I didn’t know Richard Hell wrote a novel…

I know what I’m reading next.

I know this is meant as sarcasm, but honestly I sometimes suspect it’s actually to some notable degree true.

First, Trump is collecting so much graft from so many different sources that there’s no way he could serve all of their interests, and he likely can’t even keep track of them all.

Beyond that though, I think that to some degree he actually pushes for things like coal power and gas-guzzling cars and open discrimination against minorities and LGBTQ+ people living in fear because they’re nostalgic reminders of his privileged childhood as an ignorant racist serial-raping piece of shit living off of someone else’s money.

You know - as opposed to his more difficult adulthood as an ignorant racist serial-raping piece of shit living off of someone else’s money…

It’s 1920 and the Pentagon just bought billions of dollars worth of buggy whips.

Republicans can’t win free and fair elections so they’re trying to eliminate free and fair elections.

More to the point, and cynically hilariously, the US under Trump, in just one year, lost any opportunity to be anything other than a second-rate has-been in the future, while the world is being led, as it always is, by the strongest economy with the latest technology.

Cat.

It’s not quite as simple as that.

Militarily, Iran poses neither more nor less of a threat now than it did a year ago or two years ago or five years ago or…

The thing that’s noteworthy about Iran right now is that it’s going through one of its periods of protest and calls for reform and modernization. And if you look back through the history of the region, you’ll find that every time that happens, it leads to a marked (and not coincidentally Israeli-backed) increase in US hostility and threats.

That in turn undermines the reformists and shifts power back to the hard right theocrats, who can and do present themselves as the strong and decisive leaders who will protect Iran from the evil threats of the evil US. And that is the exact goal of current US policy, as it has been every time in the past that this same basic chain of events has played out.

The thing that Israel and the US most fear in the region is not Iran in and of itself, but a stable, prosperous, modern Iran under a healthy, democratically-elected government. That would free up much of the resources the theocrats have to spend simply maintaining their rule and would greatly broaden the opportunities available to Iranians, which in turn would greatly strengthen Iran’s position on the world stage. And that’s the thing that Israel and the US fear the most, so that’s the thing current US policy is intended to prevent.

So yes - in a broad sense this is about the threat Iran is seen to pose. But it’s not quite as simple as that…

By design.

Right, but they’re awkwardly blatant about being awful.

Trump, insane and toxic as he is, has this weird charisma that’s hooked in the MAGA morons. Vance and Miller and Vought and Hegseth and the rest of Trump’s fascist coattail-riders don’t share it. I don’t think they could accomplish anywhere near as much without Trump as a figurehead, since even Trump supporters tend to recognize that they’re noxious assholes.

Granted that just getting Trump out of office won’t fix everything, I think it would greatly handicap the fascists.

And if nothing else, he should be removed just because he’s obviously mentally ill, and a president who’s obviously mentally ill should be removed.

It is vividly time for that lunatic to be 25th Amendmented out of office.

Yes and no, I’d say.

I don’t think he ever does anything because he’s been bribed to do it. I don’t think his ego could withstand that.

I think he does whatever he does because something about it appeals to his childish nature (often because someone else, like Miller or Vought, has framed it in a way that will, then whispered it in his ear). He certainly does collect bribes whenever possible (and brazenly, though predictably with no response from the media or the corrupt supposed opposition), but I think they’re more an effect than a cause - that once he decides on something he wants to do, he looks around for someone who’ll pay him to do it.

I really do think that the ultimate driving force behind everything Trump does is his profound mental illness - his delusional narcissism, his grotesque egotism his complete sociopathy and his stunted emotions.

He’s effectively a big overgrown toddler, demanding whatever it is that he wants for whatever reason he wants it, then throwing a tantrum if he doesn’t get it.

I don’t think, inside his own mind, getting rid of wind farms is fundamentally any different from getting a Nobel or building a ballroom or renaming the Gulf of Mexico - they’re all just things that he wants a certain way, and the fact that he wants it is, to him, enough. There doesn’t have to be any other reason, because in his own delusional, narcissistic, egotistic and childish mind, whatever he wants is axiomatically beautiful and perfect, and anyone who denies it is a nasty person being unfairly mean to him.

Note that none of that is intended as an excuse. I think it all makes him more - not less - of an existential threat. For exactly the reasons I just listed, it’s that much more important that he be removed from office as quickly as possible, because there’s no limit to the harm he might do.

Conveniently enough, all of that also provides the perfect opportunity to remove him, since he’s obviously deeply mentally ill, and therefore unfit for office.

Now if only we had some politicians with some principles and some determination, but both are in vanishingly short supply…

Or more precisely, Trump is winning the fight to cripple the US’s ability to compete in the alternative energy future.

And all because he’s a petulant, vindictive, entirely self-absorbed manbaby who never got over the fact that he could see wind turbines from his Scottish golf course, and his tantrum didn’t make them go away.

Seriously - how long are people going to keep pretending that Trump is sane?

In an administration stuffed to the gills with dangerous lunatics, Miller stands out on both counts.

He’s clearly a full-blown psychopath, and an existential threat to the US and the world. He doesn’t just need to be removed from power - he needs to be committed.

I think we’re approaching a point at which the universal international response to the latest Trump bullshit and bloviations is going to be “Go fuck yourself.”

Remember when the Trumpers were all crying about the Biden administration supposedly “weaponizing the Justice Department?”

It’s always projection for Trump and his toadies.

I can see him, clear as day - a huge orange three-year-old in the middle of a grocery store, lying on his back and kicking his feet and wailing, “But I want Greeeeenlaaaaaand!!”

exactly the same

Fuck your strawman.

FFS - look at the article. That’s 153 Democrats voting with the Republicans. 153 Democrats on the side of the weslthy and empowered few.

Nobody said a fucking word about “exactly the same.”

If you had a valid point, you could make it honestly. You don’t, so you can’t.

With only a few notable exceptions, there is no meaningful left vs. right in American politics.

The meaningful division is wealthy and empowered few vs. oppressed and exploited many.

And virtually all high-ranking Democrats are, alongside Republicans, on the side of the few, against the many.

Class war isn’t a future possibility - it’s a current reality. The wealthy and empiwered few, along with their allies, tools and proxies, are already fighting it, and winning.

That makes more sense