"Has any American action racked up so many costs for so little gain as this one?" - Fareed Zakaria, CNN, Sunday.
In their April 2nd Editorial (‘Bomb Iran But
Blow Up NATO?’) the Wall Street Journal’s Pooh Bahs squawked:
“Could the Iran War do what even Vladimir Putin couldn’t and blow
up the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance?
That’s no longer an idle question as most of Europe refuses to help the U.S. and Trump responds
by threatening to leave NATO. This would
be the dumbest alliance breakup in modern history.”
Not only would it be the "dumbest alliance breakup" in modern history but the biggest gift to Putin in 30 years bar none. As the main story (not op-ed) in the same WSJ issue notes (p. A1, 'Trump Weighs Pulling U.S. Out of NATO'):
"Iran war tensions threaten to break up the alliance which has been the foundation of post -World War II order. Trump hasn't explicitly given the order to pull the U.S. out of this alliance that has stood for more than three quarters of a century but officials said he has discussed leaving NATO or finding potential ways to weaken U.S. commitment to it."
Of course, either of these plays into Putin's hands, as just the weakening of NATO has been an aspiration of his since the end of the Cold War. In many respects weakening NATO would be as good a win as totally pulling out. Fortunately, as the piece goes on to note:
"A law passed by Congress in 2023 prohibits a president from unilaterally withdrawing the U.S. from NATO. Doing so requires a two thirds in the Senate or a joint act of Congress."
But why would anyone believe that Biden-era law would stop Trump from doing it? He's flouted every other law, and the courts have barely made a dent in halting him. Especially given the Reep -GOP majority are no more than poltroons and quislings. I mean he's rammed past every other norm, law and with only minimal opposition (Mostly from Dems as when they shut down the govt twice to try and control him).
Hell, Trump has already started a devastating, unnecessary war on a whim with Iran which will have consequences for years to come. Even now, many nations are suffering emergencies owing to fuel and fertilizer shortages. But all the Reepo cowards and Dotard ass kissers do is whistle at the wind.
Let's also recall this was the same traitor who basically gave Putin everything he wanted back in 2018 in their Helsinki summit meeting, including siding with the Russian on his denials of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Oh, and being willing to ship U.S. intel officers to Russia for questioning if Vlad so desired it! See e.g.
In the words of Sen. John McCain after the Helsinki debacle:
“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant. Not only did President Trump fail to speak the truth about an adversary; but speaking for America to the world, our president failed to defend all that makes us who we are—a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad.”
Former CIA director John Brennan, who was among the first to warn that Russia was waging a campaign to help Trump, said in a posting on his Twitter account at the time that Dotard's “press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was nothing short of treasonous.” Brennan's term, not mine, but I absolutely concur.
Brennan more recently ('Deadline White House') has lambasted Trump and his quislings for ignoring the WaPo news report from last month:
Russia is giving Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say - The Washington Post
Yet with all these 'receipts' piling up year after year the WSJ's editors prefer to see Trump only through their rose-colored glasses. Yeah, they will take the occasional shot, but then back off when he does something that suits them - like raising the defense budget by 43% to choke off public services spending.
Need more proof? After their initial lambasting of any move to leave NATO, the Editors then detach from reality as they write:
“The immediate fault here lies with Europe. Spain and Italy
are blocking U.S. military flights to
Iran from their bases.”
Errrr, no, there is no “immediate fault” with Europe. The fault is all on Dotard Donnie for recklessly launching an attack, then war on Iran mainly to distract from the Epstein files brouhaha. The Europeans wanted nothing to do with it, and correctly saw it as a desperate brain fart from a senile orange fungus to distract from low polling and Epstein at home as well as a power grab after vanquishing Venezuela in 24 hrs.
Fact: If not for Trump’s insane and illegal actions, with no congressional approval, the Strait of Hormuz would still be open. Oil would still be flowing and half the planet wouldn’t be on its knees declaring energy emergencies – like the Philippines has. Let's also bear in mind NATO was formed as a defensive alliance, not an offensive one. There was no NATO presence in Korea, Vietnam or Iraq as Fareed Zakaria noted yesterday on his CNN morning show.
As the WaPo’s Kathleen Parker writes in her Friday column ('NATO
is refusing to help Trump with his Iran fiasco. Cue the tantrums'):
"President Donald Trump’s latest tantrums against NATO remind us that toddlers
love repetition. Trump has threatened to pull out of the transatlantic alliance
so many times — it’s become, well, a joke. He
recently called America’s European allies “cowards” for
refusing to race to his command and seize the Strait of Hormuz.
All of this is because Trump and Israel decided to bomb Iran
for reasons that vary day-to-day. Remember when Trump said last June that the
United States had “totally
destroyed” Iran’s ability to create nukes (false)? Well, now he says
Iranian nukes remained imminent (false), and that America has already achieved
victory through “regime
change,” even though the war is stretching into its second month, with
ground troops headed to the region.”
Even the WSJ editors acknowledge this two paragraphs down,
writing:
“Europe’s frustration with Mr. Trump is understandable given
his failure to consult about the war in advance and his taunts about occupying
Greenland, as well as his refusal to help Ukraine resist Russia – which is
another gripe.”
And therein, the last sentence, lay the key to the WSJ's infernal coddling of Trump. To consider Trump’s refusal to help Ukraine just another “gripe” – as opposed to playing Putin’s game, giving him what he wants. Like removing the sanctions on Russian oil. Sheesh, WSJ Editors, how much more do you need to see that Trump is Putin’s Puppet? Indeed, I already trotted out all the evidence that Trump is a traitor and a Putin asset in a previous post:
Yet the WSJ and its related minions at FOX News (also in the Rupert Murdoch empire) continue to treat the guy as relatively normal - just a bit bombastic - who makes the occasional bad judgment call.
But at least Ms. Parker isn't buying that codswallop as she writes:
"Suddenly Trump wants European allies he spent years insulting to join a war he started without a clear plan — or apparently any idea that decapitating Iran’s leadership would instigate a regional crisis and risk millions of lives. At least three NATO allies have told Trump, in so many words, to take a flying leap"
Bingo! So why the hell do it? Well, because in a subsequent editorial ('Trump’s Budget Breakthrough for Defense ) the editors reveal their actual motivation: More trillions for defense in Dotard's budget to starve any chance of public services support! Meaning preserving Social Security and Medicare as well as Medicaid. The latter more immediately impactful given the trillion dollar hit from the grotesque 'Big Monstrous Bill' e.g.
‘Massive Blow’: Analyst Reveals How Trump’s Budget Bill Would Hurt His Base the Most
Hell's bells, the misfit Wack job recently has gone on record as saying the government ought to stop funding Medicare and Medicaid as well as childcare across the board:
Trump says government should stop funding Medicare, daycare to focus on war
Trump, like too many of his ilk, believe any tax money for public services is wasted, or "welfare". When in fact the Preamble to the Constitution itself notes that "promotes the General welfare" is one of the core purposes. NOT military welfare or Dotard ballroom building welfare!
Even here in the U.S. we've known for decades that any increase in Pentagon spending limits the taxes allocated for critical social programs like Medicare, Social Security. Indeed, in a 2002 PBS NOW interview with Bill Moyer, former Pentagon Finance Analyst Chuck Spinney noted every increase of defense spending past a 2 percent of GDP threshold risked the stability of Social Security, Medicare. In his words, any such increase:
"was nothing less than a war on domestic programs, including Social Security and Medicare".
The so-called European "welfare states" (a term invented by WSJ cowboy capitalists) know this which is why they are not interested in "boosting" defense spending "
So why is Trump doing it, all in on it? Because it makes the U.S. even weaker, makes its population weaker (and unhealthier). Which is exactly what Vladmir Putin wants -and why he helped catapult Pvt. Bonespurs into power in the first place back in 2016.
Recall here Christopher Steele's words from his 2024 book, Unredacted:
"Presently the gravest threat to Western democracy and the rule of law comes from Donald Trump and the U.S. Republican Party, increasingly the willing handmaidens for Putin."
See Also:
Youtube videos:
CNN analyst: 18 reasons why Trump may be a Russian asset
&
Prof. Jiang Xueqin: What If Trump Wants America To Lose The Iran War.. GROUND INVASION IS COMING
And:
It has been reported that the Pentagon on Friday will release a proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2027 of almost $1.5 trillion, with approximately $1.15 trillion in discretionary spending contained in the department’s regular annual budget and an additional $350 billion dependent on Congress including it in a separate budget reconciliation bill.
Whatever vehicles the administration chooses to promote this huge increase, it will be doubling down on a failed budgetary and national security strategy. If passed as requested, $1.5 trillion in Pentagon spending—in a single year–will make America weaker by underwriting a misguided strategy, funding outmoded weapons programs, and crowding out other essential public investments.
The current war in the Middle East is a case study in the ineffectiveness of an overreliance on military force in seeking to make America or the world a safer place. In his first term, President Trump abandoned a multilateral agreement that was effectively blocking Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon. Six years later, in his second term, the president initially justified his disastrous intervention against Iran as being motivated by fears of that very same program.
And:
by Dean Baker | April 3, 2026 - 5:11am | permalink
Our Secretary of Defense (or War) Pete Hegseth seems to be having a really great time killing people in Iran, but his live action video games come at a big cost, not just in lives, but in budget dollars. To be clear, the main reason to be opposed to this pointless war is its impact on the people of Iran and elsewhere in the region. But it also has a huge economic cost that is seriously underappreciated.
The short-term cost is the shortage of oil, natural gas, fertilizers, and other items that would ordinarily travel through the Straits of Hormuz. This shortage has already sent prices of many items soaring. The impact is not just on the goods themselves, but there is a large secondary impact due to higher shipping costs, and if fertilizer supplies are not resumed soon, higher food prices, due to lower crop yields. This is a big hit to people in wealthy countries, but it is life-threatening to people living on the edge in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
And:
by C.J. Polychroniou | April 4, 2026 - 4:57am | permalink
by Alexandra Boutri and C.J. Polychroniou
Does President Donald Trump have an endgame in Iran? Are personality traits a factor in Trump’s foreign policy behavior? How different is Trump from his postwar predecessors? Will he end US democracy? Political scientist, political economist, author, and journalist C. J. Polychroniou tackles these questions in an interview with the French-Greek journalist and writer Alexandra Boutri, but does not hesitate to point out that whoever thought that some of the acts associated with mad Roman emperors (like Caligula’s war on Neptune) belong to a bygone era probably hasn’t been paying attention to how crazy and disruptive things are in the Trump era.
Alexandra Boutri: The war in Iran has entered its second month and one cannot rely on the US president for when it might end. Trump refuses to give a clear timeline, although he has boasted on numerous occasions that his war was won. In your view, what is Trump’s endgame in Iran?
And:
by Thom Hartmann | March 12, 2026 - 5:18am | permalink
Eight of our American service members are dead and over 140 wounded because Iran’s military has suddenly gotten really good at targeting our soldiers, Airmen, and Marines. News reports say they’ve been able to hit us with such precision because Russia is using their extraordinary spy satellite, spy plane, and advanced radar capabilities to help Iran’s military.
The Washington Post, which first reported on this, quoted a Russian military expert as saying that Iran is now “making very precise hits on early-warning radars or over-the-horizon radars,” seeming to validate the concern. The article added:
“Iran possesses only a handful of military-grade satellites, and no satellite constellation of its own, which would make imagery provided by Russia’s much more advanced space capabilities highly valuable — particularly as the Kremlin has honed its own targeting after years of war in Ukraine…”
And:
by Thom Hartmann | February 3, 2026 - 6:25am | permalink
The British newspaper Daily Mail is out with a deeply researched investigative report, the result of a long collaboration between columnists Glen Owen and Dan Hodges, along with Mark Hookham (Assistant Editor Investigations), and Daisy Graham-Brown (Investigative Reporter).
It’s shocking in its detail and its implication that Putin has basically owned Trump for years, even before he ran for president in 2016.
They note of last week’s partial (about 50%) Epstein document release:
“The files include 1,056 documents naming Russian President Vladimir Putin and 9,629 referring to Moscow. Epstein even seems to have secured audiences with Putin after his 2008 conviction for procuring a child for prostitution.”
And:
by Robert Reich | April 6, 2026 - 5:26am | permalink
— from Robert Reich's Substack
Yesterday morning, Trump posted:
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
Now, I ask you: If you were in the Iranian regime, would you be: (1) frightened by this post or (2) relieved that you were finally causing Trump to melt down?
I’d guess (2). You’d see his post and figure that Trump — posting on Easter Sunday — has finally gone utterly and definitively bonkers. You’ve done it. He’s mad as a hatter.
And:
The ‘Putinization’ of US foreign policy has arrived in Venezuela | Venezuela | The Guardian
