“War … in pursuit of peace, is necessary.” – Pete Hegseth
“War is peace.” – George Orwell
To maintain a position in Donald Trump’s leadership circle, one must display unquestioned loyalty, a penchant for unabashed swagger, and the willingness to insult – the more unhinged the better – anyone who questions you, especially if they have the audacity to present facts, or worse, if they confront you with your own words and deeds.
Skill and expertise are not required. In fact, they could disqualify you from the job.
Trump was somewhat held in check during his first term by appointed officials who, while echoing his rhetoric, were still loyal to the basics of law and that pesky Constitution. Trump has made no such errors the second time around, surrounding himself with mostly unqualified loyalists — Bondi, Noem, Hegseth, Kennedy, McMahon — whose buffoonery would be laughable if not so existentially serious.
The impact of incompetence unrolls constantly before our eyes. Measles, anyone?
And still his followers believe. The man who said he would never get us into war is now killing school children by the score in an unconstitutional war. He is clearly Putin’s puppet; it is hard to see how he would act any differently if he announced he was on the autocrat’s payroll, which he essentially is.
He lies whenever he opens his mouth. He fatuously denies so many facts that most get lost in a landslide of prevarication. His lies are automatic, even when unnecessary. For instance, did you know that Ukraine has provided the U.S. with training on how to defend against drone warfare? I didn’t know that until an apparently ego-bruised Trump ludicrously denied it. We don’t need their help, he bellowed, because we know more about drones than everyone else in the world.
Sound familiar? He also knows more about ISIS than all the generals. He knows more about renewable energy than anyone. No one knows more about trade than he does. No one knows more about technology than he does. He even said he knows more about Corey Booker than anyone else.
He also professes to know more about bone spurs than any other president. (He may have a point there.)
Spelling out the foolishness of Trump’s claims is easy, but it has no effect on his supporters. As people smarter than I have said, Trumpism is more about following the leader than adhering to a set of principles.
It’s hard to comprehend, but the consequences are real, especially when incompetence is the defining characteristic of his administration.
It’s tricky and treacherous to deal with the evil and ever-dangerous leadership in Iran. These monsters are so vile that they will murder their own citizens for merely protesting. Hard to imagine.
But overthrowing such a regime is not as easy as pontificating in a red hat. There are no simple answers. The task was clearly beyond the clueless negotiators (including Trump’s son-in-law) who misread the Iranian position and who prompted today’s war because they had a “hunch.”
The mad dash into a war with no goals somehow failed to reckon with the fate of Americans trapped in a war zone with no way to escape. Economically, the administration was unprepared for the economically disastrous closing of the Strait of Hormuz, even though American strategists have long known this would happen.
Predictably, since it is rewarded in its inner circles, the Trumpian response to the Hormuz crisis is to blithely say that it isn’t happening. As Hegseth — auditioning for an Alice in Wonderland role — said, “The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is Iran shooting at shipping.”
Or, as a coach might say, the only thing stopping us from winning more games is that the other team is scoring more points.
So, while the U.S. is suffering a self-induced oil-price spike, Trump’s solution to the “non-issue” of a Hormuz blockage is to lift sanctions imposed on the Russians for their illegal invasion of Ukraine. These are the same Russians who are aiding the Iranians with whom we are at war. Lifting these sanctions, which have been crippling the Russian economy, will be a political and financial boon for Putin who can honestly look at Trump and say, “Who’s your daddy??
It’s rhetorical question, of course. Trump already knows.
We all do.
