Tag: politics

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, corruption, Craziness, CLXXIX – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous War Leader, XI

~ tomdolen

***. ‘..psychiatrist Prudence L. Gourgueschon, a former president of the American Psycoanalytic Association, proposed judging Trump’s fitness for office using the United States Army Field Manual on developing leaders. She distilled..five crucial qualities needed to lead: – Trust -Discipline and self-control – Judgment and critical thinking -Self-awareness – Empathy. Not one of these is part of Trump’s nature.” [Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think”].

WHY did the United States go to war with Iran? What decision-making processes were conducted? WHO were the key people voicing opinions? WHO pushed for war? WHO voiced caution, and or, opposition to war?

This post presents excerpts from: “Behind The Scenes. As Trump Took U.S. To War With Iran”. [Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman; New York times; 4/12/26 ]: [NOTE: this might be THE article on those and other crucial questions. If YOU want to know more about WHY America is at war – then this article is a MUST read]

8] “But Trump would often seem to hear only what he wanted to hear.”

1]. “This account of how Trump took the United States into war reveals how the deliberations inside the administration highlighted the president’s instincts, his inner circle’s fractures and the way he runs the White House…And it shows how, in the end, even the more skeptical members of Trump’s war cabinet..deferred to the president’s instincts, including his abundant confidence that trhe war would be quick and decisive.”

5] “The CIA director used one word to describe the Israeli prime minister’s regime change scenarios: “farcical.” At that point, Rubio cut in. “In other words, it’s bullshit,” he said Several others jumped in, including Vance, just back from Azerbaijan, who also expressed strong skepticism about the prospect of regime change.”

*** “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” [ Isaac Asimov ]

13] “Tucker Carlson..had come to the Oval Office several times over the previous year to warn Trump that a war with Iran would destroy his presidency…”I know you’re worried about it, but it’s going to be OK,” the president said. Carlson asked how he knew. “Because it always is,” Trump replied.”

11]. “In front of his colleagues, Vance warned Trump that a war against Iran could cause regional chaos and untold numbers of casualties…Vance raised other concerns, too. As vice president, he was aware of the scope of America’s munitions problem…that no amount of military insight could truly gauge what Iran would do in retaliation when the survival of the regime was at stake. Moreover, he thought there seemed to be little chance of building a peaceful Iran in the aftermath.”

12]. “Beyond all of this was perhaps the biggest risk of all: Iran held the advantage when it came to the Strait of Hormuz. if this narrow waterway carrying vast quantities of oil and natural gas was choked off, the domestic consequences in the United states would be severe, starting with higher gas prices.”

***. “The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears tobe one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.” [ Robert Lynd ]

2] “Netanyahu and his team outlined conditions they portrayed as pointing to almost certain victory: Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed in a few weeks. the regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz, and the likelihood that Iran would land blows against U.S. interests in neighboring countries was assesses as minimal….Besides…..” [read this again. it appears to have had a decisive impact on Trump – how much have real events shown this to be accurate?]

3]. “The intelligence officials had deep expertise in U.s. military capabilities, and they knew the Iranian system and its players inside out. They had broken down Netanyahu’s presentation into four parts. First was decapitation – killing the ayatollah. Second was crippling Iran’s power to project power and threaten its neighbors. third was a popular uprising inside Iran. And fourth was regime change, with a secular leader installed to govern the country. The U.S. officials assessed that the first two objectives were achievable…They assessed that the third and fourth parts of Netanyahu’s pitch…were detached from reality.”

6] “The president then turned to to Caine, “General, what do you think?” Caine replied, “sir, this is, in my experience, standard operating procedure for the Israelis. They oversell, and their plans are not always well-developed. They know they need us, and that’s why they’re hard-selling.”

*** “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. but if you must be without one. Be without the strategy.” [ General Norman Schwarzkopf ]

7] “As the small team of advisors who were lopped into the plans deliberated over the following days, Caine shared with Trump and others the alarming military assessment that a major campaign against Iran would drastically deplete stockpiles of U.S. weaponry. Caine saw no clear path to quickly replenishing these stockpiles. He also flagged the enormous difficulty of securing the Strait of Hormuz and the risks of Iran blocking it. Trump had dismissed that possibility on the assumption that the regime would capitulate before it came to that. The president appeared to think it would be a very quick war.” [NOTE: read this again – WHO is correct? WHO is working from data and rational thinking – and WHO is working from assumptions and wishful thinking???]

9] “Back in office for a second term, Trump’s confidence in the U.S. military’s abilities had only grown. he was especially emboldened by the spectacular commando raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro…Within the Cabinet, Hegseth was the biggest proponent of a military campaign against Iran…Rubio, however, did not try to talk Trump out of the operation.”

10] “Nobody in Trump’s inner circle was more worried about the prospect of war with Iran, or did more to try to stopit, than the vice president…..he had described a war with Iran as “a huge distraction of resources” and “massively expensive..”…..What the vice president pushed for was a limited, punitive strike…thought a regime change war with Iran would be a disaster. His preference was for no strikes at all.”

14]. The final situation room meeting of February 26. Read the account of this meeting, the column under “I think we need to do it.” Participants say nothing of significance against war. They leave EVERYTHING up to Trump’s judgment. Which is most unfortunate. – because numerous psychiatrists, mental health experts, historians, analysts, largely agree. – “judgment and critical thinking”. – is something Trump DOES NOT have.

[NOTE: – remember this: “…the notion, that his team is working to protect him from himself, has since become one of the defining narratives of the Trump administration…President Trump should not be shocked that wary aides and cabinet members saved his presidency..many times.” [Anonymous – a senior Trump administration official: “A Warning”. – BUT – this was in the FIRST Trump term. – NOT the second, filled with “loyalists” ]

*** “While discussing “Fear’. on television, I was asked for my bottom-line summary of Trump’s leadership. “Let’s hope to God we don’t have a crisis, I said.” [ Pulitzer Prize winner bob Woodward in “Rage” ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXVIII – Trump’s Contempt for the American People

~ tomdolen

*** “Never since the scandal-ridden administration of Ulysses S. Grant has there been an executive branch as nakedly given over to self-dealing as that of Donald Trump….no family has mixed business interests with public office like the Trumps. The appointment of close family members who are also corporate executives to ill-defined but top-level White House jobs is a first…His daughter Ivanka Trump has also served as an inspiration to dictators around the world.”
[ Sarah Chayes: On Corruption In America” ]

This post presents excerpts from. “Trump Holds the American People in Total Contempt” {Jamelle Bouie; New York Times; 4/26/26}:

1] “To say that President Trump is corrupt is to somehow understate the size, scope and magnitude of his corruption.”

9] “With Trump..the misconduct is the concern. You might even say that his corruption, like his cruelty, is the point.”

2]. “..Trump’s corruption, which is so vast as to be a new phenomenon in American politics. The president and his family have leveraged his office to the tune of nearly $4 billion. They have received hundreds of millions of dollars from a network of branded cryptocurrency assets. Investors include large corporations, foreign nationals and state actors hoping to curry favor with the administration.”

*** “Trump perked up at the mention of bribes and got rather agitated. He told Tillerson he wanted him to help him get rid of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act…..Looking at Tillerson, Trump said, “I need you to get rid of that law”….”Mr. President,” he said. “I’m not the guy to do that.”….Trump..turned to Stephen Miller….”Stephen, I want you to draft an executive order and repeal that law.” [Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig: “A Very Stable Genius”]. [NOTE: this is an actual 2017 Oval Office conversation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How much ore do YOU need to know???]

3] “..consider the president’s pardons. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, a crypto firm, was convicted in 2023 fro violating the Bank Secrecy Act. After Trump returned to office, Zhao – whose company donated software to World Liberty Financial so that it could start its own cryptocurrency. – lobbied for a pardon. In October of last year, Trump granted the pardon, raising the possibility that Zhao could recover his court-ordered fines. – $4.3 billion to the U.S. government as punishment for allowing criminal actors to use Binance for a broad array of illicit transactions, including child sex abuse, illegal narcotics and terrorism.”

4]. “Trump’s various projects. – his monuments to himself. – also appear to be little more than state-sanctioned opportunities for graft. The president has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from wealthy donors and large corporations for his proposed ballroom, presidential library and triumphal arch. Tens of millions of dollars marked for the library are unaccounted for..”

5] “Last but far from least is the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S., for damages for leaking his tax returns to the public in 2019 and 2020. [NOTE: which Trump promised to do in some speeches!] According to a recent news report, lawyers for the president are in talks with the I.R.S. to settle. This is tantamount to presidential looting of the Treasury, little different than if Trump had stolen the money outright.”

***. “Meanwhile, the big-business strand of America’s emerging kleptocratic network was awarded control of the agencies whose job is to protect the public from the worst effects of those very businesses” profit-seeking practices. The executives – and lobbyists-turned-government-officials went straight to work rewriting the rules in ways designed to maximize the gush of money into their collective coffers, not ease the burdens on ordinary Americans.”
[ Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption In America” ]

6] “Despite the general reputation for graft that pervades the 19th century, it is hard to find anything like the personal corruption of Trump, even among Gilded Age presidents.”

7] “Looking through the 20th century, there is, of course, the administration of Warren G. Harding….Harding himself did not appear to be personally corrupt…”

8] “To walk through subsequent presidents is to get a similar picture. Is there gross misconduct? Yes. After all, Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Was there graft and petty corruption among other higher and lower officers in each administration? Also yes. But do we see anything like the self-dealing and naked personal enrichment of Trump and his family? No, we do not.”

10]. “Trump is a type, one of many figures around the world whose nationalist, patrimonial political movement is little more than a cover.”

***. “..Trump himself..is at once a symptom..of America’s increasingly corrupt system, and an exaggeration of it so extreme as to seem like a grotesque aberration…Trump’s bald use of his office to patronize and promote his businesses. – including raking in ‘kick-ups”. from lower echelons…outstrips anything I have witnessed in a developing country. As does his penchant for surrounding himself with men entwined with foreign criminal networks, and his don-like demand for fealty…Trump has taken mafia government to heights unrivaled in this country’s history.”
[ Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption In America”]. [NOTE: Chayes was “special assistant on corruption to Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; advised David McKiernan and Stanley McChrystal]

[“Trump has taken mafia government to heights unrivaled in this country’s history.” – let that sink in. Read this article in full. Read Chayes” book. Understand her context and experience for things she wrote.]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXVII. – Trump Further Blows Up The U.S. Tax System

~ tomdolen

***. “My megarich friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.” [Warren Buffett: “Please Tax Me. I Can Take It”; New York Times; 8/16/2011]

This post BEGINS to examine the CORRUPTION of the U.S. tax system. For much of its existence, the rich, connected, and corporations have sought to cheat on taxes. Like much else in post-1980 America, the corruption of “our” tax system has been driven by far-right ideologues, with much “encouragement” from the rich, and considerable help from a CORRUPT U.S. “supreme court” [legalized bribery]. Republicans are DOCUMENTED to have done most of this. Below are some excerpts of evidence explaining how the tax burden has been shifted on to ordinary citizens.

1] “The Republican tax plan would deliver a major benefit to the top 1 percent of Americans….Despite repeated promises from Republican lawmakers that the plan is designed to provide relief to the middle class, nearly 30 percent of taxpayers with incomes between $50,000 and $150,000 would see a tax increase….Meanwhile, the study found that 80 percent of the tax benefits would accrue to those in the top 12 percent.” [Carolyn Johnson: “Tax analysis: Tump plan gives little to middle”; Washington Post; 9/30/17]

2] “In 2027, 70 percent of middle-income taxpayers will get a tax hike. – but just 8 percent of those making more than $5 million will.” [Mother Jones; March-April, 2018]

3] “A report released March 24 projects that the IRS is set to lose over $500 billion in tax revenue over the next tax season as a result of actions taken by President Donald Trump and his top donor Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency group..” [ “Dispatches”; The Progressive Populist; April 15, 2025 ]

4] “Trump administration to slash IRS staffing in half” …..”a significant cut that could jeopardize the agency’s ability to complete its basic mission of collecting taxes….while corporations and rich Americans may face less scrutiny from the thinly staffed tax agency.” [Andrew Duehren; New York Times; 3/5/25]

***. “The only reason God put Republicans on earth is to cut taxes.” [President of Club for Growth Stephen Moore; “Realtime with Bill Maher”; HBO; 4/25/ 2003]

5]. “The Trump administration claims gutting federal agencies will save money, but cutting the IRS means the government collects less taxes….Economic studies have shown that for every dollar spent by the IRS, the agency returns between $5 and $12….A 2024 report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office found that the IRS found savings of $13,000 for every additional hour spent auditing the tax returns of very wealthy taxpayers..” The LB&I division, which has “the highest return on investment” was disproportionally going to be cut. [Andy Kroll: “How DOGE’s Cuts to the IRS Threaten to Cost More Than DOGE Will Ever Save”; The Progressive Populist; April 1, 2025]

6] “Emails Reveal Top IRS Lawyer Warned Trump Firings Were a “FRAUD” on the Courts”. [Andy Kroll; The Progressive Populist; April 15, 2025]

7] “The turn away from audits of big partnerships is part of the IRS’s broader chaos, which has been accompanied by a slew of tax giveaways to industry in Trump’s new term. Big companies are benefitting from the gutting of regulations and the agency is pulling back from a crackdown on various shelters.” [ Jesse Drucker” “Push to audit private equity and venture capital falters”; New York Times; 1/1/26 ]

***. “Taxes: Making sure that the poor and middle-class pay their fair share of corporate handouts. “Tax Relief: “Relieving major corporations of any tax burden whatsoever so that they may reinvest their earnings in larger compensation packages for their CEO’s.” { “The Real Republican Dictionary” ]

8] “A team of academic economists and IRS researchers in 2021 found that the top 1% of U.S. income earners fail to report more than 20% of their earnings to the IRS.” [ Fatima Hussein: “IRS touts audits of rich tax dodgers”; Associated Press; 7/15/23 ]

9] ‘..a new study finds that at least 55 of America’s largest companies paid no U.S. taxes last year on billions of dollars in profits….Many also received millions of dollars in tax rebates.” [ Patrica Cohen: “At least 55 firms paid no U.s. taxes in 2020’; New York Times; 9/4/21 ]

10] “Firms move HQ overseas then exploit tax loophole”. [ Steven D. Solomon; New York Times; 2/15/16 ]

***. “Nothing is more important in the face of war than cutting taxes.” [ Republican Rep. Tom Delay; 3/12/2003 ]

11]. !!!!!!!! READ. THIS – AND GET ANGRY. “The United states is losing approximately $1 trillion in unpaid taxes every year, Charles Rettig, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, estimated Tuesday, arguing that the agency lacks the resources to catch tax cheats….Most of the unpaid taxes are the result of evasion by the wealthy and large corporations, Rettig said.” [ Alan Rappeport; New York Times; 4/14/ 21 ]. [NOTE; this is the yearly debt interest payment !!!!! ]

12]. “Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the IRS hopes to increase audit rates on wealthy individuals to 2011 levels, before congressional Republicans slashed its budget for five consecutive years.” [ Jacob Bogage: “IRS aims for more audits of rich”; Washington Post Weekly; 4/9/23 ]

13]. “IRS to cut estate examiners. Bush administration to fire 157 lawyers, 17 others who audit wealthiest filers” [ David Cay Johnston; New York Times; 7/23/2006 ]

***. “The tax system is becoming a tool to turn the American dream of prosperity and reward for hard work into an impossible goal for tens of millions of Americans and into a nightmare for many others. Our tax system is being used to create a nation with fewer stable jobs and less secure retirement income. The tax system is being used by the rich, through their allies in Congress, to shift risks off themselves and unto everyone else. And perhaps worst of all, our tax system now forces most Americans to subsidize the lifestyles of the very rich, who enjoy the benefits of our democracy without paying their fair share of its price.” [ Double Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “Perfectly Legal” ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXV. – Trump Blows Up The National Debt

~ tomdolen


** “To contract new debts is not the way to pay old debts.” { George Washington ]

The U.S. national debt for 1789 – 1980, when Ronald Reagan became president was less than $1 trillion. America had paid for the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, recovery from the 1930’s Great Depression, built the Eisenhower freeway system, gone to the moon, instituted Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and much more.

This post begins to examine how Republicans blew up the national debt deliberately, disarmed the IRS, lowered taxes on the rich. The record is statistically clear, and, like much else, the Trump DICTATORSHIP made the national debt crisis much worse. – and. – of course, lied about it.
Below are some beginning excerpts, laying out the FACTS for YOU:

1] “..74 percent of the debt was run up under the last three Republican presidents and..no Republican president since Dwight Eisenhower ever submitted a balanced budget to Congress.” { economist Edward Lotterman: “Cynicism and self-delusion will bankrupt this nation”; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 4/23/09 ]

2] “The tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump are helping push the nation toward an unprecedented level of debt, heightening the risk of another financial crisis, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.”
[ Evan Halper: “Tax cuts accelerate U.S. toward a debt crisis”; Los Angeles Times; 6/27/18]

3] “The amount of corporate taxes collected by the federal government has plunged to historically low levels in the first sic months of the year, pushing up the federal budget deficit much faster than economists predicted. The reason is President Donald Trump’s tax cuts.” [ Jim Tankersley: “New tax law does a number on the debt”; New York Times; 7/29/18 ]

4]. “Trump also insisted that a new round of tax cuts would lower the debt. – a claim disputed by most mainstream economists, and undermined by the actual budgetary effects of the tax cut he signed into law..” [ Jeff Stein: “Trump’s budget ideas don’t add up”; Washington Post; 9/8/24 ]

5]. “..the eight Clinton years had the fastest average growth in inflation-adjusted GDP since the 1960s, a rate nearly twice as high as over the 23 years since. We threw that sustainability away with tax cuts in 2001, 2003 and 2007.”
[ economist Edward Lotterman: “Wanted: Political cover for the inevitable”; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 10/13/24 ]

***. “Thanks to the half-revolution adopted in July 1981, more than a trillion dollars has already been needlessly added to our national debt. – a burden that will plague us indefinitely. Our national savings has been squandered to pay for a tax cut we could not afford…borrowed enormous amounts of foreign capital…the U.S. economy will most surely grow much more slowly. By turning ourselves into a debtor nation for the first time since World War I, we have sacrificed future living standards.” [ David Stockman: “The Triumph of Politics”. – he was Reagan”s budget director!!!!! ]

6] The 2017 Trump tax cuts added $2.5 trillion to the national debt by 2024 analysis. They now represent 6-8% of the current 2026 debt. If they are made permanent, the cost could increase by another $4 trillion over the next ten years.
[ Internet – 4/29/26. some estimates are for a much higher debt from Trump’s tax cuts. ]

7]. “..Donald Trump’s proposal to further reduce the U.S. corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% would make the bottom half of the nation’s income distribution poorer while boosting the fortunes of those at the very top, according to analysis published Oct. 3 by economists at American University.” [ Dispatches; The Progressive Populist; November l, 2024 ]

8]. “Suply-side cultists and Republicans had forecast gloom and doom from the Bush and Clinton tax increases, but the result was the last real prosperity our nation has had.” [ economist Edward Lotterman: “Deficits matter; more than elections”; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 7/8/24 ]

9} “Trump cuts force cities to scramble. Minn. communities rethink infrastructure projects amid uncertain federal funding”. [ Sydney Kashiwagi; Minnesota Star Tribune; 4/7/25 ]

10] “How the GOP may pay for the tax cuts”. [ Jacob Bogage; Washington post Weekly; 1/5/25 ]: “Nonpartisan scorekeepers project that Trump’s campaign platform would add up to $15 trillion to future borrowing [the national debt]” Listed below are are “10 policies that Trump and Republicans have floated..” NOTICE WHO GETS HURT AND WHO DOESN’T GET HURT!!!!! “Impose new tariffs. Repeal clean energy programs. Cut ‘unauthorized’ programs. Cancel student loan forgiveness. Eliminate the Education Department. Cut food stamp benefits. Impose Medicaid work requirements. Withhold anti-obesity drugs. End child tax credit for noncitizens Cut IRS funding [NOTE: cutting IRS funding will acyually cost more than it would save !!!]

*** “Having added to the national debt, the wealthy are now funding initiatives that decry the deficit and call for cuts in programs that provide safety nets for middle-class Americans such as Social Security and Medicare.” [ Double Pulitzer Prize winners Donald Barlett & James Steele: “The Betrayal of The American Dream” ]

{NOTE; and then. – this. – the interest on the Republican created national debt. – $1 trillion WASTED. paying the interest on the national debt EVERY. year. Because. – instead of properly and fairly taxing the rich and corporations. – we’re borrowing it. Much more on the failure, the CORRUPTION, of not fairly taxing them will be in post CLXXVI on the Trump DICTATORSHIP. ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXII – Donald Trump’s “Psychotic State”

~ tomdolen

*** ‘people who don’t believe evil exists have clearly never encountered a psychopath, sociopath or narcissist.”
[ Morgan McKean ]

There have been multiple attempts to evaluate Donald John Trump as a human being. Bandy Lee’s. “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”. provided analysis of “37 psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts”. [2017, 2019]. Then other mental health experts analyzed Trump’s speech patterns over a fairly long period of years. Omarosa Manigault Newman, in Trump’s presence for 15 years, wrote “Unhinged,” discussing the ways he changed “mentally and physically.” Mary Trump, Trump’s niece and a trained clinical psychologist, wrote. “Too Much and Never Enough.” Adam Gabbatt, in the Guardian, wrote. “Is Trump Mentally OK?,” providing a long list of 25 specific examples of Trump’s ‘unusual behavior in 2025,” some quite startling.

This post presents excerpts from: “Trump Is Turning America Into A Psychotic State” [ Jonathan Rauch, Peter Wehner; New York Times; 4/12/26]:

12] “Institutional psychosis is ultimately self-defeating and unsustainable. Reality checks will return because reality always asserts itself. But severe damage will have been done, damage that may take a generation or more to repair.
As the Trump era winds down, the country may relearn something that never should have been forgotten. Institutions need to be reformed, not destroyed; governing well requires skill and careful attention to detail rather than leaders acting on impulse and ignorance; and character and mental stability matter perhaps most of all.”

2] “The issue is that the administration as a whole lacks a consistent attachment to reality and the ability to organize its thinking coherently. Mr. Trump’s grandiosity, impulsivity, inconsistency and outright breaks with reality have become state policy.”

11] “America and its allies have dealt with a lot of presidential imperfections and failings, but there is no precedent or even category for the institutional psychosis displayed by the second Trump administration. Precisely because the psychotic state is so unpredictable, setting up systems to manage it will not work.”

5] “Incoherence is not incidental in this administration; it is the administration’s modus operandi. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency caused chaos in federal agencies by sacking, then sometimes rehiring employees without any evident rationale. – and without making a serious dent in government spending. Mr. Trump flipped from “no more wars”. to waging war…using and threatening military force..seemingly every other month.”

***. “Emotionally he remains the thirteen-year-old troublemaker his father sent off to a military academy..Being stuck in the awkward year between childhood and maturity for nearly six decades..has twisted Trump’s personality and explains much of his narcissism..” [Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Imagine”]

1]. “It has been clear for a long time that President Trump is a person with a disorganized mind and a disordered personality. What the past few months and especially the past few weeks have brought into focus is how his pathologies have cascaded downward and outward through his administration. They have become institutionalized.The reason the administration so often does not act coherently is that it cannot.”

3] “It is the Iran war that has most vividly demonstrated the scope of the problem. In this conflict, the most potent antagonist has been the administration’s own incoherence. The Trump administration chose to wage a war without deciding on its aims, mapping out a strategy, planning for contingencies or even being able to explain itself. The goal was regime change. – until it wasn’t. The demand was unconditional surrender. – until it wasn’t. Deadlines were issued and then erased. Threats of total destruction were made and then pulled back.”

4] “THe administration might have been readier had it not chopped back the State Department’s Middle East desk, gotten rid of its oil and gas experts and eliminated its dedicated Iran office. the administration handicapped its own National Security council by firing staff members, some at the behest of a conspiracy-minded internet personality, and undercutting its independence.” [Note: this is often called ‘shooting yourself in the foot” !!!!]

*** Dictionary and thesaurus definitions of ‘psychotic”: “insane, mad, psychopathic, crazy, schizophrenic, maniacal, unbalanced, unhinged, mentally unsound, bereft of reason, deluded, disordered, nutty, screwy, half-cocked, unglued, not playing with a full deck…” [NOTE: this is what the above paragraphs – and much more, discuss and imply when t hey discuss Trump’s mind, and that of those around him.]

6] “Normal administrations set up policy processes that assemble evidence from varied sources, collate viewpoints and priorities across multiple agencies and ensure rational deliberation before options reach the president. one of us served in three Republican administrations and participated as interagency reviews took place in a cabinet department, in an executive agency and the White House itself. a single line in a presidential foreign policy statement might require the input of 20 or more people..” [in a “normal administration’..”

7] “The policy review process can be tortuous and sometimes mistaken. It can’t substitute for wide presidential judgment. But it is vital. It asks hard questions and assesses competing arguments. It ensures expert input in specific domains, anticipates how policies may ramify and prepares for contingencies. In all those ways, the systematic review of policy amounts to an institutional mind; a cognitive process that organizes the government’s deliberations to keep them rational and anchored in reality.” [NOTE: does a Psychotic State” operate rationally???]

8]. “In Mr. Trump’s second term, those functions still exist, but they can be disrupted, circumvented or just plain abandoned at any moment on the say-so of the president and his senior officials. In that respect, the Trump administration is mindless….irrational processes produce inexplicable outcomes, and that is what we have seen, again and again. The only rhyme or reason is the principle that Mr. Trump proclaimed when explaining his policy toward Cuba: “I think I can do anything I want with it.” That is the principle by which his administration governs.”

***. “Whatever big crisis comes, the one thing we know is that Donald Trump lacks the deep knowledge, critical thinking skills, emotional maturity and ability to separate sound advice from nonsense that are needed in a crisis.”
[Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “The making of Donald Trump”]

9] “..until a coherent policy process is restored under a chief executive who understands the need for it, we should expect geysers of mindlessness to keep erupting in unforeseeable ways and places.”

10] “As one of us has argued, he is a patrimonialist. – a leader who believes the state is his personal property. And both of us have said that his administration displays the hallmarks of fascism. Ultimately, however, institutional psychosis defies rational categories. Predicting this administration’s behavior is impossible under any framework. And if Mr. Trump becomes more desperate as he grows more unpopular, the danger only increases.”

*** “People should not vote for ANY Republican because they’re dangerous, dishonest, and self-serving…Republicans care most about those who will only get richer because of government help. The government is truly broken, particularly in dealing with national security, and another four years, and heaven forbid not eight years under the Republicans, and our grandchildren will have to build a new government, because the one we have will be unrecognizable and unworkable.” [NOTE: these words were spoken by a “lifelong Republican’ who knew G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney personally. He spoke anonymously because one of his sons had an important nonpolitical government post “and we both know that Republicans will seek revenge wherever they can find it.” it is the closing quote in John W. Dean’s. “Broken Government,” published in 2007. It was the last of three books Dean wrote about the corruption of government by Republicans.”

***. [NOTE: The United States is now one year into the 5th year of the 8 years under Republicans that this man feared.We have 3 years more of the Trump DICTATORSHIP. Under “Project 2025” guidance, Trump and his “Project 2025′ Rasputins ARE destroying the American system of democratic government. – as the man predicted. – making YOUR American government “unrecognizable and unworkable.” AND. – YOUR children and grandchildren WILL have to build a new government that works ‘of the people, by the people, for the people”. – OR American democracy WILL. “perish from the earth.” ]. [ What are. YOU. going to do ????? ]

The Trump Dictatorship. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXI. – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous War Leader, X

~ tomdolen

***. “Eoyang said Trump’s speech and actions at Riyadh showed that “he really doesn’t get what the issues are and he won’t pay attention to those who try to explain it to him. He speaks without thinking about other people, other interests. Below-the radar people are turning away from the U.S. in ways Trump does not see.”
[ Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” ]

This post is the 10th in a series examining the conduct of Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United States. His character and judgment have often beed declared deficient; that he is “transactional.” Read the above quote again. – this is an example of the DAMAGE that Trump is inflicting upom the United States. He is THE anti-George Washington; THE anti-Abraham Lincoln.

This post presents excerpts from: “Trump’s War Has Weakened America”. [ New York Times Editorial; 4/12/26 ]:

8]. “Perhaps the greatest long-term damage to the United States from the Iran war will be in its relationships with allies around the world,” Daniel Byman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington wrote on Wednesday.”

4] “Mr. Trump’s lack of foresight about the strait reveals glaring incompetence…Iran appears to have won diplomatic leverage that it could have only dreamed of six weeks ago.”

10] “America’s appeal stems not only from its freedom and democratic values. Mr. Trump has undercut those values for his entire political career and perhaps never more than in the past week when he made odious threats to erase Iranian civilization.”

6] “The war has also revealed that the U.S. military is vulnerable to new ways of warfare…The world saw how a country that spends one-hundredth of what the United states does on its military can seek to outlast it in a conflict.”

*** “As with most of his foreign leader meetings, Trump has been briefed but didn’t appear to have retained the material and instead tried to wing it…”It’s not like you’ve got China on your border.,” Trump said, seeming to dismiss the threat to India. Modi’s eyes bulged out in surprise.” [ Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig: “a Very Stable Genius” ]

1]. “when President Trump attacked Iran on Feb. 28, we called his decision reckless…In the six weeks since, the recklessness of his war has become clearer yet. He has distained careful military planning and acted on gut instinct and wishfulness…[Netanyahu’s prediction of Iranian popular uprisings was called by].. the director of the CIA..”farcical”…Mr. Trump proceeded nonetheless.”

2] “Mr. Trump’s irresponsibility has left the United states on the cusp of a humiliating strategic defeat….We count four main setbacks for America’s national interests that are the direct result of Mr. Trump’s carelessness. These setbacks likewise weaken global democracy when authoritarians in China, Russia and elsewhere were already feeling emboldened.”

3]. The most tangible blow to the United states and the world is the increased influence that Iran has secured over the global economy by weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz.”

*** “Hey, John, what’s this all about? What’s this a tour of?” Trump asked his chief of staff. Kelly was momentarily stunned. Trump had heard the phrase. “Pearl Harbor”. and appeared to understand that he was visiting the scene of a historic battle, but he did not seem to know much else… “He was at times dangerously uninformed,” said one senior former advisor. Trump’s lack of basic historical knowledge surprised some foreign leaders as well… A senior European official observed, “He’s totally ignorant of everything. but he doesn’t seem to care. he’s not interested.”
[ Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig: “a Very Stable Genius” ] [!!!!! what can we say?????]

5] “The second setback is to America’s military standing around the world…Returning the stockpile to its previous size will take years.”

7] “The war’s third big cost is to America’s alliances. Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada and most of Western Europe refused to support the United States in this war….these countries will remain allies in important ways, but they have made clear that they no longer consider the United States a reliable friend.”

9]. “The fourth setback is to America’s moral authority. For all the flaws of this country, it remains a beacon to many around the world. When pollsters ask people where they would move if they could, the United states is consistently the runaway No. 1 answer…..Mr. Trump and Mr. Hegseth have embraced a brutal approach to armed conflict that the United states led the world in rejecting after World War II. By doing so, they have undermined the foundations of America’s global leadership.”

***. “My first book on his presidency, “Fear: Trump in the White House”…described Trump as “an emotionally overwrought, mercurial and unpredictable leader”. who had created a governing crisis and. “a nervous breakdown of the executive power of the most powerful country in the world.” While discussing “Fear”. on television, I was asked for my bottomline summary of Trump’s leadership. “Let’s hope to God we don’t have a crisis,” I said.”
[ Pulitzer Prize winner bob Woodward: “Rage” ]

[NOTE: Maybe it’s time for YOU to consider the ‘useful idiot” possibility. We know mysterious billionaires have provided the Trump DICTATORSHIP with a guidebook: “Project 2025.” Numerous of its authors are IN. the Trump DICTATORSHIP. It has been estimated, as of about march 1, 2026, Trump had implemented about 53% of “Project 2025″s proposals in domestic American affairs. – the “useful idiot’ being used by America’s rich and reactionaries. We know that Israel’s premier, Netanyahu, had a decisive voice in getting the Iran war started. It is said that another Middle Eastern leader also favored it – “useful idiot.’ Since Trump seems, in one person’s view, to “worship” Russian leader Vladimir Putin. – is it fair to ask is Trump the real “Manchurian candidate’. – Putin’s. “useful idiot”?]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXX. – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous War Leader, IX

~ tomdolen

***. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria…it’s time to bring our great young people home!”…It was contrary to what had been recommended to him…”People are going to fucking die because of this,” a top aide angrily remarked. We all scrambled to figure out what had happened and what Trump’s plans were….In a normal White House, decisions of this magnitude receive sober deliberation….None of these questions were answered. Not only was the decision reckless, but administration officials had been testifying under oath that ISIS was NOT yet eliminated…Now the president was falsely declaring ISIS to be finished, because he just decided it was true one day.” [ “Anonymous: “A Warning.” He was a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security ] [ Do YOU want “your” president making a major decision. “..because he decided it was true on day.”?????? ]

This post is the 9th in a series examining the conduct of Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United States. His character and judgment have often been declared deficient. He has been described as being “transactional.” He is THE anti-George Washington, THE anti-Abraham Lincoln.

This post presents excerpts from: “When A Narcissist Goes to War” [ Jamelle Bouie; New York Times; 3/29/26]:

8] “This gets to the real problem. Trump is famously indifferent to the concerns of those around him. He is the consummate narcissist, and he is, without question, the most solipsistic person ever to occupy the Oval Office…Like Trump, the White House does not seem to understand that other people have agency too. It sees itself the same way the president sees himself: as the protagonist of the universe, with everyone else acting as a supporting character or a non-player one. – extras with no will of their own.”

1] “If you can set aside both the unconstitutionality and the immorality of President Trump’s unprovoked war on Iran and focus on the operation itself, it is hard not to be bewildered by the utter lack of real planning or even basic strategic thinking that has gone into it.”

2] “Trump and his aides, according to recent reporting, did not plan for Iran to target shipping and close the Strait of Hormuz. They also do not seem to have planned for serious and sustained retaliation against America’s gulf state allies. They did not plan for an energy crisis and the potential disruption to the global economy, and they did not plan for America’s European allies to, by and large, reject their call for support.”
[ NOTE: reread the three sections above. This is a summary of. TOTAL. INCOMPETENCE!!! A question in YOUR mind should be; what exactly DID they plan for??? Leaving aside other things – the Strait of Hormuz is THE question of this war – how could a responsible government going to war NOT plan for this???? If America wants to retain allies and friends – don’t you plan to protect them; don’t you consult with them??? ]

***. “As president, Trump’s decisions were often made in an instant… Esper warned that President Trump had also brought the United States to “the brink”. of war many times…Former secretary of defense James Mattis had been so worried that Trump would have a nuclear war with North Korea during his watch that he had slept in gym clothes.”
[ Pulitzer prize winner Bob Woodward: “War” ]

3] “It appears that both the president and the White House expected token resistance, followed by the collapse of the Iranian regime, the installation of a pro-American government. – or at least one we could tolerate. – and a return to the status quo ante; a replay.. of the president’s first intervention of the year, in Venezuela.” [ !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]

4]. “Now that this replay fantasy has collided with a more complex, indeterminate and difficulty reality, Trump is unable to explain his objectives or even give the country a sense of when the war might end. he told Fox News radio that he would ‘feel it in my bones.” [ NOW – are YOU more comforted ????!!!??? ]

5] “If anything, Trump is caught in a classic escalation spiral. When one approach fails. [in this case, the initial airstrikes], he moves to the next. When that fails, he bids higher. And when escalation still doesn’t produce the desired result. – when he faces the choice between accepting defeat or stalemate or going even further – he goes further.”

6]. “What’s striking is how familiar this pattern feels. The administration did not expect the public to be repelled by DOGE. It did not expect outrage over the treatment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. It did not expect Democrats to respond to threats of partisan gerrymandering with their own push to wring as many Democratic seats as possible out of so-called blue states.”

7] “Which raises another key question: Why can’t the White House see what others could have easily predicted? None of this should have been a surprise. Anyone capable of thinking through the actions of other people. – of imagining their perspectives and recognizing that they have agency. – should have been able to anticipate these outcomes and plan accordingly.” [But – maybe not when you are a narcissist?]

*** “Trump organized his unorthodox worldview under the simplistic banner of “America First,” but Matttis, Tillerson, and Cohn feared his proposals were rash, barely considered, and a danger to America’s superpower standing. They also felt that many of Trump’s impulsive ideas…stemmed from his lack of familiarity with U.S. history, and even with the map of the world…the president wasn’t reading any of his briefing books, or even the concise three-page version…”I call the president the two-minute man. The president has patience for half a page.” [Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig: “A Very Stable Genius”] [NOTE: read this again. they are NOT the first to say this. Aren’t YOU delighted that this man has HIS finger on THE bomb’s trigger???!!!???]

[NOTE: Now – don’t YOU feel better!!! Aren’t you reassured about Trump’s fitness for office? This is a small smidgen of the volumes of reports by more competent human beings about Trump’s uninformed, IGNORANT, impulsive, whim-driven conduct to EVERYTHING. If we are lucky, on January 20, 2029, America will still exist, American democracy will still exist, and the world hasn’t been involved in some highly destructive war, some economic catastrophe. The odds are against us – because the true American patriots who restrained Trump’s worst impulses in term one. – have been replaced by “loyalists” and various Rasputins, some of whom reportedly have Trump “woven around their finger.” Others, like Putin, have learned how to manipulate him. A so-far unanswered question: what “kompromat” does Putin have on Trump?

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXIX – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous War Leader, VIII

~ tomdolen

***. “A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot where the crack was.” [ Joseph Hall ]

This post is the 8th in a series examining the conduct of Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United States. His character has often been declared deficient; and by some, “unfit for office.” He is often described as being “transactional.” He is a known liar. He is THE. anti-George Washington.

This post discusses the damage Trump has done, is doing, to America’s international reputation. He is damaging, if not destroying, decades of international good will felt toward America because of our generosity, our support of democracy, our “soft power.” It presents excerpts from: “America is depleting a more powerful weapon than its missiles” [ Max Hastings; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 4/5/26 ]:

10] “Truth is not merely a virtue. It is a weapon, which this administration has wantonly broken with its own hands, even as it wages a shooting war in which scarcely anybody save the Israelis sees merit or reason.”

2] “..[it matters]..for a great nation to lose its reputation for trustworthiness, as the U.S. has done under Trump. It is impossible in the midst of a war to tell the whole truth. but it is worth a lot that “our side”. – whatever that might be. – should be more credible than the enemy.”

7] “…how low America’s standing has fallen. Yet this matters very much, not just for now or even the balance of Trump’s term, but for the future of the U.S. If it chooses to speak and behave in a way that is morally indistinguishable from that of its rival superpowers, why should other nations not choose China or Russia as partners, rather than America?”

1] “..my longer-term concern is the depletion. – indeed, exhaustion. – of another American weapon, which I think is more important than mere hardware: belief in the truth of what the leader of the U.S. tells the world about the war, peace and everything else.” [NOTE: lies on the international stage count for more than his 30-40,000 domestic lies, fabrications, half-truths, mistruths, etc.]

*** “National honor is national property of the highest value.” [ James Monroe; 5th U.S. President ]

3] A handbook given to U.S. soldiers landing in Britain during World War II told G.I.s: “We can defeat Hitler’s propaganda with a weapon of our own: plain, common horse sense; understanding of evident truths.”

4] “The gloating tones..[of Lord Haw Haw]…were not unlike those of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth describing the fate of Iranians under American bombardment.”

5] “Today Trump is assaulting the organs of truth, while peddling obvious lies, for instance his claim that a Tomahawk missile that apparently hit a Tehran school was Iranian….the head of the Federal Communications Commission, a Trump lackey, is threatening to withdraw the licenses of U.S. outlets that fail to broadcast t he administration’s fictional narrative of the war.”

***. “A reputation for good judgment, fair dealing, truth, and rectitude, is itself a fortune.” [ Henry Ward Beecher ]

6] “The White House’s standard-bearers would say. – privately at least. – that we now live in a post-truth world; that their MAGA people neither expect to be told what is real by their leaders, nor mind that they are lied to.”

8]. “It is extraordinarily dangerous for any country, however rich and dominant, to base its entire polity on a belief that it will forever enjoy military and economic superiority; that might alone can sustain its hegemony.”

9] “America is no longer seen, especially in Europe, as worthy of trust. To quote again that 1942 U.S. serviceman’s handbook: “It is militarily stupid to criticize your allies.” Even superpowers need friends yet America has few left who, after enduring so many insults from Washington, sincerely respect those in charge there, or believe what they say.”
[NOTE: read this again; then reflect on America’s conduct during WorldWar II and during the “Cold War.” America was on the winning side – BECAUSE. we made, had friends. America was on the winning side BECAUSE its “soft power’ attracted people. America rebuilt Europe, rebuilt its former WW II enemies – because it was “the right thing to do.” ]

*** “A transactional foreign policy is not what convinces people around the world to stand with America.”
[ Tom Malinowski ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXIII – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous War Leader, VII

~ tomdolen

*** “There’s never been a true war that wasn’t fought between two sets of people who weren’t certain they were right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous.” [ Neil Gaiman ]

This post is the seventh in a series examining the conduct of Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United States. His mental state has been questioned several times. What hasn’t been questioned in this second term is WHO he is listening to, and who he is NOT listening to. We have heard shifting reasons for HIS Iran war. Regardless – the current occupant of the White House is obviously THE anti-George Washington, THE anti-Abraham Lincoln. His STUPIDITY and INCOMPETENCE now have the world embroiled in a dubious war.

This post presents excerpts from. “‘ An Operational Success and a Huge Strategic Failure'” [Nicholas Kristof; New York Times; 4/5/26]:

14] “As I watch this war, my mind goes to an old proverb: A fool may throw a stone in a well, but 100 wise men cannot remove it.”

2] “The problem is that while President Trump could start the war, h can’t end it on his own’. Iran has a vote on that.”

6] “This war, in general terms, I think it’s an operational success but a huge strategic failure,” said Danny Citrinowicz, formerly a longtime Iran analyst for Israel’s military intelligence agency.”

9]. “As Vali Nasr, an Iran expert at Johns Hopkins University, told me: “We essentially removed all the people who were still a restraint on the system and replaced them with the most hawkish people.”

3] “Does Trump understand that [a] targeting civilian infrastructure is likely a war crime, and [b] Iran’s response to such attacks could be counterstrikes on oil and gas infrastructure and desalination plants around the region?”

***. “You can bomb the world into pieces, but you can’t bomb it into peace.” [ Michael Franti ]

1]. “Iran has gained leverage by controlling passage through the Strait of Hormuz. So one bizarre result of the war is that Iran is now earning almost twice as much per day in oil revenue as it was before the war..”

4] “After having started the war that led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Trump is now framing its reopening as a task for other nations. “We’re not going to have anything to do with it,” he said..”

5] “If Trump leaves Iran controlling the Strait of Hormuz, charging hefty tolls and barring the passage of ships linked to the United States or its military partners, he will have significantly set back the global economy, weakened the United States and strengthened Iran. And American ships will remain stuck, unable to leave.”

7]. “Perhaps the most apt description of Trump’s policy toward Iran is an “incoherent maze” – a phrase Pete Hegseth applied in 2016 to Barack Obama’s foreign policy.”

***. “Power is okay, and stupidity is usually harmless. Power and stupidity together are dangerous.”
[ Patrick Rothfuss ]

8] “One fundamental misstep may have been a strategy of killing the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a deeply unpopular octogenarian, along with a top security aide…their replacements appear more aggressive.”

10] “THe new leadership is weighted toward the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, so we may see Iran evolving in an even more militaristic direction. That’s my fear: We’ve put Iran on a path to become another North Korea.”

11] “American intelligence officials assessed last year that the previous supreme leader supported uranium enrichment but did not authorize taking the next step by making nuclear weaponas. That’s apparently because he wanted to avoid the sanctions and isolation that North Korea had suffered.”

12]. “..some of those same American intelligence officials also concluded last year that “Iranian leaders were likely to shift toward producing a bomb if the American military attacked the Iranian uranium enrichment site Fordo or if Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader”…Trump and his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, did both.”

13] “Perhaps the biggest losers are ordinary Iranians. It was their pro-democracy protests in January, and the massacres that followed, that indirectly led to this crisis. – and they now endure greater oppression in a bombed-out country as they mourn innocent war victims who include school girls and soccer players.”

*** “If there is one lesson for U.S. foreign policy from the past 10 years, it is surely †hat military intervention can seem simple…but is in fact a complex affair with the potential for unintended consequences.” [ Fareed Zakaria ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXII. – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous War Leader, VI

~ tomdolen

***. “Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war, but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.” [ George Orwell ]

This post is the 6th in a series examining the conduct of Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United States. There has been serious discussion, including a book written, a study of his speech patterns, warnings by peple from his first term – stating opinions that Trump is “unfit for office. We have yet to see serious examination of the influence of the Rasputins around him, of of foreign leaders he respects. Regardless, it is obvious Trump is THE anti-George Washington, THE anti-Abraham Lincoln. He now has America, the Middle East, the world economy embroiled in a dubious war – one for which his own first term actions laid the grounwork.

This post presents excerpts from: “NoneOf Trump’s Options In Iran look Good”. [ Ali Vaez; New York Times; 4/5/26 ]:

6] “Mr. Trump was right when he said on Wednesday that the United states has won every tactical exchange against Iran. What he did not admit to is that as commander in chief, he still managed to lose control of events.”

1]. “But the central question in this war was never whether Iran could be hurt. It was whether pain would translate into submission. So afr, it has not.”

2 ]. “Perhaps most significantly, the Iranians have managed to subdue traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, responding in the one arena where weaker nations have often found leverage against stronger ones; not by matching force with force, but by changing the terms of the contest. [NOTE: read these 3 statements again. – lost command of events; the central question; his weaker opponent changed the terms of the war. Has Trump already lost??? If control of the Strait of Hormuz was THE #1 issue – why didn’t Trump plan for this?????]

***. “In public affairs, stupidity is more dangerous than knavery.” [ Woodrow Wilson; 28th U.S. President ]

3] “..Iran…can still prolong the conflict, widen its costs, disrupt the global economy and make the exercise of American and Israel power more expensive than its architects anticipated.”

4]. “…a regime built to endure, its leadership infused with a culture of martyrdom and resistance and bereft of mercy, can continue to repress and remain in power…has enabled Iran’s leaders to recast themselves as guardians of a besieged nation, rather than its tormentors.”

5]. “Mr. Trump now has three options. He can escalate….just keep degrading Iran”s capabilities at a steady pace for a longer period of time and then walk away..disastrous for the Gulf States and the rest of the world….The final option is a deal..the only path that addresses the actual stakes..”

***. “We can pursue peaceful diplomacy with the Iranian regime while also continuing our maximum economic pressure campaign, while also defending ourselves…To say that war with Iran or nothing is just a fundamental misunderstanding of how foreign policy actually works.” [ Morgan Ortacus ]