "𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯." Their leverage becomes their liability. If the war ends in two or three weeks, Hanson estimates seven months to economic recovery. Then comes the realization. Iran is not threatening the Middle East. Iran has no ballistic missile threat. Iran has no immediate path to a nuclear weapon. Iran has no military. Its command and control is wiped out. Its population is stewing. "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘯 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘭." Not the next day. Not the next month. But within months — or within two years, like the Soviet Union — regime change. This war was fought on Western American terms. No Fallujah. No house-to-house in Taji. No villages in Afghanistan where you can't tell friend from enemy. The asymmetry — by design — was total. The 24-hour news cycle will keep shrieking. The Democrat-media borg will keep cycling through whichever narrative hurts Trump most that morning. But the map has already been redrawn. 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐝. 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝. 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬.

M.A. Rothman

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