Trump is pro-Trump, and anyone who dares interfere with his grift and self-aggrandizement as his term goes forward is subjected to scorn and retaliation. I am sure that Netanyahu saw Trump as a useful idiot to further his own interests,
(Including staying out of prison)malleable and stupid. He did not count on Trump’s evil calculation of how to enhance his own interests regardless of who else pays a price.
This post goes to the crux of the whole thing. There are a lot of things you can call Netanyahu, very few if any of them good. But one thing you can't call him is a fool. The only explanation I can find is that he overestimated his ability to manipulate Don the Con, and underestimated Trump's proclivity to throw partners and allies under the bus when it suits his needs..
I'm not so sure you can't call Netanyahu a fool. His 40-year-long miscalculation about Iran is one of the most foolish things ever to happen on the world stage. Everything other administrations warned about if Iran was destabilized has happened now that Bibi finally got his dream war. He also foolishly thought he could control Trump, a malignant narcissist who's never hesitated to throw anyone over if they disagree with him or won't do what he wants. I think it's also fair to say that, like Trump, Netanyahu has lost a few steps; he's not the same leader he once was.
Netanyahu also underestimated Trump’s incompetence in anything that doesn’t involve grifting. Additionally Netanyahu underestimated Trump’s ability to cause unrelenting chaos.
Neither did the Afghan government during the last Trump-sponsored "negotiations" of the Doha agreement in Afghanistan. Trump seems to leave critical elements out of negotiations.
That's a good point. When Trump sent a couple of real estate brokers (Witkoff and Kushner) instead of people known for diplomatic negotiating skills, we knew how it would end up.
Vance had follwed them, a politician/venture capitalist, also had no training.
Remember that they are both psychopaths. I'm sure Netanyahu thinks he can think rings around the imbecilic tRump, but tRumps cornered-animal mentality right now makes him a very dangerous opponent. Both of them have caught the tiger by the tail and are in for a rough ride... They are dragging all of us along for the ride. I still think Netanyahu has 'dirt' on tRump, likely acquired from Epstein, and might just use it in a fit of pique... that could cause a real row.
We have been remarkably impervious to the truth about our own past. My Mom’s family were Polish Jews who emigrated in the 1840s. My grandfather was terrified that the Klan would find out. My brother-in-law’s father was Cherokee… I grew up in KY. All over there are hundreds of miles of country roads lined with stone fences built by slaves. But there are those who would just paint over the whole past by not teaching it.
I see him more as a sociopath. The pain, despair and death of other people doesn't register. All he feels is what pleases his ego. That the deaths of 73,000 human beings does make him feel powerful is the sick part.
I have always subscribed to the idea that Psychopathy is Sociopathy plus the propensity for violence. I think it is orders of magnitude worse than the boss in 9 to 5.
Netanyahoo is pushed by psycho-religious nationalist, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich … neither of whom have enough of a following to accomplish anything on their own, but Bibi needs them on his side in order to stay in power (and out of jail) himself … they are the tail wagging the dog.
Netanyahu is like tRump in that they are both felons trying to avoid paying the price for their crimes. Once Netanyahu is out of office, he will be tried.
Also, I totally blame the current Israeli government for Oct. 7. and their crimes in the WB.
Like tRump is a disaster for our country, Netanyahu is a disaster for Israel.
I believe that we would all like to be rich. To have enough to be free to do whatever we want. Maybe that's $10mil, maybe it's $50mil for you. But there IS a limit. A point where "more" doesn't matter to you. But the megarich, the Trumps, the Bezos', the Musks... that switch got turned off in their heads. They are a greedy cancer that has to have more, beyond any sane need or limit.
So these resorts... they're not resorts. You will never be able to just buy a ticket and go there. They are retreats. They will be invitation only, gotta know the right people kinds of places. The money you give them will offset some costs for the owner, but they're not doing it for money, they are doing it to have a place to flaunt their greed among like minded sociopaths.
Even a sex trafficking site - since the citizens of the US cannot even rise up to protect children from the sex abusers in our own nation. Never mind that we do not even attempt to end the concentration camps in the US. Clearly, people in the US are just like the Germans who did nothing about Hitler.
"You made a colossal mistake. You failed by signing a surrender agreement with a murderous and cruel terror regime. You severely harmed American interests and the democratic and human values of the enlightened world, and you turned over the hourglass toward the next war, which your successors will have to deal with in the years to come. . . . You did all this in violation of every promise you made, in contradiction to the path you had followed until now, and against the values of America, which was supposed to return to greatness and has now been humiliated into the dust."
Hilarious in an ironic way, but totally true! And an apt epitaph.
It makes me wonder just how tall Trump's headstone will have to be in order to list all of the stupid, senseless "mistakes" and crimes he has committed against our democracy and values over the last 10 years.
The headstone will probably be the tallest edifice he's ever "built" and the only memorial the American people will probably approve of.
There used to be an active website, pissonhisgrave(dot)com that had Trump as a future candidate. That website can still be found on the Wayback Machine.
Agreed. These are the people who tightly linked Israel to Donald Trump and the Republican Party in general, and made support for Israel conditional on support for Netanyahu on top of that. So they lashed perception of Israel tightly to radical partisans in both the United States and Israel...and now they're shocked to see that backfire.
The net result of all of this is that Israel has never had *less* support than it does now...and that is entirely the fault of Israel's government and the apologists for that government.
I've traditionally been sympathetic for Israel's plight -- a country surrounded by largely hostile governments and populated by people who fled the genocide and murder of the Nazi regime. But Israel has somehow managed to burn through all that sympathy with their recent actions.
Well, that's the PR. As a young adolescent, I fell for the heroic version of Zionist Israel. Then I began to really learn history. Israel was "founded' by radical Zionists beginning decades before Hitler, though not recognized until 1949- at which time Palestinians were also promised a homeland. Some survivors of the holocaust went to Israel, but many followed escaped relatives to countries all around the world. Zionists were not peaceful people, and didn't welcome Jews who didn't meet their "standards". At this time, it appears that the majority of Israelis are against Netanyahu, and it is highly likely he will lose the election if he ever agrees to hold one. And likely that he will be found guilty of crimes he's already been charged with, plus a few more. He will go to prison, and that is one reason he continues his "war".
"at which time Palestinians were also promised a homeland." Not exactly. The UN in 1947 proposed a partition plan that would have created independent Arab and Jewish states, with special arrangements for Jerusalem. Arab nations boycotted the discussions and rejected any partition of the land. Jewish organizations supported it, though with misgivings. And so here we are, nearly 80 years later.
What I find really sad about this whole thing is that the Jews and Palestinians are the same people: they originated in the same place and share the same ancestors going back thousands of years and they just got divided at one point by religion.
"Well, well. It’s rich to see criticism from a newspaper started by the Adelsons criticizing Trump."
Carol, it's a healthy sign that one can criticize their own side for the errors it makes. Sadly, I don't see that from Jen, The Contrarian staff, or almost everyone else here. Human nature being what it is, there will always be more than enough mistakes to go around.
The so called 'Christian support' for Israel was always followed by 'Jews are going to be thrown into hell'-- by the people I grew up around. It was never about support for the people of Israel. It was always about their own selfish aims, period. And now, we see the ugly fruit of their heresy and insanity in disastrous US wars and foreign policy.
I always found that bizarre, then during the Bush Jr years I learned about "dominionists" as part of Christian faith.
The idea that we have people who claim to be religious and follow Christ's teachings deciding that THEY needed to bring about the second coming of Christ, and that scripture told them they had to help Israel rebuild the temple... so the evil Muslims had to go... is just crazy.
I was never sure just how much Shrub agreed with that idea, but a shockingly large number of his appointees and senior staff did. His administration was full of people actively working to make Israel stronger and more violent BECAUSE it was supposed to bring back their Prince of Peace.
"...you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody."
No, but it's okay to have shock troops rappel down to the roof from helicopters, kick in doors, and put zip ties on terrified, half-naked children, right Mr. "President"?
I am so glad you pointed to that abhorrent Chicago apartment ICE raid. Absolutely disgraceful. And now the Republican Congress gives those clowns $70 BILLION more? Don't ever complain about deficits again.
I am in agreement here. JD Vance is as two faced as it gets. Pete Hegseth is the other. Both of them are Christian nationalists and they don’t get to define who or what is Pro Israel. Trump has no doubt created a worse situation than what already existed and he has no clue what he’s doing or how to fix it or how to get out of this war he created.
Trump doesn't know how to fix this war, but he does know how to get out of it. Like he has done in the past, mask the current problem with another diversion and walk away. He believes that "baffling us with bullshit" works, which it does for some loyalists, but not for all. His margin of believers is getting thin.
It will get even better. Wait till Netanyahu and Israel realize that Hegseth's Christian Nationalists are just using Israel to get what they want. They are protecting Israel now, but their end time's prophesy says that all Jews (everyone, actually) must convert to Christianity or they will become the "enemy". I certainly hope it won't ever get to that point. Christian Nationalism is a cult and should be taken seriously. Thank you, Jen, for all you do.
Or the "Indian schools" set up to deliberately separate indigenous children from their parents, each other, and their cultures. Many died, some of illness, some of violence, some of heartbreak. Most of the schools were run by churches, with the cooperation of the US gov. We haven't begun to address the damage. Be careful which direction your finger points. On the other hand, there were (and still are) religious groups whose mission is to make life easier for others without expectation and without judgement.
I belong to the church of “separation of church and state”. I wasn’t really pointing a finger at any church, but I get what you are saying. I don’t consider Christian Nationalists Christians. They are a cult (Project 2025) and I believe they are one of the most dangerous aspects of this administration. They are trying to fulfill their “end-times” prophesy, themselves. They believe that empathy is a sin.
I feel about Israel about the same way I feel about the USA. I admired them in the past, but no longer do. It doesn't mean I want either country obliterated. It means they need to get their shit together.
When a country has an egotistical, corrupt leader, the country is doomed face massive pain and destruction. Both the US and Israel have reached this point, and there's no telling where we will all end up. I hate to quote JD Vance but he's correct that “You can’t just kill your way out of solving every problem.” And when you kill people whose ideas are abhorrent to you, many more people will pick up those ideas and you may end up much worse off. So how did we get here? Civilizations fall when the few people with power collect all wealth for themselves and leave the majority destitute.
You forgot the part where one group (usually but not always) sets one part of the population against another. Wealth is not necessarily part of this, but increasingly is becoming so. We need to stop pointing fingers in judgment and start reaching our hands out to one another.
Yes. Hate is a favored tool with fascists. King Con has used divisiveness with his groups of minions forever. It's really all he knows for how to be in charge.
It may take a bit for us to get that one into common usage, but Nat-C is just fantastic. It helps to label your opponent, and that one has a lot of appropriate baggage already attached.
No need to drag this religion or another religion into the brawl between those two fascists.
That drump guy fighting with bibi is the same as if himmler would be fighting with heydrich.
Two genocidal maniacs accusing each other of being a genocidal maniac.
Genocidal maniac drump wants out of Iran (although he would gladly nuke Iran away) but genocidal maniac bibi does not want to stop bombing Libanon thus preventing the way out for genocidal maniac drump.
To be completely clear: drump and bibi are both genocidal maniacs and they both deserve their visit to the International Court in The Hague accompanied by their henchmen.
Small reminder: 'henchmen'
A person who is loyal to and works for someone in a position of authority and is willing to help that person even by hurting others or by committing crimes.
Trump can not even play checkers, much less the five-level chess game myth his cult followers attributed to him. Instead, he was simply dog-walked into a disastrous War of Choice led by Netanyahu, Hegseth et al without prior war gaming of how to end this "excursion" of Israeli genocide and meglomania that has now extended to Lebanon. Trump was never about "America First". Trump is just a global con man who is "for sale" and he sold out "We the People" in every which way. Trump = Treason!
If you believe Bibi led tRump into attacking Iran, do you also believe that Bibi led tRump into attacking Venezuela? IMO, tRump only does what's best for him. He probably thought Iran would be a cake walk. Surprise!
Two things can be true at once. I believe both Bibi and Trump are opportunists; they both use and exploit each other. As for the disastrous unlawful War of Choice in Iran, Bibi and Trump are now like two scorpions 🦂 in a jar trying not to sting each other while trying to hold onto power in their respective countries. If Bibi loses his power in Israel he faces war crimes. If Trump loses power, he faces a similar fate.
No need for that. All Drumpf wants is money. Venezuela has oil, oil=money, Drumpf went to Venezuela. Iran has oil, oil=money, Drumpf went to Iran. All Bibi had to do was to tell him he'd be a war hero and get the oil, and--voila!
I agree with your assessment, but in essence any Jewish American or Jew anywhere who supports/supported drumpf is/was against the Israeli nation and its people. The Evangelical pro-Israel faction is fiercely antisemitic. drumpf's attacks on Harvard, Columbia, etc., under the cover of protecting Jewish-Americans and Israelis at those institutions, were merely part of his and the right's agenda of delegitimizing learning and research and stifling free expression and critical thinking. A child could see through those pretexts. What Netanyahu and his extreme-right coalition, whose children are protected from going to war, has done is to give a moral stand to antisemites. drumpf's alliance with a would-be dictator (NOT supported by Israel's Supreme Court) has brought about the greatest surge of antisemitism since the 1930s since many antisemites can now pose as progressives.
Hypocrisy is the GOP’s calling card. They will continue to attack and disparage any non-MAGA as anti-Israel and antisemitic for criticizing Netanyahu, Trump and their supporters for objectively reprehensible conduct imperiling the futures of both Israel and diaspora Jews.
Trump is pro-Trump, and anyone who dares interfere with his grift and self-aggrandizement as his term goes forward is subjected to scorn and retaliation. I am sure that Netanyahu saw Trump as a useful idiot to further his own interests,
(Including staying out of prison)malleable and stupid. He did not count on Trump’s evil calculation of how to enhance his own interests regardless of who else pays a price.
This post goes to the crux of the whole thing. There are a lot of things you can call Netanyahu, very few if any of them good. But one thing you can't call him is a fool. The only explanation I can find is that he overestimated his ability to manipulate Don the Con, and underestimated Trump's proclivity to throw partners and allies under the bus when it suits his needs..
I'm not so sure you can't call Netanyahu a fool. His 40-year-long miscalculation about Iran is one of the most foolish things ever to happen on the world stage. Everything other administrations warned about if Iran was destabilized has happened now that Bibi finally got his dream war. He also foolishly thought he could control Trump, a malignant narcissist who's never hesitated to throw anyone over if they disagree with him or won't do what he wants. I think it's also fair to say that, like Trump, Netanyahu has lost a few steps; he's not the same leader he once was.
Netanyahu also underestimated Trump’s incompetence in anything that doesn’t involve grifting. Additionally Netanyahu underestimated Trump’s ability to cause unrelenting chaos.
You don't cut off your nose to spite your face.
https://globalpost.com/stories/us-iran-ceasefire-deal-clouds-netanyahus-reelection-bid/?_bhlid=dd55dd7669df432b1e625b0eb706b41df7340689
Israel did not participate in the negotiations.
Neither did the Afghan government during the last Trump-sponsored "negotiations" of the Doha agreement in Afghanistan. Trump seems to leave critical elements out of negotiations.
He has no idea what the word “negotiation” actually means. Mr. Art of the Deal himself…NOT.
That's a good point. When Trump sent a couple of real estate brokers (Witkoff and Kushner) instead of people known for diplomatic negotiating skills, we knew how it would end up.
Vance had follwed them, a politician/venture capitalist, also had no training.
"Trump’s evil calculation of how to enhance his own interests regardless of who else pays a price."
Excellent turn of phrase! Trump in a nutshell. (And amazing at this point that some people still don't seem to get it.)
Remember that they are both psychopaths. I'm sure Netanyahu thinks he can think rings around the imbecilic tRump, but tRumps cornered-animal mentality right now makes him a very dangerous opponent. Both of them have caught the tiger by the tail and are in for a rough ride... They are dragging all of us along for the ride. I still think Netanyahu has 'dirt' on tRump, likely acquired from Epstein, and might just use it in a fit of pique... that could cause a real row.
I'm not sure that Netanyahu is a psychopath. I see him more as extremely cynical,and focused on his self-interest.
Netanyahu did misread the weakness of the Iranian regime, as did Trump.
JMO
Anyone willing to kill innocents and commit acts of genocide is a psychopath.
Then America is a nation based on the actions of psychopaths, considering its own history.
We have been remarkably impervious to the truth about our own past. My Mom’s family were Polish Jews who emigrated in the 1840s. My grandfather was terrified that the Klan would find out. My brother-in-law’s father was Cherokee… I grew up in KY. All over there are hundreds of miles of country roads lined with stone fences built by slaves. But there are those who would just paint over the whole past by not teaching it.
I see him more as a sociopath. The pain, despair and death of other people doesn't register. All he feels is what pleases his ego. That the deaths of 73,000 human beings does make him feel powerful is the sick part.
I have always subscribed to the idea that Psychopathy is Sociopathy plus the propensity for violence. I think it is orders of magnitude worse than the boss in 9 to 5.
Netanyahoo is pushed by psycho-religious nationalist, Ben-Gvir, and Smotrich … neither of whom have enough of a following to accomplish anything on their own, but Bibi needs them on his side in order to stay in power (and out of jail) himself … they are the tail wagging the dog.
Netanyahu is like tRump in that they are both felons trying to avoid paying the price for their crimes. Once Netanyahu is out of office, he will be tried.
Also, I totally blame the current Israeli government for Oct. 7. and their crimes in the WB.
Like tRump is a disaster for our country, Netanyahu is a disaster for Israel.
Bitchy, I agree with you, Netanyahu is not a psychopath. I believe he is a sociopath. His primary goal is always self-preservation.
I guess Kushner won’t be building The New Gaza Vision anytime soon…
And if the Albanians have anything to do with it Jared won't be despoiling an island, either.
What is it that the megarich must have more and more ultra-exclusive resorts? They are like malignant spoiled children who get bored with their toys
Because their greed knows no bounds.
I believe that we would all like to be rich. To have enough to be free to do whatever we want. Maybe that's $10mil, maybe it's $50mil for you. But there IS a limit. A point where "more" doesn't matter to you. But the megarich, the Trumps, the Bezos', the Musks... that switch got turned off in their heads. They are a greedy cancer that has to have more, beyond any sane need or limit.
So these resorts... they're not resorts. You will never be able to just buy a ticket and go there. They are retreats. They will be invitation only, gotta know the right people kinds of places. The money you give them will offset some costs for the owner, but they're not doing it for money, they are doing it to have a place to flaunt their greed among like minded sociopaths.
Even a sex trafficking site - since the citizens of the US cannot even rise up to protect children from the sex abusers in our own nation. Never mind that we do not even attempt to end the concentration camps in the US. Clearly, people in the US are just like the Germans who did nothing about Hitler.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏‼️
🎯🎯🎯🎯
Bless the Flamingo Revolution for that! 🦩🦩🦩
🦩🦩🦩🦩🦩🦩
No doubt.
Well, well. It’s rich to see criticism from a newspaper started by the Adelsons criticizing Trump. Trump donors like the Adelson family own this.
"You made a colossal mistake. You failed by signing a surrender agreement with a murderous and cruel terror regime. You severely harmed American interests and the democratic and human values of the enlightened world, and you turned over the hourglass toward the next war, which your successors will have to deal with in the years to come. . . . You did all this in violation of every promise you made, in contradiction to the path you had followed until now, and against the values of America, which was supposed to return to greatness and has now been humiliated into the dust."
Hilarious in an ironic way, but totally true! And an apt epitaph.
It makes me wonder just how tall Trump's headstone will have to be in order to list all of the stupid, senseless "mistakes" and crimes he has committed against our democracy and values over the last 10 years.
The headstone will probably be the tallest edifice he's ever "built" and the only memorial the American people will probably approve of.
the picture I saw (alas imaginary) of Trump's headstone said only "Donald Trump. Please wash hands after urinating."
It will need its own hookup to the sewer system.
There used to be an active website, pissonhisgrave(dot)com that had Trump as a future candidate. That website can still be found on the Wayback Machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20220627184702/https://www.pissonhisgrave.com/copy-of-our-tours-future-tours
I made a similar joke before I saw your post. Great minds think alike.
No, he gets buried next to his first wife, under that mound of weeds in the corner of his one of his golf courses.
Trump deserves an unmarked grave, matching that of the paupers that he has created.
Trump's headstone will be the first one ever to need a flush lever because of all the visitors wanting to "pay their respects".
It need say nothing more than “trump” — we’ll all know!
Agreed. These are the people who tightly linked Israel to Donald Trump and the Republican Party in general, and made support for Israel conditional on support for Netanyahu on top of that. So they lashed perception of Israel tightly to radical partisans in both the United States and Israel...and now they're shocked to see that backfire.
The net result of all of this is that Israel has never had *less* support than it does now...and that is entirely the fault of Israel's government and the apologists for that government.
I've traditionally been sympathetic for Israel's plight -- a country surrounded by largely hostile governments and populated by people who fled the genocide and murder of the Nazi regime. But Israel has somehow managed to burn through all that sympathy with their recent actions.
Well, that's the PR. As a young adolescent, I fell for the heroic version of Zionist Israel. Then I began to really learn history. Israel was "founded' by radical Zionists beginning decades before Hitler, though not recognized until 1949- at which time Palestinians were also promised a homeland. Some survivors of the holocaust went to Israel, but many followed escaped relatives to countries all around the world. Zionists were not peaceful people, and didn't welcome Jews who didn't meet their "standards". At this time, it appears that the majority of Israelis are against Netanyahu, and it is highly likely he will lose the election if he ever agrees to hold one. And likely that he will be found guilty of crimes he's already been charged with, plus a few more. He will go to prison, and that is one reason he continues his "war".
"at which time Palestinians were also promised a homeland." Not exactly. The UN in 1947 proposed a partition plan that would have created independent Arab and Jewish states, with special arrangements for Jerusalem. Arab nations boycotted the discussions and rejected any partition of the land. Jewish organizations supported it, though with misgivings. And so here we are, nearly 80 years later.
What I find really sad about this whole thing is that the Jews and Palestinians are the same people: they originated in the same place and share the same ancestors going back thousands of years and they just got divided at one point by religion.
My understanding is so long as Netanyahu and his coalition partners are the government, Israel has no long run peaceful solution to the Gaza conflict.
They murdered everyone in Gaza
"Well, well. It’s rich to see criticism from a newspaper started by the Adelsons criticizing Trump."
Carol, it's a healthy sign that one can criticize their own side for the errors it makes. Sadly, I don't see that from Jen, The Contrarian staff, or almost everyone else here. Human nature being what it is, there will always be more than enough mistakes to go around.
Thank you for your thoughtful response. The Trump oligarchs, whoever they may be, are doing a great deal of damage.
The so called 'Christian support' for Israel was always followed by 'Jews are going to be thrown into hell'-- by the people I grew up around. It was never about support for the people of Israel. It was always about their own selfish aims, period. And now, we see the ugly fruit of their heresy and insanity in disastrous US wars and foreign policy.
I always found that bizarre, then during the Bush Jr years I learned about "dominionists" as part of Christian faith.
The idea that we have people who claim to be religious and follow Christ's teachings deciding that THEY needed to bring about the second coming of Christ, and that scripture told them they had to help Israel rebuild the temple... so the evil Muslims had to go... is just crazy.
I was never sure just how much Shrub agreed with that idea, but a shockingly large number of his appointees and senior staff did. His administration was full of people actively working to make Israel stronger and more violent BECAUSE it was supposed to bring back their Prince of Peace.
Yes. Me, too. I left them long in my past. Thankfully.
"...you don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody."
No, but it's okay to have shock troops rappel down to the roof from helicopters, kick in doors, and put zip ties on terrified, half-naked children, right Mr. "President"?
I am so glad you pointed to that abhorrent Chicago apartment ICE raid. Absolutely disgraceful. And now the Republican Congress gives those clowns $70 BILLION more? Don't ever complain about deficits again.
The pot calling the kettle black...
I am in agreement here. JD Vance is as two faced as it gets. Pete Hegseth is the other. Both of them are Christian nationalists and they don’t get to define who or what is Pro Israel. Trump has no doubt created a worse situation than what already existed and he has no clue what he’s doing or how to fix it or how to get out of this war he created.
Trump doesn't know how to fix this war, but he does know how to get out of it. Like he has done in the past, mask the current problem with another diversion and walk away. He believes that "baffling us with bullshit" works, which it does for some loyalists, but not for all. His margin of believers is getting thin.
JD is a political weather vane. He points wherever the political winds are going.
It will get even better. Wait till Netanyahu and Israel realize that Hegseth's Christian Nationalists are just using Israel to get what they want. They are protecting Israel now, but their end time's prophesy says that all Jews (everyone, actually) must convert to Christianity or they will become the "enemy". I certainly hope it won't ever get to that point. Christian Nationalism is a cult and should be taken seriously. Thank you, Jen, for all you do.
to be fair, any religion is a cult capable of harming non-believers
don't believe it ? recall the Spanish Inquisition...
Or the "Indian schools" set up to deliberately separate indigenous children from their parents, each other, and their cultures. Many died, some of illness, some of violence, some of heartbreak. Most of the schools were run by churches, with the cooperation of the US gov. We haven't begun to address the damage. Be careful which direction your finger points. On the other hand, there were (and still are) religious groups whose mission is to make life easier for others without expectation and without judgement.
I belong to the church of “separation of church and state”. I wasn’t really pointing a finger at any church, but I get what you are saying. I don’t consider Christian Nationalists Christians. They are a cult (Project 2025) and I believe they are one of the most dangerous aspects of this administration. They are trying to fulfill their “end-times” prophesy, themselves. They believe that empathy is a sin.
And without public accolades.
I'm sure they know.
I really hope so. It bothers me that so many people seem to be ignoring this. I hope I am worrying for nothing.
I feel about Israel about the same way I feel about the USA. I admired them in the past, but no longer do. It doesn't mean I want either country obliterated. It means they need to get their shit together.
When a country has an egotistical, corrupt leader, the country is doomed face massive pain and destruction. Both the US and Israel have reached this point, and there's no telling where we will all end up. I hate to quote JD Vance but he's correct that “You can’t just kill your way out of solving every problem.” And when you kill people whose ideas are abhorrent to you, many more people will pick up those ideas and you may end up much worse off. So how did we get here? Civilizations fall when the few people with power collect all wealth for themselves and leave the majority destitute.
You forgot the part where one group (usually but not always) sets one part of the population against another. Wealth is not necessarily part of this, but increasingly is becoming so. We need to stop pointing fingers in judgment and start reaching our hands out to one another.
Yes. Hate is a favored tool with fascists. King Con has used divisiveness with his groups of minions forever. It's really all he knows for how to be in charge.
I prefer to label them as Nationalist Christians, or, for short, the Nat-Cs.
It may take a bit for us to get that one into common usage, but Nat-C is just fantastic. It helps to label your opponent, and that one has a lot of appropriate baggage already attached.
I'll be borrowing that in the future. Thanks.
Oh, that is *too* good!
I like this, because I really struggle to spell "evangelicals" correctly.
how about the crapees ?
Not a pun. Nat-Cs is.
Amazing what these two are willing to do just to stay out of jail...
No need to drag this religion or another religion into the brawl between those two fascists.
That drump guy fighting with bibi is the same as if himmler would be fighting with heydrich.
Two genocidal maniacs accusing each other of being a genocidal maniac.
Genocidal maniac drump wants out of Iran (although he would gladly nuke Iran away) but genocidal maniac bibi does not want to stop bombing Libanon thus preventing the way out for genocidal maniac drump.
To be completely clear: drump and bibi are both genocidal maniacs and they both deserve their visit to the International Court in The Hague accompanied by their henchmen.
Small reminder: 'henchmen'
A person who is loyal to and works for someone in a position of authority and is willing to help that person even by hurting others or by committing crimes.
Trump can not even play checkers, much less the five-level chess game myth his cult followers attributed to him. Instead, he was simply dog-walked into a disastrous War of Choice led by Netanyahu, Hegseth et al without prior war gaming of how to end this "excursion" of Israeli genocide and meglomania that has now extended to Lebanon. Trump was never about "America First". Trump is just a global con man who is "for sale" and he sold out "We the People" in every which way. Trump = Treason!
If you believe Bibi led tRump into attacking Iran, do you also believe that Bibi led tRump into attacking Venezuela? IMO, tRump only does what's best for him. He probably thought Iran would be a cake walk. Surprise!
Two things can be true at once. I believe both Bibi and Trump are opportunists; they both use and exploit each other. As for the disastrous unlawful War of Choice in Iran, Bibi and Trump are now like two scorpions 🦂 in a jar trying not to sting each other while trying to hold onto power in their respective countries. If Bibi loses his power in Israel he faces war crimes. If Trump loses power, he faces a similar fate.
No need for that. All Drumpf wants is money. Venezuela has oil, oil=money, Drumpf went to Venezuela. Iran has oil, oil=money, Drumpf went to Iran. All Bibi had to do was to tell him he'd be a war hero and get the oil, and--voila!
I agree with your assessment, but in essence any Jewish American or Jew anywhere who supports/supported drumpf is/was against the Israeli nation and its people. The Evangelical pro-Israel faction is fiercely antisemitic. drumpf's attacks on Harvard, Columbia, etc., under the cover of protecting Jewish-Americans and Israelis at those institutions, were merely part of his and the right's agenda of delegitimizing learning and research and stifling free expression and critical thinking. A child could see through those pretexts. What Netanyahu and his extreme-right coalition, whose children are protected from going to war, has done is to give a moral stand to antisemites. drumpf's alliance with a would-be dictator (NOT supported by Israel's Supreme Court) has brought about the greatest surge of antisemitism since the 1930s since many antisemites can now pose as progressives.
Thank you, Jen.
So well said! Trump’s overall con is falling apart in all kinds of ways.
Hypocrisy is the GOP’s calling card. They will continue to attack and disparage any non-MAGA as anti-Israel and antisemitic for criticizing Netanyahu, Trump and their supporters for objectively reprehensible conduct imperiling the futures of both Israel and diaspora Jews.