Trump’s two choices: escalation or retreat
Donald Trump couldn’t be bothered to remove his MAGA hat during the ceremony where the bodies of six dead American soldiers were returned to American soil.
Neither JD Vance or Trump could be bothered to bow their heads.
It was appalling, but typical.
Trump is incapable of showing respect.
He is incapable of dignity, grace and decency.
Do you know what he is capable of?
In 2019, the FBI interviewed a woman who alleged that Donald Trump sexually abused her four times when she was 13, according to the latest batch of released Epstein files.
He is an evil man.
Donald Trump promised peace, but has delivered war.
The war was begun on Trump’s whim without a plan, strategy, or any idea about what comes next.
Intelligence assessments that said it was unlikely the bombing campaign would topple the Iranian regime were dismissed, while a cascade of possible consequences were ignored, including the likelihood that US cities would face terror attacks.
There has never been a more depraved, unfit, incompetent or corrupt American government in 250 years of history. The president is a liar, a degenerate, a felon and a blustering incompetent whose ignorance is only matched by his narcissism.
He is an imbecile, and a deadly idiot who has yoked the American economy to a scheme from which he cannot back down.
What he has unleashed far from home will not stay there.
The ripples are being felt around the world, and soon they will be felt at every American kitchen table, where ordinary people will face skyrocketing costs on everything from gas to food.
All of it is the price of Trump’s folly.
Donald has cornered himself.
After nine days of bombing there are no signs that the Iranian regime is dying.
In fact, it seems to have survived the decapitation strikes, and there have been no popular uprisings against the regime across the country. Air power alone has never won a war, and there are no possibilities that America or Israel can mandate what is happening on the ground from the air.
None.
There are two choices ahead for Trump: escalation or retreat.
Retreat means defeat and the survival of the Iranian regime.
Escalation means an invasion of Iran with the full force of the US Army, National Guard and Marine Corps.
It is the type of war that will require a draft.
It is the type of war that America has lost in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
It is Trump’s war of choice.
It is a disaster, and it will get worse.
Much worse.
MAGA is one of the greatest disasters in American history, and the bill has barely started coming due.
No amount of corporate media happy talk or rose-colored glasses will change the basic reality of what is happening in the Middle East.
There is war.
It is escalating.
It is Trump’s war, and ordinary Americans are going to pay the price.
It is the cost of the indifference that allowed Trump to take power, and it will be very high.
Every detail of the recklessness, bad judgements, insanities and corruption that have led us to the edge of disaster will become known.
All of them.
The high court of history will judge this with brutality.
It will judge all of Trump’s warmongers harshly.
Americans are coming home in boxes, and Donald Trump can’t be bothered to remove his hat.
It is a perfect image for this rotten moment.
It is a perfect image that speaks to America’s rot.
It is a national disgrace.
Appalling, disrespectful behavior. Most people bow their heads or put hand over the heart at national anthem at the Ballpark. They cannot do it in front of flag draped caskets.
A Sunday story for you Steve:
Back in the innocent days when ice cream sundaes tasted far better and cost far less, a haggard little boy entered a cafe, and, spotting a seat at the counter, made his way through the bustling crowd. A tied-up and tired waitress put a glass of water in front of him and asked what he'd like.
‘How much is an ice cream sundae?', he inquired with excited eyes.
50 cents, replied the waitress.
The boy pulled a handful of change out of his pocket and studied his small collection of coins.
‘How much is a dish of plain ice cream?', he asked, this time a bit sheepishly.
Noticing that her other tipping customers were now waiting to be served the waitress grew impatient.
35 cents, she said in an abrupt, lightly exasperated tone.
The boy again counted his coins, then said, ‘I'll have the plain ice cream please.' The waitress brought the ice cream, slid his bill on the counter, and rushed off to serve the ones who paid her bills.
The boy, grateful for his treat, finished his ice cream, paid the cashier, and departed penniless.
When the waitress came back, she started wiping down the counter, and then began to cry at what she saw.
There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, was 15 cents – the missing link between a sundae and plain ice cream – her tip.
That busy day that poor boy imbued in her a reverberating unannounced lesson both in kindness and humility which she shared everyplace she went until she breathed her last.