Strait Shooter
In between posting that “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F-ckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH. Praise be to Allah” and announcing that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the president of the most powerful country in the world stood next to the Easter Bunny and shared some thoughts about Iran. Donald Trump may not have yet been able to bomb open the Strait of Hormuz, but he has blown his strait jacket clean off. We are in uncharted territory, with an unhinged president repeatedly threatening war crimes and a cast of enablers unwilling to stand up to the monster they helped create. I’m no expert on mental illness, even though I’ve been forced to confront its symptoms plastered across the news since that fateful Trump Tower escalator ride. But I’d imagine that if you were a cornered, frustrated, attention-addicted malignant narcissist with flourishing sociopathic tendencies, you’d be getting off bigly right now as a whole civilization waits to see if you’ll destroy it. I hope this manifestation of unbridled symptoms proves to be bluster or leads to some kind of deal and that the civilization in question does not die. In the meantime, American civilization is dying a little more with each passing day.
+ “Whatever happens tonight, the president, by saying such things, has already changed the world for the worse, and made acts of mass violence more likely. If we are Americans, he has also changed our country. He has changed us, because he represents us; we voted for him, or we didn’t vote and allowed him to come to power, or we didn’t do enough to stop him. These words are America’s words, until and unless Americans reject them.” Timothy Snyder: The president speaks genocide.
+ “The bombings and threats have left many Iranians living in fear not only of their own government, which killed thousands of people in a crackdown on protesters early this year, but their would-be American rescuers, who pledged at the beginning of the war to create the conditions for their government to fall.” WSJ (Gift Article): Iranians Fear Trump’s Threatened Escalation.
+”Lili, the Tehran resident, said that as someone who long opposed her government and sympathized with the nationwide demonstrations that sought to topple it just months ago, Mr. Trump’s threats have shifted her feelings toward the United States and Israel. Both countries’ leaders have repeatedly voiced support for Iran’s opposition and encouraged Iranians to use the war to rise against their leaders. But their warplanes are now bombing not just military sites, she said, but critical industrial facilities, universities and schools. ‘So now, we are supporting Iran and whatever government is running it.'” NYT (Gift Article): Iranians Voice Shock and Defiance in Face of Trump’s Looming Deadline.
+ “What benefits the Iranian people—global economic reintegration, diplomatic recognition, investment, normalcy—threatens a regime that operates an extensive mafia and thrives in isolation. The carrots that America offers the nation are sticks to the men who rule it. And the sticks that America wields against the regime—isolation, conflict, and chaos—are carrots to men whose power depends on all three.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump’s Fundamental Misunderstanding in Iran. Even if you take ethics out of the equation (which many have already done), you have to wonder how further harming the Iranian citizens harmed by this regime will lead to the regime doing a deal?
+ US-Israeli strikes hit Iran’s oil, rail and bridges, U.S. strikes Kharg Island, here’s the latest from NYT, NBC, The Guardian, and BBC.
