*** “Foreign policy is effectively the assertion of many individual countries interacting on the global marketplace. And you have to figure out how to get your interest served in a way that meets the interests and needs of these other folks.”
[ John Kerry; former Secretary of State ]
This post is the 4th in a series examining the conduct of Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United states. Many, who scientifically examined him and knew him closely have said he was, is, unfit for this office. On Friday, 4/10/26, a very serious discussion occurred on the PBS “News Hour” about Trump’s mental state. Given Trump’s erratic, and, often un-presidential conduct – YOU can expect more of this, not in “hatred of Trump”. but in serious concern. Even if Trump is “normal,” he is THE anti-George Washington, THE anti-Abraham Lincoln.
This post presents excerpts from: “An Unjust War Without Plan or Purpose”. [ Phil Klay; New York Times; 3/22/26 ]:
11] “Power does not grow out of the barrel of a gun, cruelty is not the same as strength, and a politics built on such ideas promises ruin, delusion about the limits of our power and a betrayal of the promise of our founding.”
5] “American leaders have sought to justify our wars as having objectives in keeping with our founding political philosophy. This isn’t simply rhetoric, but about a fundamental view of power and its relationship to violence that filters down to strategy.”
10] “Without a clear moral or political purpose, we’re left with what the military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady calls the “strike-as-strategy” paradox, in which we substitute tactical prowess for comprehensive strategic design. this tendency, he writes, ‘is reinforced by a political culture that demands televised displays of military prowess.”
***. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” [ Proverbs 29: 18 ]
1] “The justifications for the war have been stunningly incoherent. maybe the war is about regime change, about Iran’s nuclear program, about the narrow military objectives of degrading their ballistic missile and drone capabilities, or perhaps it was because Israel was about to attack and we’d be at risk, or because the United States was under imminent threat from Iran, or to achieve peace in the Middle East, and so on. Maybe it’s not a war at all…Maybe we want “unconditional surrender,” but maybe “unconditional surrender” is a thing that happens inside the president’s mind…Maybe the war is “quite contained,” but maybe Americans throughout the region need to leave. Maybe there will be ground troops and maybe not.” [ follow al of this? got it all figured out???!!!???!!! ]
4] “What these men don’t seem to realize, or care about, is that their language of brute force represents a fundamental break with American traditions around war going back to the Revolution.” [ as in 1776 ]
***. “Donald Trump tells us that he is very smart. I’m afraid that when it comes to foreign policy, he is very, very not smart.” [ Mitt Romney ]
2] “..as I watched a video posted by the White House in which a group of angry, rifle-wielding bowling pins labeled “Iranian Regime Officials” are struck by a Stars and Stripes bowling ball that turns into an airplane, followed by actual combat footage of U.S. airstrikes, I realized how one rationale for this war has remained clear and consistent: the administration’s delight in displays of violence and domination.”
3]. “The men who want to Make America Great Again are searching for a clean break from the Global War on Terror. That conflict was launched with lofty rhetoric about democracy and freedom but led to years of civil war, chaos, swollen ranks of terror groups, genocide, a refugee crisis…”
6] “When Stephan miller talked about our troops not fighting with their hands tied behind their backs, he was referring to a popular conservative myth about the Vietnam War, that we might have won had we only exercised less restraint…perhaps if we’d really gone scorched earth and killed a million more, the Vietnamese would have loved and embraced the rulers we foisted upon them…a particularly vile form of folly. And yet, that attitude seems to be guiding the current administration.”
***. “Wooden-headedness consists of assessing a situation in terms of preconceived, fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting to wish while not allowing oneself to be confused by the facts.”
[ Barbara Tuchman ]
7] “A reliance on brute force can be blinding. In one of the more telling comments from the defense secretary, Mr. Hegseth claimed that because we’d taken control of Iran’s airways and waterways, “we control their fate,” and “the terms of this war will be set by us at every step.” a veteran of Iraq like Mr. Hegseth should know better. The enemy always gets a vote..”
8]. ‘..the U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright, suggested that “Trump’s energy dominance agenda” meant that America need not worry about disruptions to the oil market if war broke out with Iran. Now the president is trying to claim that high gas prices are good for Americans, while urging oil tankers to “show some guts”. and sail through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran, whose ships can get through, is selling more oil than before the war.”
9] “Robert Pape, an expert on strategic bombing campaigns, has argued that air power without subsequent ground troops has never resulted in a positive regime change.”
***. “War is, at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn’t any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone’s being worse off.”
[ Karl Kraus ]
So – in judging the work of ANY American government – use the Constitution’s Preamble as THE test. “We the People”. created the U.S. government to. “..establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare..”
So – ask YOURSELF. – how does Trump’s war of choice against Iran accomplish these goals? How does ANY Trump DICTATORSHIP policy accomplish these goals [in real life, not rhetoric]????? WHY. – are virtually ALL of America’s traditional friends and allies refusing to enter Trump’s war [do they all ‘hate’ him?]????? WHY did Pope Leo condemn Trump’s war?
***. “Character matters. Leadership descends from character.” [ Rush Limbaugh ]
Tag: war
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLVIII. – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous. War leader, II
***. “The statement that war is a continuation of policy by other means has become a catch-phrase and is therefore dangerous. We can say with equal truth: War is bankruptcy of policy.” [ German General Hans Von Seeckt ]
This post is the second in a series examining the conduct of one Donald John Trump, unfortunately president of the United States. As has been said many times: he is a deeply flawed person; seems to operate on whims, grudges, delusions, LIES. It has been said he is UNFIT to be president – by serious observers citing examples, not wild assertions. He IS the anti-George Washington. the anti-Abraham Lincoln.
***. “I now know that wars do not end wars.” [ Henry Ford ]
This post presents excerpts from: “President Donald Trump is an incompetent commander in chief” [ Stephen Young; New York Times; 3/27/26 ]:
10] “As far as I can tell, given Clausewitz’s criteria for winning a war, Donald Trump doesn’t, and can’t, pass muster as a commander in chief.”
2] ‘Clausewitz’s famous [because it’s true] law of war is that “war is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” To ignore politics in waging war is to lose. Does Trump know that?”
8] “Most important..is the human element brought to the fight by the commander. A commander must have determination, but if that determination hardens into blind self-confidence, it becomes a liability rather than a strength. The commander who is too self-assured or conceited becomes dangerous because he stops questioning his own assumptions. in war, where uncertainty dominates, this leads to performative decisions that don’t adapt to reality.”
5] “It seems Trump never read Clausewitz. He was, after all, a draft dodger refusing to serve his country in Vietnam.”
9] “Most importantly, Clausewitz advised, the mind of the commander must be free to think while not being captured by prejudice. For Clausewitz such freedom of the mind is indispensable if the commander is to dominate events, not to be overpowered by them.”
*** “Perhaps the most central characteristic of authentic leadership is the relinquishing of the impulse to dominate others.” [ David Cooper ]
1]. “After four weeks as a wartime commander in chief, Donald Trump now wants to pull his burning chestnuts out of the fire. Why. – the war not going as he has foreseen? The Iranian theocrats not willing to give in?”
3]. “What does Trump know of the hearts and minds of his Iranian enemy, or of the Iranian people in general? After four weeks of intensive bombing, the killing of dozens of religiously driven leaders and the straits of Hormuz being closed against his wishes, how close is our president to victory?”
4] “For Clausewitz the heart and soul of politics is will and morale. You wein when your enemy loses the will to continue, falls into an irresistible collapse of morale, just throws in the towel. So, Clausewitz says, the art of war is how to bring about such a collapse of will. In short, politics.”
6]. “Clausewitz defined war as an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will. Thus, we must proportion our efforts to the enemy’s powers of resistance. So our efforts must be proportional to the enemy’s will. – weapons and tactics which do not degrade the enemy’s will cannot win a war.”
7] “Thus, the Chinese master of the art of war, Sun Tzu, taught: first of all, study your enemy. He wrote simply: “[W]hat is of supreme importance in war is to attack the enemy’s strategy.” Bombs can’t do that. They only target enemy combatants and weapons systems. A conviction that bombing could ever be a war-winning strategy is an illusion.”
*** “One should never forbid what one lacks the power to prevent.” [ Napoleon ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLVII. – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous. War Leader, I
***. “The imponderables and the unforeseen cannot be ignored in formulating foreign policy. That is why a preventive war should always be regarded as an act of criminal folly.” [. Sumner Welles ]
This post BEGINS to examine the American, and world, tragedy of Donald John Trump as the leader of a major world power in a war. That he is a deeply flawed person is beyond debate. That he seems to operate almost exclusively on whims, grudges, delusions, self-imposed lies is also seemingly beyond debate. Psychiatrists have said, written books, on his unfit mental state to be a U.S. president. That he is THE anti-George Washington, anti-Abraham Lincoln, anti-FDR, is also seemingly beyond debate. That he has surrounded himself with people who are “loyal” IS beyond debate.
And, now, this person has embroiled the U.S., thr Middle East, the world, in a war against Iran. – not for what they have done, but for what they COULD do. That Iran has fomented much evil. – in the name of religion. – is beyond debate.
Thus. – THE question: does Iran’s recent 46-year history justify a preventive war?
***. “War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses.” [ Thomas Jefferson ]
This post presents excerpts from. “Impulse and Ultimatums” [Erica Green; New York Times; 3/29/26]:
5] “THe war, like everything else that comes out of the White House, is a reflection of Donald Trump’s very unique personality and leadership style,” said Steven M. Gillon, a historian and the author of “Presidents at War: How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents,” “It’s focused on him as a great man. It is vague. It’s undisciplined. It’s unfocused.”
1]. “At 7;44 p.m., the president made his frustration known with an extraordinary ultimatum: if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours and allow much of the world’s gas and oil to flow through, he would bomb Iran’s civilian power plants. It was the kind of attack that could constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.”
2]. “The disconnect underscores just how much the Iran war is testing Mr. Trump’s usual strategy for dealing with a crisis: imposing his own reality and disregarding inconvenient truths. “He thinks everything is transactional, he can deal with the deal one step at a time and see how things unfold, but war is fast, uncontrollable, unpredictable and deadly,: said Julian E. Zelizer, a Princeton University professor… “He’s doing the same techniques he always does – threatening people, insulting people, seizing attention to what he wants to say – he’s learning that it doesn’t always work,: he added. “He’s doing the art of the deal in a way that’s just creating chaos.”
3] “Mr. Trump’s cavalier attitude has shown cracks. When he was pressed about the deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school on the opening day of the war, Mr. Trump first blamed Iran and then claimed he did not “know enough about it.” [President Truman: “The buck stops here.” !!!!!]
4] “The president, who was granted five deferments from being drafted to fight in Vietnam. including for a diagnosis of bone spurs, has often mused that he would be a “good general.” [ delusional ego ??? ]
6] “Aside from the question of congressional approval, Mr. Trump has failed to provide any evidence that Iran posed an “imminent threat”. to the United States. And he has repeatedly moved the goal posts for success…”
{ But. – when you are a DICTATOR. – you don’t have to explain yourself. }
***. “War is the business of barbarians.” [ Napoleon ]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXXI – Russian Similarities
***** “Power must never be trusted without a check.” [ John Adams, Founding Father, Second President ]
“Six Russian Terms For What’s Happening In America” [ Maria Kuzetsova, Dan Storyev; New York Times; 6/15/25}:
1] “We both grew up in Russia in the early 2000s and lived through the country’s gradual slide into authoritarianism under President Vladimir Putin…In recent months we have been noticing something worrying: The same markers of authoritarianism we know from our youth have been appearing in America.”
2] “Our American friends often struggle to describe what exactly is happening…in part, they simply don’t have the language for it. We do. Over decades of facing dictators, Russians have developed a rich vocabulary to make sense of authoritarian reality – a weave of neologisms, coded jokes, doublespeak and Aesopian language.”
3]. “Words like “oligarchy” and “gulag” have been pressed into use as people try to make sense of President Trump’s administration…We decided to write a phrase book..to help Americans name their new reality. Because when we can describe what is happening, it becomes a bit easier to fight it.”
4] “Mnogohodovochka” is an ironic Russian term that translates literally as “multiple steps” and usually means “master plan.” The term emerged online to mock the Kremlin’s need to explain Mr. Putin’s actions, even when they made no sense. State media presents everything he does as part of a brilliant long-term plan that will – one day – bring great benefit to ordinary citizens.” [note” observe Republican verbal gymnastics defending Trump!!!!!]
5] “One of Mr. Putin’s plans has actually been successful: the building of a “power vertical.” or. “vertikal vlasti” in Russian. It essentially means a hypercentralized, strictly hierarchical system of governance.”………..
“Remind you of anything?…this approach aligns all too well with the so-called unitary executive theory, long pushed by American conservatives. According to it, the president has the sole authority over the executive branch, which supersedes the rest. Mr. Trump has already put the principle to strenuous use, flooding the country with executive orders and defying the courts.”
“When you see your government hiring people based exclusively on loyalty, threatening political opponents, making nonpartisan agencies politically dependent and even effectively disobeying the Supreme Court, know: This is what a power vertical looks like.”
***** “The most odious of all oppressions are those which mask as justice.” { Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson }
6] “Who helps the leader establish his power vertical? Roughly translated as “men of power,” ‘siloviki”. is a political caste authorized to use violence against citizens.”
“Siloviki” is perhaps the most borrowed word in Russian studies – probably because it explains so much about Mr. Putin’s Russia. Its members are the police, the border control, the army, the security services, the spies.” ……..
“When we watched the videos of the arrests of Mahmoud Khalil or Rumeysa Ozturk, we felt a horrible sense of deja vu. Men in plain clothes taking an activist away? We have seen it before, many times. This is the work of Mr. Trump’s budding. siloviki – operating without a warrant, in defiance of due process and under political orders.”
***** “The very first essential for success is a perpetually consistent and regular employment of violence.”
[ Adolf Hitler }
7] “Dictators are relatively powerless without a pliable population creating the illusion of support for the leader. That’s where “byudzhetniki” come in. the word literally means “budget people” and describes the various people whose livelihoods depends on the government. In Russia they could hold almost any position: civil servants, students, workers, teachers, doctors.’
“The authorities are not shy about using this dependency as leverage. those images of cheering crowds at mr. Putin’s Red Square speeches? You might be surprised to find out that a large chunk, if not a majority, have been pushed to attend. by their employers…”Byudzhetniki”. are everywhere in Russia.”……..
“In America, this kind of paid-for partisanship is rare. But there are signs the Trump administration wants its own byudzhetniki.”
8] “What does all this authoritarianism lead to? In Russia, imperialism and war….many in the Kremlin were certain that Russia’s place must be at the center – at least of the former Soviet Union. The. “near abroad”. denoted former Soviet republics, suggesting that they might be independent but just for now.”……
“The term entered the American vocabulary when the U.S. military used it to describe Greenland and Panama in an internal memo. The way the Trump administration has been talking about these countries has us flabbergasted. It repeats, trope by trope, the Kremlin’s propaganda leading up to the war in Ukraine..”….
9] “Good czar, bad boyars”…Dating back to imperial Russia, it describes the belief that the ruler is wise and benevolent but is surrounded by corrupt officials and elites – boyars, in czarist Russia – who sabotage the ruler’s good intentions.
“Kremlin propaganda is suffused with that sentiment…that if Mr. Putin only knew about their suffering, he would help them.” ………
“We can see this playing out pretty clearly in America. The MAGA movement encourages supports to “trust the plan>”. And when things go wrong, as with “Signalgate,” Mr. Trump distances himself from it. He similarly stayed away from the Department of Government Efficiency and ushered mr. Musk out the door when he became too unpopular. The bad boyar had to go.”
***. “Great is the mischief of a legal crime.” [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]
With Justice For All 