That Robert Kagan accusation in The Atlantic really got to them lol

 Iran is in the ‘process of blinking’ over the Strait of Hormuz, Petraeus says

Robert Kagan: Trump seems to hope to slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat

Which is exactly what Trump did a year ago in the Red Sea.

Beyond the near term endgame Kagan describes, and the isolation of Israel in particular, Trump's cowardice, weakness, and incompetence will have the unintended consequence of reinvigorating the climate and green energy madness which has already weakened the West. 

From the story here: 

... In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, Trump reportedly explained that the United States was negotiating a “letter of intent” with Iran that would “formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The purpose and effect of such an agreement should be clear: The United States is walking away from the crisis.

... Trump has blinked many times in the confrontation with Iran—ever since March 18, when Israel attacked the Pars gas field and Iran retaliated with a strike against Qatar’s most important natural-gas-production facility. Trump then called for a halt on U.S. and Israeli targeting of Iran’s energy infrastructure, and the war effectively ended. 

... [Iran's] terms for a settlement are those of a victor: They demand war reparations, no limits on uranium enrichment, recognized control of the strait, and an end to sanctions. For Trump to respond to this defiance by now calling for another 30 days of cease-fire and talks is a tacit admission of defeat.

... with 30 more days to heal, rearm, and fill its coffers with tolls, Iran will be a more formidable adversary. In 30 days, moreover, the new Iranian strait regime may already be firmly in place. As the Institute for the Study of War reports, Iran has been using the cease-fire period [since April 7] to “normalize” its control over the strait by “compelling oil-importing countries” to establish transit agreements with Tehran and charging fees on vessels from nations without such deals.

... Now that Trump has made clear he has no intention of fighting to reopen the strait, the stampede to get good terms with Tehran will begin. 

... By the end of 30 days, most of the world will have a stake in the new arrangement and will oppose any resumption of hostilities, even in the unlikely event that Trump wanted to go back to war. Trump no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat.

... The president may also hope that he can change the subject by launching another military operation, this time against the government in Cuba. ...

My favorite phrase from this essay: "To the extent that there’s an intellectual foundation for Trumpism . . ."

Very amusing.

There's a lot riding on the outcome of the Hungarian elections for certain "conservatives" next week. 

 Meet the MAGA Intellectual on Hungary’s Payroll: A political theorist who once prophesized a Queen Melania is Viktor Orbán’s envoy to the court of Trump

It's mostly about Gladden Pappin, but is useful for describing the connections between Hungary and other American figures like J. D. Vance, and also the Danube Institute bankrolling Rod Dreher (unmentioned), helmed by National Review veteran John O'Sullivan:

Another English-speaking member of this species is John O’Sullivan, a former speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher. O’Sullivan is the founder and president of the Danube Institute, which receives funding from Orbán’s government and stays relentlessly on message. Last year, the institute put on an event called Is Transgenderism Dying?” With nearly two weeks to go before the election on April 12, the institute hosted a summit featuring a video address by the deputy U.S. secretary of state, Christopher Landau, and in-person remarks from one of his advisers. Weeks earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had traveled to Budapest and told Orbán, “Your success is our success.” The Danube Institute event reinforced that message by giving U.S. diplomats pride of place in the program. “It’s very comforting to know that we have allies like you,” an institute employee told the Americans at the conference’s conclusion.  

From my lips to God's ears

 

Wow, Kamala Harris really is a next-level anti-semite IMAO

We have to say that IMAO stuff for legal reasons. 

Meanwhile, this is also a form of campaigning by Shapiro, don't forget that. 

Shapiro: Harris Staff Questioned If He Was Israeli Agent

Toluse Olorunnipa, Atlantic

 

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was already irritated by what he describes as “unnecessarily contentious” questions from the team vetting him to be Kamala Harris’s running mate when a senior aide made one final inquiry: “Have you ever been an agent of the Israeli government?” ...

After Harris and Shapiro sat down, in a dining room that had been cleared of most furniture other than two chairs and a table, there was little in the way of small talk or pleasantries. Each described the conversation as blunt, lacking the traditional warmth of two people trying to determine if a four-year partnership would work. Their discussion was especially tense when Harris asked Shapiro if he would apologize for some of his comments about protesters at the University of Pennsylvania who had built encampments to decry Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and, in some cases, intimidated Jewish students.

Shapiro wrote that he “flatly” told Harris that he would not. ...

Ted Cruz reminds everyone Tucker Carlson used to be for the annihilation of Iran in 2012 when Mr. My Muslim Faith was in charge lol

 

Ah, so Trump is The Decider now lol, becomes more like George W. Bush every day

 

Trump Says He Decides What ‘America First’ Means

Michael Scherer, The Atlantic

 

... “America First” means whatever he says it does.

 

“Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,” Trump told me. ...

 

Still an ignoramus after all these years, but he's still right about Iran, contra Tucker Carlson:

 

“For those people who say they want peace—you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon—that’s not peace.” ... 

“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, very simple. Regardless—Israel or not Israel—Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb,” Trump told me. ...            

And that makes him exactly like old Georgie:

“Permitting the world’s leading sponsor of terror to possess the world’s deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations,” the president said. “For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

 

 

 

I don't normally pay any attention to the left's critique of the right as misogynist, but Breitbart's John Nolte changes my mind

 

 

... By politely and factually shoving all that disgrace in their smug faces, Tim Pool diminished and embarrassed the media elite, which is crucial in our noble crusade to someday enjoy the lamentations of their women. ...

More.

The cruelty is indeed the point of MAGA. 

 

 

 

 

Pete Wehner calls Trump America's mad king, lists twenty examples to date fewer than 90 days in

 

 

... He is more impulsive, more vindictive, and more anarchic than in his first term. ... Trump is America’s Mad King. ...  as the second Trump administration careens from one failure to another, as unhappiness with the president rises, as events and reality refuse to bend to his will, he will become darker and crueler and more unstable. ...

 

The whole thing is here.

None other than Bernard-Henri Levy, the French Jewish author of the book The Will to See, puts then Representative Mike Waltz (FL-6) and Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic together in October 2021, thanking them for coming to his book launch

 Trump National Security Adviser Mike Waltz denies ever meeting the guy he was standing near.

 

The Atlantic calls Trump's bluff and publishes full Signal thread sent to its editor by mistake by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz

 The Atlantic publishes full Signal thread with Hegseth, Waltz after Trump says texts not classified

... Goldberg in Wednesday’s report wrote: “If this text had been received by someone hostile to American interests—or someone merely indiscreet, and with access to social media—the Houthis would have had time to prepare for what was meant to be a surprise attack on their strongholds.”

“The consequences for American pilots could have been catastrophic,” he wrote. ...

Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic was mistakenly included in the Houthi Signal Chat because he shares the same initials as Jamieson Greer

 

Goldberg, who has the same initials as U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, was mistakenly added to the group by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz.

Reported here.

I hope they don't bomb Ireland when they intend to bomb Iran.

I guess we'll just have to have a Fourth Reich, then, armed to the teeth with nukes: Millennials Pete Hegseth and J. D. Vance think the Europeans are freeloaders

 

In the chats, the user identified as Vice President JD Vance expresses concerns about the strikes but ultimately agrees to go along with US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth's plan - before adding 'I just hate bailing Europe out again.'

Hegseth responds: 'I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. It's PATHETIC.' 

And of course they want to throw Mike Waltz under the bus:

There are claims that Mr Waltz is facing the sack over the saga - as he's believed to have been the official who 'added the editor-in-chief [of The Atlantic] to the group'.

One source told Politico: 'Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a f***ing idiot.'

The Financial Times reports that privately some German officials are starting to wonder out loud whether the time has come to acquire their own nuclear arsenal.

Incompetent Pete Hegseth, or was he drunk?, texted US Houthi attack plan to The Atlantic's Jeff Goldberg just hours before it was launched on March 15

 The Ides of March will get you every time.

 

 

 

Now the Trump administration is imitating the most odious revolutionary rhetoric of the Obama administration

 

WH's Karoline Leavitt: Trump "Is Fundamentally Transforming Our Country For The Better"

 

We are fundamentally transforming our country for the better, truly restoring our government, the 27-year old know-nothing says, when they're actually gutting it. 

These people all think they're so smart.

 

They think they're cutting something down to size which is already on its knees. Federal employment today has hardly been lower as a percentage of civilian population in the post-war. The low point was achieved already in 2018. The Leviathan State is a complete myth.

 

If Trump truly restored our government, he'd be hiring dramatically, not firing. 

For all of Trump’s and Musk’s talk of efficiency, their policies will likely slow down the government. The state needs capacity to perform core tasks, such as collecting revenue, taking care of veterans, tracking weather, and ensuring that travel, medicine, food, and workplaces are safe. But Trump seems intent on pushing more employees to leave and making the civil service more political and an even less inviting job option. He bullies federal employees, labeling them as “crooked” and likening their removal to “getting rid of all the cancer.” A smaller, terrified, and politicized public workforce will not be an effective one.

To start, let’s dispense with the notion that the government is too big. It is not. As a share of the workforce, federal employment has declined in the past several decades. Civilian employees represent about 1.5 percent of the population and account for less than 7 percent of total government spending. According to the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, seven out of 10 civilian employees work in organizations that deal with national security, including departments—such as Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security—that the public supports.

The reality is that the federal government has long faced a human-capital crisis. ...

More.

The country is $36 trillion in debt because it is not taxing enough, and hasn't been taxing enough since Ronald Reagan. We pretend we can borrow to infinity for what we want, but we can't afford it all anymore. That is why they're surrendering to Putin, and taking a meat cleaver to DC.

This is not a serious country, otherwise a South African wouldn't be running it.

 

 

 

 

 

The Atlantic throws a Hail Mary to Adolf Hitler, gives Trump 100 days to end democracy in America or they're finished forever lol

How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days

Well of course LOL: New Apostolic Reformation wackos supporting Trump may be evolving into pro-immigrationistas

 Christianity has always meant liberalism. It is one of the religion's many bastard children.

This is from an Atlantic story reproduced here:

On the day after the election, I went to Life Center, the NAR church where Elon Musk had spoken a couple of weeks earlier. The mood was jubilant. A pastor spoke of “years of oppression” and said that “we are at a time on the other side of a victory for our nation that God alone—that God alone—orchestrated for us.”

The music pounded, and people cheered, and after that, a prominent prophet named Joseph Garlington delivered a sermon. He was a guest speaker, and he offered what sounded like the first hint of dissent I’d heard in a long time. He talked about undocumented immigrants and asked people to consider whether it might be possible that God was sending them to the U.S. so they could build the Kingdom.

“What if they are part of the harvest?” he said. “He didn’t send us to them; maybe he’s sending them to us.”

It was a striking moment. Life Center, Mercy Culture, and many other churches in the movement have large numbers of Latinos in their congregations.

Jonathan Chait just glosses right over the fact that Pete Hegseth at the minimum cheated on his second wife AND on his eventual third wife, who had just had his baby, with a married woman

 The baby was born in August 2017, which coincided with his divorce from his second wife, which means Hegseth cheated on the second wife in 2016.

The "consensual sexual encounter" with the married woman occurred in October 2017.

This is the guy the officer corps should look up to? He's an out of control sexual predator.

Pete Hegseth is a train wreck of a man.

Does he remind you of anyone?

I predict that the US Senate will not get an opportunity to inquire of Mr. Hegseth about his belief that America was founded in proto-Marxism because he will have to withdraw his nomination, just like Gaetz, long before that, preferably by this Friday afternoon's news dump.

Here:

Hegseth denies the allegation and says that the encounter, which took place while he was transitioning between his second and third wives, was consensual. He paid the alleged victim an undisclosed sum in return for her signing a nondisclosure agreement.

These aren't serious articles about Kamala Harris, just attempts to tone down her leftism to make her seem more palatable

The left is thrilled with her.

 

JD Vance 2016: Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein, Trump is cultural heroin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope Americans cast their gaze to those with the most power to address so many of these problems: each other. And then, perhaps the nation will trade the quick high of “Make America Great Again” for real medicine.

Read it, here.