Trump is now threatening to destroy Iranian civilization, “never to be brought back again.” At the same time, he continues to insinuate that he launched this war of choice at least in part for the benefit of the Iranian people. Just hours before he threatened the destruction of Iranian civilization, he said that the people of Iran want the bombs to keep falling–a claim that would be irrelevant if he wasn’t trying to convince Americans that Iranian interests were part of the war equation.
Perhaps some Iranians do want the bombs to keep falling, but it is doubtful that even those Iranians wish for their civilization to “die tonight, never to be brought back again.” (Emphasis added). That would be crazy–Trump crazy.
Few people–except perhaps the most cultish of the MAGA cult–really thought that the interests of the Iranian people played any part in the Trump/Netanyahu attack on Iran. That was merely one of a litany of changing, and sometimes conflicting, rationalizations for a war that seemingly had no clear objectives and that demonstrated a complete lack of appreciation for the notion that, in a war, the other side also has opportunities for action, and that part of the planning for a war involves thinking about what the other side might do.
It was obvious that closing the Strait of Hormuz and launching missiles and drones at US allies and US assets were possible Iranian responses to a US/Israeli attack. Yet the Administration, or at least Trump, seems totally surprised, frustrated, and indignant that Iran would seize those options.
Mike Tyson is famously alleged to have said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Well, it seems Trump never really had a plan, and it didn’t occur to him that Iran might punch back. Even drunken Pete Hegseth’s military (and traitor Tulsi Gabbard’s national intelligence service) must have told Trump about Iran’s options in response to a strike, right? Could the Trump Administration have so thoroughly hollowed out US intelligence and planning that they left nobody who could have understood and raised the possibilities? That’s doubtful.
So we are left with two options: Trump is so addled that none of the warnings registered, or Trump is so insulated by yes-men and women that none of the warnings were aired in his presence. I go with the first option, in part because crazy, stupid, and evil is what Trump is, as is evidenced by Trump’s unhinged, coarse, and inflammatory rhetoric, and his wild swings in tone and threats. His thinking has become increasingly disorganized, narcissistic, and pathological–so much so that even some of the MAGA faithful have (reluctantly) criticized him. (Check out Tucker Carlson’s characterization of Trump’s Easter message as “vile on every level.”)
And yet, Trump is still in charge. Whether this turns out to be TACO Tuesday (meaning that Trump backs down again) or Trump and his lackeys go ahead with their plan to destroy Iranian civilization (and possibly commit war crimes), that must change. America and the world cannot wait for the conclusion of Trump’s term or the natural course of events to end this madness. We have a 25th Amendment for a reason. It is time to invoke it.