A tweet I encountered last night and obsessed over as I followed its logic all the way to the bottom terrified me in its potential implications. The poster links to another poster highlighting a few Euro press releases lambasting Iran for such a disproportionate response to our unprovoked attack and ends with this question:
“I want to know what they think is a “proportionate” response when invaders assassinate your head of state and civilian leaders in an explicit campaign to destroy your government?”
So, follow my logic here. I replied to their posts with the following:
“This is exactly what terrifies me about Operation Epstein Fury: Trump cannot abide defeat in any way. It’s seen as a personal rebuke to his idand his constant self-aggrandizement. Moreover, the more the US is percieved to lose–the US embodied by Trump’s id—and what it loses in reality, is blamed on Iran and its evil.
No introspection from the Empire of Chaos.
No acknowledgement that we started this war.
As American losses mount and Trump’s prestige fades, the doom spiral of executive decision making begins.
As my father has always said, “there is nothing more dangerous than a coward,” which is what Trump is.
And a coward in a doom spiral with his finger on the button terrifies me to the core.
As it should terrify us all.”
Yup, I’m talking about Trump’s id. He’s a walking manifestation of the human id. He’s the epitome of Freud’s id.
The possibility of him driving humanity off a cliff is NON-ZERO. Slight, yes, but what could a man such as he do in a state of desperation?
j
The question then becomes, what would make him desperate? I don’t think losing a war would. He don’t give a damn about the lives or any of that, he would just brush it off.
Now if Bibi really is blackmailing Trump with his Epstein sessions, that could be something. So if Bibi is desperate and demands Trump to send in the nukes…
Planter of Trees
Losing the war would actually put Trump in a bad position. He and his domestic faction, the Zillionaire Ziocons, have gone way out on a limb here. You could even say they’ve truly gone rogue. In a way, that is convenient for the U.S. government as a whole, because it insulates the system somewhat from liability for the unfolding debacle. That insulation will entail prosecuting the shit out of Trump if he falls on his face here.
Further, Iranian war aims may include pushing the U.S. out of the Middle East entirely. In that case it becomes existential for the dollar system, and the stops WILL be pulled out. And on the third hand, Israel is clearly trying to corral the Administration into exerting maximum force on their behalf. This is probably why they have encouraged this half-cocked military expedition to begin with: failure produces panic, panic prompts extreme action.
There are certainly factors which favor nuclear escalation.
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Maybe Trump should pull a Putin and threaten nuclear war every chance he gets. I’ll give Orange Julius credit, he really has not played this card yet but with all things Trump, give it time.
The propaganda that Israel/America will use nukes in this special military operation against Iran is amusing to say the least. It appears, from my vantage, that this narrative is being spun by Russian and North Korean trolls and those with a grudge to bear are carrying that water.
These same operatives are pushing the WWIII propaganda too. You know it’s foreign operatives because they are completely ignorant of the Western parable about the boy who cried wolf. They claim WWIII every time to the point they no longer have any credibility but as their luck would have it, we live in a time where credibility is meaningless in the scheme of things.
bruce wilder
Trump’s “communication style” with its manifest hypomania provokes Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) in a large proportion of people who might otherwise be a source of not opposition exactly, or true rationality, but certainly a strong preference for a calming “normality” containing a heavy element of denial. We’ve seen in other contexts of political conflict that there can be set into motion an action-reaction political cycle that swirls around Trump, in which all orientation to reality and rational appreciation of reality is lost.
All previous attempts to “prosecute” Trump by impeachment, civil and criminal litigation or stoking popular “patriotic” reaction (Russiagate, “No Kings” rallies) have featured fantasy narratives with little grounding in reality let alone anything like principled political integrity. I think this reflects the top-down manipulation of popular opinion that naturally manifests when one elite faction contests control of institutions with another by means of mobilizing mass support with no intention to cede anything of substance to “the mob”.
Trump does act crazy but his crazy manifests in an institutionalized context of crazy. The inmates have been running the asylum for a long time. War with Iran was on the agenda of teh Blob ™ before Trump came along. Israel — and with the most pathological tendencies in Israeli politics dominating — was dominating the supine Congress quite independently of Trump’s involvement with his in-laws and cronies.
I only wish that the worst we had to fear was a psychotic break in Trump’s personality. If that source of irrational self-destruction in the body politic could be isolated to an individual and excised procedurally, leaving functional institutions to adjust and adapt realistically . . . . yeah, not the world we are living in. It is maybe better not to concede so much to hope.
bruce wilder
In other related threads, other commenters have noted with little sense of irony that this punitive approach to allegedly preventing an Iranian nuke may well lead to Israel using a nuke. File under “Id, projection”
Feral Finster
Sociopaths don’t care “who started it”.
They care only “who wins”.
Once you understand that we are ruled over by high-functioning sociopaths (in the sense that most can fake empathy when convenient), everything they do makes perfect sense.
Mark Level
A simple response: Yes, he is an insane narcissist, ruled by ID, no superego to speak of anymore (there only was to a limited extent in the past, and he is declining nearly as fast as Biden did). He has a Cult around him, that he is the Divine God Emperor, destined to save White, Zio (& Xtian Zionists also) “civilization”, he threw off a comment that only his “conscience”, not the Constitution or laws, that “rule of law” bullshit entirely discredited now, could restrain him.
Epstein Class, Predators who only take and Child Rape have no conscience, they are monsters, don’t even really hide it anymore, since so few consequences in US. (Ok, Larry Summers pushed out of Harvard, too embarrassing, Chomsky discredited among his former fans. But no real consequences beyond general shaming. I recall a great episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry’s friend Jeff was mistaken at a party for Weinstein, somebody screamed at him, “You piece of shit, get out of here!!” So that was present since at least 5 years ago, time of #MeToo.)
Trump always has been and remains as much a symptom as the driving engine of Imperial Decline. Looking in the rear-view mirror, I am pleased that he defeated HRC in 2016, she would’ve run a war on Russia on steroids, likely leading to worldwide Nuclear annihilation. And yes, LAS wrong again, US the ONLY country in history to ever use Nukes on Civilian cities, “scary Putin” has never nuked anyone. If Russia were threatened with Nuclear Annihilation would they respond. No doubt they would, they don’t have a Martyr Complex on the level of poor, noble, naive Khamenai. Also, the bombing of civilians in Gaza has reached at least the level of 2 Nuclear devices last time I looked so the Zionists win 2nd place in that race. And Harper’s Index recently shared 2 stats– before Oct. 7, average Gazan life expectancy was 75 years and change. Now it is down to 40.
L&S should cheer, just as he did over the 5 million Russian premature deaths between 1991-99, speaking of those with little or no superego.
Here’s the factor that I think none of us not on the inside know. Trump is just the Front man, and in that role he is predictably (being a moron with no impulse control) dropping in popularity like a large rock, even among his former base. When gas prices are through the roof and if we’re bogged down with “Boots on the Ground” he is politically a dead man walking. He terrorizes even his loyal bootlickers, when will the actual Deep State decide he’s a liability and dump him? Not far in the future would be my guess.
J.D. Vance will have to pardon him for all the crimes (Duopoly loves them some Complete Immunity for Political Whores, and J.D. will lose election, as Gerald Ford did.) Dimmies will come in holding the Bag, I’d bet even on Mayo Pete Buttigieg above cackling psychotic Kamala, but US will still be a failing, Zionist-serving Oligarchy.
Bruce is correct, pure Projection from the Epstein Fury Class– they did a “pre-emptive Defense move” as the Iranians were about to respond to Israeli attack, that’s the current “explanation” from li’l Narco Rubio and Drunky Crow War Secretary Hegseth.
Failure all around coming, whichever Captain Queeg substitute is steering the Ship of State. More poverty, homelessness, drug ODs, despair. Maybe not a Race War if the Dimmies take over, but then again they’ll go wherever the wind blows, so who knows?
Sean Paul Kelley
@Mark Level: key sentence in your comment: “Trump always has been and remains as much a symptom as the driving engine of Imperial Decline.”
Symptom. Indeed. I have tried to convey this to friends and family and they don’t understand that the gangrene took hold in 2003 with a Veep engorging himself with riches as American troops bled to death in the sands of Iraq. And W, he was the first Front Man of the Deep State.
Oh, how I miss the soft bigotry of low expectations. We thought W was as bad as it could get.
Boy were we fucking stupid.
Mark Level
SPK– The “Iron Rule” of every Presidency since JFK was killed by the Mossan, Dulles Brothers, New Orleans Mafia, etc. is that Every President is Worse than the Last.
Yes, Libs so dumb. It took me awhile, not too long, to realize so. Here’s a story from the past. In 2000, I shared with the other staff at my school that I didn’t vote for the AlGore 1.0 Bot in California. I didn’t like his Slut Shaming of Slick Willie (that opinion has aged poorly, in retrospect, but I only knew about Lewinski, not the minors), I didn’t like the Gore’s idiotic Culture Panic over Rock Music and Hip Hop, the Congressional Hearings where his birdbrain wife Tipper tried to shame Frank Zappa, though their greatest fear was (of course!”) the black man, black band and its rampant sexuality, “Too Live Crew” became the biggest target. Never a huge fan, but respected them; I preferred political bands like NWA and others. Tipper asked Frank “what kind of toys do you give your children?” I think she was trying to imply that he gave his children Dildos to play with or somesuch. (This was long before Rabbi Shmuly and his wife selling dildos, now normalized, ‘Murican society always gets more vulgar and dumb.)
So back to my Lib colleagues’ response to my voting 3rd party. An older, single woman teaching with me visited my classroom during my prep period to “talk.” She attempted to chastise me for Bush’s stealing the election after the Brooks Brothers Riot in Flori-duh. Now, Gore won California by a massive amount, so my act of conscience did not “elect” George Bush. She thought I was somehow responsible!!? I calmly replied, “Robin, if you want to complain to someone about the stolen election, why don’t you write a letter to AlGore and ask him why, when Congressional Dems attempted to litigate the Florida Steal, he immediately told then to give up and hand over the prize? HE capitulated, not me.” Now Robin was a politically regarded Lib (I use a Russel Dobular dodge word; I could just have easily used French, elle est en retard, she’s lagging, behind, slow; Okay I used present tense not past, don’t know all the French minutiae.) She understood logic though, and that I had a Game Set Match. She put her eyes down to the desk evasively, sighed, and walked out without a word.
Back to your major point. Yes, Libs are dumb, they are profoundly dumb when they eschew their own agency, accept the “Representative Democracy” sham, when no Politician ever (okay, Thomas Massie at times, Chris Van Hollen for the Dimmies on immigration, even the departed Marjorie Taylor Green, not nearly as dumb as she seemed at first. I got my Lib sister recently to share my respect for MTG. But these are rare exceptions that matter little if at all.)
So yes, System vs. Symptom; System always Wins, Symptom follows. ‘Muricans are in a race to the bottom and not wising up particularly quickly. I am almost as despairing as Finster, BUT I do note that when peoples’ backs are to the Wall, many will fight back. We will get to THE BOTTOM, it is approaching fast.
Incidentally, listening to Col. Douglas Macgregor talking to Glenn Diesen, captioned “A New World Emerges; Iran Will Win and Israel May Not Survive”. He breaks out how few missiles US has in the region, Iran nearly 1,000 times more. He said the future in that part of the World “belongs to the indigenous people” and not to the Colonial Dregs. 5 or more years ago, I never would’ve thought the patriotic Warrior Macgregor would be praising “Indigenous” agency. The man has studied history though, he isn’t stupid. He said “the future belongs to them, not to US”. Hallelujah. Respect for all those with eyes open.
Sean Paul Kelley
@Mark Level: My bestie was Flava Flav and Public Enemy. Fuck the police. In hindsight, clairovoyant as ever, Tipper was a massive dipshit.
Mark Level
Tailed off with a sentence fragment– Massie, Van Hollen and MTG occasionally broke ranks and tried to serve their constituents. MTG pushed out via MAGA Death threats incited by the ID-Monster. Also typo, Mossad, not Mossan.
More McGregor: India, China and Iran/Persia will survive, they have for centuries. “We” are a young civilization and will not necessarily survive. He could’ve mentioned Russia also, but they weren’t central to the discussion, Kievan Rus formed 842 c.e. Here’s the link to McG and Diesen for those interested– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd_uJiRcl0Q
Also he opines that Russia and China will ONLY likely actively join in IF US or Israel stupid or desperate to use a tactical Nuclear Weapon. Then it’ll be very dangerous, with all human life endangered (thankfully other animals less so), initiated not by “evil Putin” or “evil Xi” but by the demonstrably evil and insane precious “West.”
different clue
Here is a video called: ” Betting on war is a new level of depravity “. It is from the TikTokCringe subreddit. It is about some very new accounts on the gamble-on-events site called Polymarket. Their bets on when certain things related to this newly started Iran War would happen have been so unerringly accurate as to suggest they had specific ahead-of-time knowledge of just when this-or-that would be done.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1rk9by2/betting_on_war_is_a_new_level_of_depravity/
Planter of Trees
To those who say, “they would never,” I have only to say that the historical evidence is against you.