Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
I can't help fantasizing about what our country would look like now if we'd just been willing to put "the lady in office."
Most likely, a continuation of the Biden policies that grew the economy "from the middle, out", lowering inflation, job growth, healthcare initiatives, cost of living stable or falling, material discussions of how to improve affordability, AI regulations, policy planning of how to ensure that billionaires don't take over the government, NATO strong and secure, America being respected by the rest of the world, negotiations vs witless war operations...
Better still, If, long ago, Mitch McConnell and his cohorts in the Senate had done a responsible job (convict and remove) when given impeachment proceedings from the House of Representatives, all of this and more could have been avoided.
There can't be a better description of the debacle we find ourselves in than this newsletter. It's as if this country is run by a perennial drunk driver and there is no one giving him a DUI (or the jail time he deserves)....
I think about this reality every day! None of the irrational Trump-crap would have taken place. We would still have a stable growing economy, tranquility at home and sound relations around the world. A President Harris would have surrounded herself with competent, capable managers and advisors. Instead, the American voters chose chaos, corruption and worldwide disruption. I question not only the sanity of President Loose Cannon but the sanity of American voters!
Please don't put us all in the same basket. Trump won by 1.5% of the people who actually voted, hardly a mandate. Many either voted for third party candidates or didn't bother to vote at all. The rest of us didn't vote for him.
Paul Krugman very much agrees with you, Merrill. He said, in his Adventures in Fantasy Diplomacy, Mar. 23, 2026
Finally, consider possible motives. Imagine that you were somebody close to Trump, somebody close enough to actually have an influence on his decisions as well as inside knowledge. Here’s what you could have done really just between last night and now. You could have sold a bunch of crude oil futures, at very high prices, Brent was over $112 over the weekend, then bought them back immediately after Trump’s announcement of triumphal progress, but before the Iranians said that is not happening. And you could have turned a very, very nice, very large profit.
To say that insider trading might be driving U.S. policy would have been outrageous. in the past. Who thinks that that’s beyond the realm of possibility now? So all of this could be happening.
We may need to wait for advances in quantum computing to “follow the blockchain” as cryptocurrency currently conceals a multitude of sins. That’s what it was made to do.
"Think about that: with at least 13 Americans dead, disruption of the global economy, and immense damage to our Gulf allies, we wind up in a worse place than we were before the war."
All true, and all terrible.
You might also mention: at least 3000 men, women and children killed in Iran (according to human rights group estimates so far), at least 1000 more killed in Lebanon, tens of thousands of Iranian homes destroyed along with schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure, massive, barely comprehensible environmental damage....
This is more than an incredibly stupid strategic blunder, although it is certainly that...it is another series of war crimes by the US/Israel alliance.
No one can be surprised that, after the still ongoing genocide in Gaza resulted in absolutely no accountability for the alliance responsible, and the alliance has bombed countries in the region at will for years and assassinated leaders at whim, that more war crimes would follow.
I was thinking about this too. Plus the 1 million people displaced in Lebanon. Americans need to hear more about all of this. The damage done and non-US civilian lives lost should get the attention of the Christian right but I haven’t seen that happen.
The Guardian has better coverage of Israel's attacks on Lebanon than US media, possibly because the US is not directly attacking Lebanon. In addition to the loss of lives and displacement of innocent people in Lebanon, Israel is no better off than before they attacked. Is Israel thinking of annexing part of Lebanon?
It shouldn't surprise anyone if Israel attempt to outright annex parts of southern Lebanon. In the past couple years Israel has expanded its annexation of the Golan Heights further into Syria too, which barely gets a mention in the US outside some independent outlets.
From what I have seen, polls in Israel have shown very strong support for the war in Iran (not sure about Lebanon). This is from NPR yesterday:
"Israeli Jews are nearly unanimous in their support for the war, according to public opinion polls. In the first week, in two separate polls, more than 90% of Israeli Jews approved of Israel's strikes on Iran and the assassination of its top leaders."
This is another thing not mentioned in The Contrarian. Over and over last year Rubin and Eisen talked about polls in Israel that showed public disapproval about the attacks on Gaza, although they never mentioned this disapproval was entirely about the Israeli hostages. I heard Norm Eisen mention the same poll at least 5 different times in their Coffee sessions. I have yet to hear them mention anything about these current Israeli polls about Iran, or about Israel's attacks on Lebanon.
Right, and now Israel is planning to full take over southern Lebanon. Form The Guardian today:
"Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has been quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that the military will take control of south Lebanon all the way to the Litani river, which is about 30km (19 miles) from the Lebanon-Israel border."
There have been many reports about the IDF intentionally targeting hospitals, ambulances and other health care facilities, just like in Gaza.
Has The Contrarian said anything about Lebanon? If so, I missed it.
Here's another thing barely ever mentioned in the US outside of a few independent outlets:
Since the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel in November 2025, Israel killed over 600 men, women and children in Lebanon before the Iran war started. The IDF bombed residences and infrastructure and killed people nearly every day in southern Lebanon in those few months.
Just like in Gaza, a 'ceasefire' with Israel is an entirely one-way agreement.
The US of course shares full responsibility for all of this. When considering the crucial US military, financial and political support, all these attacks are effectively perpetuated by the US/Israel alliance, not Israel alone.
The Guardian is reporting today that Istael is going to "take control" of South Lebanon, so this war is also a land grab by Israel. How is Lebanon supposed to handle the Lebanese driven out of their homes?
And, good question. The US/Israeli alliance certainly doesn't care, any more than it does about a million+ Palestinians in Gaza made homeless, or Palestinians in the West Bank being driven from their homes by lynch mobs of 'settlers' protected by the IDF, which is happening nearly every day now.
We need to keep calling it by its name: ongoing genocide. A Holocaust, a reality of which we once said "Never again." I'm hoping for a day when leaders of countries in the West, and their allies, will be prosecuted for war crimes as readily as the leaders of second- and third-tier countries have been.
Yes - the 'ongoing' part is so important too, the US media has stopped paying attention, including this outlet, which said next to nothing about the ongoing devastation there sine the so-called 'ceasefire'.
I have posted these quotes from Israeli genocide scholars before, in hopes that those who support Israel's actions and dismiss other criticisms might listen to what these Israelis have to say:
Omer Bartov, professor of genocide studies at Brown:
.."My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could. But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one."
Amos Goldberg, professor in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
"Yes, it is genocide. It is so difficult and painful to admit it, but despite all that, and despite all our efforts to think otherwise, after six months of brutal war we can no longer avoid this conclusion. Jewish history will henceforth be stained with the mark of Cain for the ‘most horrible of crimes,’ which cannot be erased from its forehead. As such, this is the way it will be viewed in history’s judgment for generations to come."
Raz Segal, historian and associate professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University
"...the assault on Gaza can also be understood in other terms: as a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes....
Under international law, the crime of genocide is defined by “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such,” as noted in the December 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In its murderous attack on Gaza, Israel has loudly proclaimed this intent. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant declared it in no uncertain terms on October 9th: “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly.”
And, the president of US-based, self-described 'liberal Zionist' lobbying group J-Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami, said this last summer:
“Until now, I have tried to deflect and defend when challenged to call this genocide. I have, however, been persuaded rationally by legal and scholarly arguments that international courts will one day find that Israel has broken the international genocide convention.”
And what will it do once it "takes control" of South Lebanon?
As though none of this has happened before, in 1982? As though Hamas hasn't managed to come back from the dead at least three times. As though you could actually solve this problem through bombs and occupation. As though, as though, as though....
And many of those homes have now been purposefully destroyed by the IDF. And the bridges spanning the Litani River linking south and north Lebanon as well.
Israel has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and been bombing and killing with impunity, on the pretext that Lebanon was harboring Hezbollah fighters rather than displacing them. And how were they to do that, short of civil war? Another civil war.
France has sent millions in humanitarian aid, but otherwise, nobody seems to care about their plight, even enough to throw some harsh words Israel's way. (That I know of and not that it would help, of course...but still.)
Speaking of "Words and Phrases," the term "United States" now means a nation controlled by billionaires and right-wing zealots who pacify the inhabitants by jerking the stock market and oil prices.
I have a friend who used to be an attorney, and in that role she did a lot of negotiating. She made a very astute observation-- that when someone believes their ego-- their "face"-- is at stake, they will negotiate (and act) against even their own best interests in order to "save face". That's why good mediators and negotiators work hard to keep ego out of it.
And negotiating in public, especially negotiating on social media-- is about the worst way to negotiate because it inherently puts ego at stake. But then again, Don the Con isn't and never was a serious negotiator.
You're right, he never was a negotiator, though he makes that claim repeatedly. He was and is a bully, an extortionist, a briber, an insulter. Not a negotiator. Just a RoyCohn mini-me.
Exactly so. Trump makes "deals". In an honorable person, they can be arrived at through negotiation. In his way, they arrive through extortion, bribes and threats. There is quite a difference.
There is also more corruption. It is reported that someone made around $500 million dollars in oil futures based on insider knowledge of national security. Which Paul Krugman reports is treason, not merely insider trading.
"Over on Polymarket, 10 brand new accounts, all created at the same time, no trading history, dropped $160,000 betting on an Iran ceasefire by end of March. They stand to collect over a million dollars.
And two of those wallets? They’d already successfully bet on the war STARTING."
"the war STARTING" - all while the Omani mediator was believing he was making good progress and was shocked when the bombs started falling mere hours after his report to the media to that effect. But then he wasn't dealing with real negotiators but Trump's real estate buddy and son-in-law - both with financial interests in the region.
The recklessness and accompanying glee that characterize such Rumpish forays into the world, and the clueless posturing of his equally inexperienced and grandstanding minions, resemble nothing so much as a giant video game. There are only pieces to move around a board, with no care for lives lost, economies disrupted, and global credibility utterly destroyed.
Now that Greenland is off the table, he wants the "honor" of taking Cuba. The question: is this real to any of them????
With Trump and his crew, both Greenland and Cuba are unknowns - like pots simmering on a stove, they will get stirred when they haven't created enough mayhem to eclipse the Epstein coverup. That's what the Venezuela activities and now the war in Iran are doing.
It's pathetic, truly. Have you seen the video of the woman who was a 13-year-old when Rump raped her? It's now on YouTube. He wanted her to wear a blonde wig so she would look even more like his daughter. The whole bunch turns my stomach.
Why was this not thoroughly prosecuted at the time? Where were her parents? Trump has been doing this kind of crap for decades. Not nearly enough has been done to get him locked away - for our own good.
In a world of violent movies, TV, video games, and mass shootings it is not surprising that many Americans have reduced this conflict to the inconvenience associated with higher gas and food prices and its impact on 401Ks. Having become inured to the violence and deaf to the rhetoric of a demented president, we want an end to the "conflict" not on the grounds of its immorality but rather on its disruption to our lives thousands of miles away from the actual conflict. It would seem , not unlike Trump, that far too many of us are looking for an off ramp for the wrong reasons.
Trump is sweating, Tehran knows it and is not likely to let trump off of his (self inflicted) hook. Just like everything else trump tries, this blew up in his orange face.
‘… person or people who bought large quantities of stock market futures and sold large quantities of oil futures around 15 minutes before Trump’s announcement“
I read Krugman this morning too, and I hope everyone does. But I know who won’t, the Senate and the House Republican members, who are probably also profiting.
They also are not thinking. The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin to head Homeland Security. With his record and attitudes, he should be nowhere near any office in government.
Could it be that shoot-ready-aim is a poor way for starting a war? My guess is he will learn nothing from this exercise in imbecility and invade Cuba next. tRump is spreading chaos so he and his oligarchs can profiteer off said chaos and because our Constitution lacks a legal avenue to rapidly shut down a rogue presidency, the rethuglicans are holding us in thrall to the Orange menace.
Trump is a punk, a chump and an idiot. Everyone around him is either a coward or a bigger idiot. The GOP needs to end forever. It's a dead party with a human pig as its leader.
Couple of thoughts. [1] Netanyahu is not being mentioned at all in any of the posts I have seen this morning from anyone--not here, not HCR, not Reich, not Krugman, not Meidas. The fact that the Felon hasn't mentioned him either is important, I think, because Bibi is the puppet master here. He is manipulating li'l Pinocchio (aka Kushner) and the Christofascists in Congress (who expect the End Times to happen when the antichrist appears in Jerusalem--this is why they support the state of Israel, because they claim there have to be Jews to slaughter when the end times come). He won't stand for a withdrawal of US support and the fact that he is targeting mostly Hezbollah rather than Iran directly suggests he is relying on the Felon to do that part of the job. [2] I urge people to listen to Michel Martin's interview with a very competent former envoy on NPR this morning. He laid out just how deranged and incompetent the Felon is and when she desperately tried to get him to engage in sane-washing (she asked him to imagine what a rational person would do to end this whole situation) he refused. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/24/nx-s1-5757507/former-u-s-envoy-to-iran-discusses-whats-next-for-talks-between-the-us-and-iran
We need a lot more people to be vocal and public in refusing to sane-wash anything this maladministration does and anything that comes out of the Felon's mouth. He needs to be humiliated. I know: it makes him mad. Good. Because the more angry he gets the more deranged he sounds.
I'm struck by the bluntness of the Germans, in particular. Once the strongest member of what used to be a true interdependent, international, thriving alliance, Germany's chancellor told Trump (in so many words), 'no, we will NOT help you unfuck yourself. YOU got yourselves into another fine mess. Keep us out of it.' To Germany and Europe, it was also another way of saying 'we must take care of ourselves -- we're on our own now.' The message was unmistakeable.
NATO brought stability and prosperity to hundreds of millions, while holding Soviet aggression and expansionism at bay for decades. Its decline and demise says everything there is about international security today. Ironically, it may be good Europe in the long-run; in the short, absolutely nothing in this world will be easier, or safer, or more prosperous as a result of this screaming idiot in the White House.
Everything Trump touches dies. I know, dog bites man.
From "unconditional surrender" to Iran dictating terms to end Trump's War.
None of this is normal. As a Constitutional Republic, we have ceased to function. The Republican controlled Congress could have ended this at any time, could end it tomorrow.
When it ends militarily, the bill will continue to grow and grow. You and I will have it on our tab. Financially and morally.
I expect that if you were to examine administration members' stock option purchases and Kalshi bets before the Iran TACO announcement, you might achieve enlightenment upon his thought processes.
Donald Trump may be really incompetent at managing the operations of real things like the Presidency or foreign policy, but what he is clearly VERY competent at is corruptly making money through innuendo and propaganda. When insider trading investigations begin, let's start at the top.
He's a professional criminal.
I can't help fantasizing about what our country would look like now if we'd just been willing to put "the lady in office."
Most likely, a continuation of the Biden policies that grew the economy "from the middle, out", lowering inflation, job growth, healthcare initiatives, cost of living stable or falling, material discussions of how to improve affordability, AI regulations, policy planning of how to ensure that billionaires don't take over the government, NATO strong and secure, America being respected by the rest of the world, negotiations vs witless war operations...
Better still, If, long ago, Mitch McConnell and his cohorts in the Senate had done a responsible job (convict and remove) when given impeachment proceedings from the House of Representatives, all of this and more could have been avoided.
YES, and I hope they are mired in self-pity!
There can't be a better description of the debacle we find ourselves in than this newsletter. It's as if this country is run by a perennial drunk driver and there is no one giving him a DUI (or the jail time he deserves)....
I think about this reality every day! None of the irrational Trump-crap would have taken place. We would still have a stable growing economy, tranquility at home and sound relations around the world. A President Harris would have surrounded herself with competent, capable managers and advisors. Instead, the American voters chose chaos, corruption and worldwide disruption. I question not only the sanity of President Loose Cannon but the sanity of American voters!
Please don't put us all in the same basket. Trump won by 1.5% of the people who actually voted, hardly a mandate. Many either voted for third party candidates or didn't bother to vote at all. The rest of us didn't vote for him.
Paul Krugman very much agrees with you, Merrill. He said, in his Adventures in Fantasy Diplomacy, Mar. 23, 2026
Finally, consider possible motives. Imagine that you were somebody close to Trump, somebody close enough to actually have an influence on his decisions as well as inside knowledge. Here’s what you could have done really just between last night and now. You could have sold a bunch of crude oil futures, at very high prices, Brent was over $112 over the weekend, then bought them back immediately after Trump’s announcement of triumphal progress, but before the Iranians said that is not happening. And you could have turned a very, very nice, very large profit.
To say that insider trading might be driving U.S. policy would have been outrageous. in the past. Who thinks that that’s beyond the realm of possibility now? So all of this could be happening.
We may need to wait for advances in quantum computing to “follow the blockchain” as cryptocurrency currently conceals a multitude of sins. That’s what it was made to do.
"Think about that: with at least 13 Americans dead, disruption of the global economy, and immense damage to our Gulf allies, we wind up in a worse place than we were before the war."
All true, and all terrible.
You might also mention: at least 3000 men, women and children killed in Iran (according to human rights group estimates so far), at least 1000 more killed in Lebanon, tens of thousands of Iranian homes destroyed along with schools, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure, massive, barely comprehensible environmental damage....
This is more than an incredibly stupid strategic blunder, although it is certainly that...it is another series of war crimes by the US/Israel alliance.
No one can be surprised that, after the still ongoing genocide in Gaza resulted in absolutely no accountability for the alliance responsible, and the alliance has bombed countries in the region at will for years and assassinated leaders at whim, that more war crimes would follow.
I was thinking about this too. Plus the 1 million people displaced in Lebanon. Americans need to hear more about all of this. The damage done and non-US civilian lives lost should get the attention of the Christian right but I haven’t seen that happen.
The Guardian has better coverage of Israel's attacks on Lebanon than US media, possibly because the US is not directly attacking Lebanon. In addition to the loss of lives and displacement of innocent people in Lebanon, Israel is no better off than before they attacked. Is Israel thinking of annexing part of Lebanon?
I quoted that report too.
It shouldn't surprise anyone if Israel attempt to outright annex parts of southern Lebanon. In the past couple years Israel has expanded its annexation of the Golan Heights further into Syria too, which barely gets a mention in the US outside some independent outlets.
From what I have seen, polls in Israel have shown very strong support for the war in Iran (not sure about Lebanon). This is from NPR yesterday:
"Israeli Jews are nearly unanimous in their support for the war, according to public opinion polls. In the first week, in two separate polls, more than 90% of Israeli Jews approved of Israel's strikes on Iran and the assassination of its top leaders."
This is another thing not mentioned in The Contrarian. Over and over last year Rubin and Eisen talked about polls in Israel that showed public disapproval about the attacks on Gaza, although they never mentioned this disapproval was entirely about the Israeli hostages. I heard Norm Eisen mention the same poll at least 5 different times in their Coffee sessions. I have yet to hear them mention anything about these current Israeli polls about Iran, or about Israel's attacks on Lebanon.
Right, and now Israel is planning to full take over southern Lebanon. Form The Guardian today:
"Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has been quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that the military will take control of south Lebanon all the way to the Litani river, which is about 30km (19 miles) from the Lebanon-Israel border."
There have been many reports about the IDF intentionally targeting hospitals, ambulances and other health care facilities, just like in Gaza.
Has The Contrarian said anything about Lebanon? If so, I missed it.
Here's another thing barely ever mentioned in the US outside of a few independent outlets:
Since the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel in November 2025, Israel killed over 600 men, women and children in Lebanon before the Iran war started. The IDF bombed residences and infrastructure and killed people nearly every day in southern Lebanon in those few months.
Just like in Gaza, a 'ceasefire' with Israel is an entirely one-way agreement.
The US of course shares full responsibility for all of this. When considering the crucial US military, financial and political support, all these attacks are effectively perpetuated by the US/Israel alliance, not Israel alone.
The current “Christian“ right is not interested in the deaths of non-Christian-right people.
The Guardian is reporting today that Istael is going to "take control" of South Lebanon, so this war is also a land grab by Israel. How is Lebanon supposed to handle the Lebanese driven out of their homes?
Yeah I just quoted that above too.
And, good question. The US/Israeli alliance certainly doesn't care, any more than it does about a million+ Palestinians in Gaza made homeless, or Palestinians in the West Bank being driven from their homes by lynch mobs of 'settlers' protected by the IDF, which is happening nearly every day now.
We need to keep calling it by its name: ongoing genocide. A Holocaust, a reality of which we once said "Never again." I'm hoping for a day when leaders of countries in the West, and their allies, will be prosecuted for war crimes as readily as the leaders of second- and third-tier countries have been.
Yes - the 'ongoing' part is so important too, the US media has stopped paying attention, including this outlet, which said next to nothing about the ongoing devastation there sine the so-called 'ceasefire'.
I have posted these quotes from Israeli genocide scholars before, in hopes that those who support Israel's actions and dismiss other criticisms might listen to what these Israelis have to say:
Omer Bartov, professor of genocide studies at Brown:
.."My inescapable conclusion has become that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Having grown up in a Zionist home, lived the first half of my life in Israel, served in the I.D.F. as a soldier and officer and spent most of my career researching and writing on war crimes and the Holocaust, this was a painful conclusion to reach, and one that I resisted as long as I could. But I have been teaching classes on genocide for a quarter of a century. I can recognize one when I see one."
Amos Goldberg, professor in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem:
"Yes, it is genocide. It is so difficult and painful to admit it, but despite all that, and despite all our efforts to think otherwise, after six months of brutal war we can no longer avoid this conclusion. Jewish history will henceforth be stained with the mark of Cain for the ‘most horrible of crimes,’ which cannot be erased from its forehead. As such, this is the way it will be viewed in history’s judgment for generations to come."
Raz Segal, historian and associate professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University
"...the assault on Gaza can also be understood in other terms: as a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes....
Under international law, the crime of genocide is defined by “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such,” as noted in the December 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In its murderous attack on Gaza, Israel has loudly proclaimed this intent. Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant declared it in no uncertain terms on October 9th: “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly.”
And, the president of US-based, self-described 'liberal Zionist' lobbying group J-Street, Jeremy Ben-Ami, said this last summer:
“Until now, I have tried to deflect and defend when challenged to call this genocide. I have, however, been persuaded rationally by legal and scholarly arguments that international courts will one day find that Israel has broken the international genocide convention.”
Thank you for the scholars cited, Jason.
And what will it do once it "takes control" of South Lebanon?
As though none of this has happened before, in 1982? As though Hamas hasn't managed to come back from the dead at least three times. As though you could actually solve this problem through bombs and occupation. As though, as though, as though....
I kind of agree with you It's Come but I don't have a solution to offer, do you?
Oh, a solution you want? Solution is extra. Very expensive. Involves thinking first. Very very hard.....
And many of those homes have now been purposefully destroyed by the IDF. And the bridges spanning the Litani River linking south and north Lebanon as well.
The territory that Israel is now claiming includes the coastal city of Tyre, a tourist attraction and designated cultural heritage site. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260324-in-lebanon-s-tyre-ancient-site-threatened-by-israeli-bombs
Israel has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and been bombing and killing with impunity, on the pretext that Lebanon was harboring Hezbollah fighters rather than displacing them. And how were they to do that, short of civil war? Another civil war.
France has sent millions in humanitarian aid, but otherwise, nobody seems to care about their plight, even enough to throw some harsh words Israel's way. (That I know of and not that it would help, of course...but still.)
Put two war criminals who want to avoid prison in cahoots (Netanyahu and Trump) and anything that they touch will come to a bad end.
Speaking of "Words and Phrases," the term "United States" now means a nation controlled by billionaires and right-wing zealots who pacify the inhabitants by jerking the stock market and oil prices.
This combined group of oligarchs are closer to controlling the government and the economy (down to the kitchen table) than any time in memory.
I have a friend who used to be an attorney, and in that role she did a lot of negotiating. She made a very astute observation-- that when someone believes their ego-- their "face"-- is at stake, they will negotiate (and act) against even their own best interests in order to "save face". That's why good mediators and negotiators work hard to keep ego out of it.
And negotiating in public, especially negotiating on social media-- is about the worst way to negotiate because it inherently puts ego at stake. But then again, Don the Con isn't and never was a serious negotiator.
You're right, he never was a negotiator, though he makes that claim repeatedly. He was and is a bully, an extortionist, a briber, an insulter. Not a negotiator. Just a RoyCohn mini-me.
Exactly so. Trump makes "deals". In an honorable person, they can be arrived at through negotiation. In his way, they arrive through extortion, bribes and threats. There is quite a difference.
There is also more corruption. It is reported that someone made around $500 million dollars in oil futures based on insider knowledge of national security. Which Paul Krugman reports is treason, not merely insider trading.
actually, everything they do is treason
"Over on Polymarket, 10 brand new accounts, all created at the same time, no trading history, dropped $160,000 betting on an Iran ceasefire by end of March. They stand to collect over a million dollars.
And two of those wallets? They’d already successfully bet on the war STARTING."
https://ifloz.substack.com/p/you-want-to-know-why-they-started
"the war STARTING" - all while the Omani mediator was believing he was making good progress and was shocked when the bombs started falling mere hours after his report to the media to that effect. But then he wasn't dealing with real negotiators but Trump's real estate buddy and son-in-law - both with financial interests in the region.
The recklessness and accompanying glee that characterize such Rumpish forays into the world, and the clueless posturing of his equally inexperienced and grandstanding minions, resemble nothing so much as a giant video game. There are only pieces to move around a board, with no care for lives lost, economies disrupted, and global credibility utterly destroyed.
Now that Greenland is off the table, he wants the "honor" of taking Cuba. The question: is this real to any of them????
With Trump and his crew, both Greenland and Cuba are unknowns - like pots simmering on a stove, they will get stirred when they haven't created enough mayhem to eclipse the Epstein coverup. That's what the Venezuela activities and now the war in Iran are doing.
It's pathetic, truly. Have you seen the video of the woman who was a 13-year-old when Rump raped her? It's now on YouTube. He wanted her to wear a blonde wig so she would look even more like his daughter. The whole bunch turns my stomach.
Why was this not thoroughly prosecuted at the time? Where were her parents? Trump has been doing this kind of crap for decades. Not nearly enough has been done to get him locked away - for our own good.
In a world of violent movies, TV, video games, and mass shootings it is not surprising that many Americans have reduced this conflict to the inconvenience associated with higher gas and food prices and its impact on 401Ks. Having become inured to the violence and deaf to the rhetoric of a demented president, we want an end to the "conflict" not on the grounds of its immorality but rather on its disruption to our lives thousands of miles away from the actual conflict. It would seem , not unlike Trump, that far too many of us are looking for an off ramp for the wrong reasons.
At this point, any reason(s) would be the right reason, as Trump should never have taken us here in the first place.
Trump is sweating, Tehran knows it and is not likely to let trump off of his (self inflicted) hook. Just like everything else trump tries, this blew up in his orange face.
Grist and corruption on the way to the ‘off-ramp’
‘… person or people who bought large quantities of stock market futures and sold large quantities of oil futures around 15 minutes before Trump’s announcement“
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/treason-in-the-futures-markets?publication_id=277517&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-share&triggerShare=true&r=bi4n
I read Krugman this morning too, and I hope everyone does. But I know who won’t, the Senate and the House Republican members, who are probably also profiting.
They also are not thinking. The Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin to head Homeland Security. With his record and attitudes, he should be nowhere near any office in government.
😳🤨
Could it be that shoot-ready-aim is a poor way for starting a war? My guess is he will learn nothing from this exercise in imbecility and invade Cuba next. tRump is spreading chaos so he and his oligarchs can profiteer off said chaos and because our Constitution lacks a legal avenue to rapidly shut down a rogue presidency, the rethuglicans are holding us in thrall to the Orange menace.
Trump is a punk, a chump and an idiot. Everyone around him is either a coward or a bigger idiot. The GOP needs to end forever. It's a dead party with a human pig as its leader.
Couple of thoughts. [1] Netanyahu is not being mentioned at all in any of the posts I have seen this morning from anyone--not here, not HCR, not Reich, not Krugman, not Meidas. The fact that the Felon hasn't mentioned him either is important, I think, because Bibi is the puppet master here. He is manipulating li'l Pinocchio (aka Kushner) and the Christofascists in Congress (who expect the End Times to happen when the antichrist appears in Jerusalem--this is why they support the state of Israel, because they claim there have to be Jews to slaughter when the end times come). He won't stand for a withdrawal of US support and the fact that he is targeting mostly Hezbollah rather than Iran directly suggests he is relying on the Felon to do that part of the job. [2] I urge people to listen to Michel Martin's interview with a very competent former envoy on NPR this morning. He laid out just how deranged and incompetent the Felon is and when she desperately tried to get him to engage in sane-washing (she asked him to imagine what a rational person would do to end this whole situation) he refused. https://www.npr.org/2026/03/24/nx-s1-5757507/former-u-s-envoy-to-iran-discusses-whats-next-for-talks-between-the-us-and-iran
We need a lot more people to be vocal and public in refusing to sane-wash anything this maladministration does and anything that comes out of the Felon's mouth. He needs to be humiliated. I know: it makes him mad. Good. Because the more angry he gets the more deranged he sounds.
I believe that I've mentioned Netanyahu in every one of my postings today, and not favorably.
The “artful dealer” is getting punked on the daily by Iran. And we are paying for it. Bigly.
I'm struck by the bluntness of the Germans, in particular. Once the strongest member of what used to be a true interdependent, international, thriving alliance, Germany's chancellor told Trump (in so many words), 'no, we will NOT help you unfuck yourself. YOU got yourselves into another fine mess. Keep us out of it.' To Germany and Europe, it was also another way of saying 'we must take care of ourselves -- we're on our own now.' The message was unmistakeable.
NATO brought stability and prosperity to hundreds of millions, while holding Soviet aggression and expansionism at bay for decades. Its decline and demise says everything there is about international security today. Ironically, it may be good Europe in the long-run; in the short, absolutely nothing in this world will be easier, or safer, or more prosperous as a result of this screaming idiot in the White House.
Everything Trump touches dies. I know, dog bites man.
From "unconditional surrender" to Iran dictating terms to end Trump's War.
None of this is normal. As a Constitutional Republic, we have ceased to function. The Republican controlled Congress could have ended this at any time, could end it tomorrow.
When it ends militarily, the bill will continue to grow and grow. You and I will have it on our tab. Financially and morally.
And a bunch of enablers and well connected people would make a lot of money out of this, sorry to say Once Upon.
I expect that if you were to examine administration members' stock option purchases and Kalshi bets before the Iran TACO announcement, you might achieve enlightenment upon his thought processes.