All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[Tami]

I've always held off calling Trump the worst president of my lifetime because nothing he'd done equaled the horror of Iraq and Afghanistan. I always tempered it with a 'He's not the worst president...yet' because I knew some stupidity like this was always just around the corner.

Trump undoes all the good that other presidents have done, and makes worse all the bad that previous presidents have done.

Some people are 'fixers'/problem solvers. Trump is a 'Breaker'/Problem Maker.

[Tami]

Four Years Ago, Trump Had No Clue Who Iran’s Suleimani Was. Now He May Have Kicked Off WWIII.

In September 2015, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump appeared on the syndicated radio show of conservative media star, Hugh Hewitt, to talk foreign policy.

“Are you familiar with General Suleimani?” Hewitt asked the real estate mogul from Queens.

“Yes,” said Trump, before hesitating. “Go ahead, give me a little … tell me.”

When Hewitt told Trump that Suleimani “runs the Quds Forces,” Trump responded: “I think the Kurds, by the way, have been horribly mistreated by us.”

“No, not the Kurds, the Quds Forces,” Hewitt interjected. “The Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Quds Forces. The bad guys.”

“I thought you said Kurds,” a sheepish Trump replied.

This is not a column, however, about the consequences of the U.S. government assassinating the second-most powerful man in Iran (spoiler: they’re going to be dire!). Nor is it a column about the legality of such a deadly strike on a foreign official on foreign soil (spoiler: it’s hard to justify!).

Rather, this is a column that allows me to express my ongoing astonishment that Donald Trump is president of the United States; my ongoing bewilderment with a world in which an unhinged, know-nothing former reality TV star and property developer, with zero background in foreign affairs or national security, may have just kicked off World War III. (From his golf course, no less.)

It’s also a column that allows me to revisit what I have long considered to be the most unforgivable take of the 2016 presidential race: “Donald The Dove, Hillary the Hawk.” That was the ridiculous headline to the New York Times column from Maureen Dowd in April 2016, in which she falsely claimed that Trump had opposed the Iraq War “like Obama,” and then credulously suggested that, in contrast to Clinton, “he would rather do the art of the deal than shock and awe.”

[zinderel]

Airstrike kills top Iran general Qassim Suleimani at Baghdad airport, Iraqi TV reports


Well, the shit is really starting to hit the fan in the Middle East now....

Republicans LOVE starting unnecessary, potentially illegal wars in the Middle East during election years, don’t they?

Good thing we don’t have President Killery in the Oval Office to start WW3 like everyone said she’d do, huh?

It’s ok. THIS war will be the one that brings Jesus back, I’m sure...

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Four Years Ago, Trump Had No Clue Who Iran’s Suleimani Was. Now He May Have Kicked Off WWIII.

I wonder how long it'll be before some right wing asswipe or Faux News talking head says in a condescending voice: "See? If Nancy Pelosi hadn't had Donald Trump impeached, he wouldn't have ordered Suleimani killed!" SOMEONE is bound to arrive at that ridiculously half-assed conclusion, if it hasn't happened already. Look, I'm sure the suspicions are out there that Trump used the missile strikes as a distraction from the impeachment drama (spoiler: it's not going away), a classic wag the dog situation, but this time, Donnie Dumbass might well have screwed the pooch to an infinite degree, possibly resulting in war and god only knows how many lives needlessly lost, on both sides. Even worse, if we do go to war (and I'm praying we don't), what nation will come to our aid, especially after Trump spent the last three years alienating practically ALL our traditional allies? We're sitting on the precipice of a disaster, and it shouldn't have happened.

[GindyPosts]

I think that is going to be taken as an act of war against Iran (and Trump probably didn't even notify Congress much less get approval). Instead of ending wars in the Middle East, Trump is creating brand new ones.

More Americans are going to die, more money is going to be wasted, and more people in the Middle East are going to develop more resentment towards Western culture, giving radical sects like the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS more strength, and thus continuing the cycle.

This is just great.

[GindyPosts]

Filled mine yesterday morning. Yeah, increases at the pump are coming. Count on it. It's only a question of how soon and how much.

And I start driving lessons next week. That's just lovely.

Ding ding ding! Reminds me of something I saw on Twitter this morning: RICH PEOPLE START WARS, POOR PEOPLE DIE IN THEM. Instead of de-escalating conflict, Trump the Peacemaker is ramping them up instead.

They proudly wear the insignia of the Chickenhawk.

[zinderel]

More Americans are going to die, more money is going to be wasted, and more people in the Middle East are going to develop more resentment towards Western culture, giving radical sects like the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIS more strength, and thus continuing the cycle.

This is just great.

Yeah, but profits on weapon and war machine manufacturing will be GREAT! Lockheed-Martin shareholders will be able to buy new houses and yachts! Plus, poor people and ‘ethnics’ are going to be sent to war, which will do wonders for overpopulation! Geeze! Why do you hate America...?

Edit: To anyone offended, I apologize for my flippancy today. I’m just horrified and bewildered and if I don’t make a little bit of bitter light, I’m bound to just start screaming and never stop. I saw a meme recently and feel it’s more true now than even it was a few days ago: “The world I was raised to be an adult in no longer exists.” I have no idea how to function in a world where this sort of thing just keeps on happening. Not without making bitter jokes to mask the bile that constantly threatens to burst out of me. Especially in light of all of the recent “Things are actually better now than ever before!” articles published in the wake of 2019.

[GindyPosts]

The notion of regime change in Iran is patently laughable. For starters, it's highly unlikely, despite what happened last night, and even if it did, we could wind up with someone worse than Khamenei.

Iran is a fundamental theocracy. If they think whacking the ayatollah will mean "Democracy, hooray!", they got another thing coming. Hell, Iran HAD democracy, and America took that away from them because we wanted more oil output.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Yeah, but profits on weapon and war machine manufacturing will be GREAT! Lockheed-Martin shareholders will be able to buy new houses and yachts! Plus, poor people and ‘ethnics’ are going to be sent to war, which will do wonders for overpopulation! Geeze! Why do you hate America...?

Edit: To anyone offended, I apologize for my flippancy today. I’m just horrified and bewildered and if I don’t make a little bit of bitter light, I’m bound to just start screaming and never stop. I saw a meme recently and feel it’s more true now than even it was a few days ago: “The world I was raised to be an adult in no longer exists.” I have no idea how to function in a world where this sort of thing just keeps on happening. Not without making bitter jokes to mask the bile that constantly threatens to burst out of me. Especially in light of all of the recent “Things are actually better now than ever before!” articles published in the wake of 2019.

I can't speak for anyone else who comes here, but I understand what you're going through. We're all staring into the abyss, and it's staring back at us big time, that has anyone with common sense and realizes the danger the world is in scared shitless.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Just got an alert that 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg have been deployed to the Middle East. Uh oh.

[Tami]

Just got an alert that 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg have been deployed to the Middle East. Uh oh.

Shoot......sigh....

[BeastieRunner]

Just got an alert that 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg have been deployed to the Middle East. Uh oh.

Shoot......sigh....

It's 3500 now.

[InformationGeek]

Looks like another person is diving out of the window to escape.

Top GOPer on Hse Veterans Affairs’ Cmte Phil Roe announces his retirement: “After prayerful consideration, I have decided to retire at the end of the 116th Congress.”

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's 3500 now.

Delightful. And what was I read about Americans urged to leave Iraq AFTER the missile strikes? Did I read that right? If that's the case, then this hamfisted administration put it's citizens at risk of retaliation by pissed off Iranians. This shit just gets crazier by the day, if not the hour.

[Tami]

Delightful. And what was I read about Americans urged to leave Iraq AFTER the missile strikes? Did I read that right? If that's the case, then this hamfisted administration put it's citizens at risk of retaliation by pissed off Iranians. This shit just gets crazier by the day, if not the hour.

Watching coverage on cable and one comment that stuck with me is that, if this was planned as normal, plans would have been made to evac ahead of time.