Our Darkest Hour - Paul Krugman
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SPEAKER 1
This is America's darkest hour. Hi, Paul Krugman with an update Tuesday morning. Earlier today, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. Not going to be a problem if we ever do get the war crimes trial that all of this deserves.
A statement of motive intent is completely clear. I don't need to say how vile it is. It is shocking, although at some level, if you didn't see this as a real possibility, then you weren't paying attention. Not much to say here except to talk about how those of us who are not Donald Trump should behave.
First of all, any military commander given orders to start destroying civilian infrastructure in Iran should disobey that order, should say it, should not even quiet resignation. This is a time to stand up and make it clear that this is totally unacceptable. This is a violation of everything that the military stands for.
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Our Darkest Hour
The civilization we destroy may be our own
Apr 07, 2026
7,360
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Transcript
Transcript
This is America’s darkest hour.
Hi, Paul Krugman with an update Tuesday morning. Earlier today, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social,
A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.
Not going to be a problem if we ever do get the war crimes trial that all of this deserves. A statement of motive, intent is completely clear.
I don’t need to say how vile it is. It is shocking, although at some level, if you didn’t see this as a real possibility, then you weren’t paying attention. Not much to say here except to talk about how those of us who are not Donald Trump should behave.
First of all, any military commander given orders to start destroying civilian infrastructure in Iran should disobey that order, should say it, should not even quietly resign. This is a time to stand up and make it clear that this is totally unacceptable. This is a violation of everything that the military stands for. It’s a violation of everything that America stands for.
Second, any member of the Trump administration: to continue in your position doing your job as Trump takes America on the course of becoming a criminal nation, a criminal terrorist nation, you cannot continue in good conscience.
Particularly, if you play any role in making this happen, then you are a war criminal too. Then you ought to be brought up someday before an international tribunal. But even if you’re in a peripheral role, even just putting your head down and saying, well, I’m an assistant secretary at the agriculture department or something like that, that’s not good enough. This is not a regime that you can serve in good conscience.
Republican politicians, any Republican, I mean, there are people already saying, “oh, you know, I don’t approve of destroying civilizations, but” — that “but” makes you an accessory to the crime, if you are failing to stand up against it.
And I really don’t like this notion that only Democrats have agency. This is a very common thing. All of this is made possible by the lockstep slavish obedience of Republicans. Nonetheless, Democrats have a role here, too. And this is not a time to attack Trump’s war because it costs too much money or to attack it because it’s bad for energy markets or raises the price of groceries. I mean, it does do all of that. All of that is true. But we’re way past that point now. We’re at the point where you need to unambiguously condemn the immorality and criminality of what’s going on. No mincing of words.
Damned if I know what’s going to happen. I mean, at some level, I think that the civilization that may be destroyed tonight is our own. I mean, are we civilized if we do this kind of thing? If America as a nation doesn’t stand up against this, what are we?
So, God help us. Normal life will continue. It’s going to be a really weird thing to be out there, you know, grocery shopping and taking the subway and all of those things. But this is, in a way, the defining moment. The fate of the whole American idea is on the line.
I have no idea how this ends.
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Discussion about this video
CommentsRestacks
All ex presidents should stage an intervention. NOW.
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The 25th Amendment is an “intervention”. Republicans are such cowards facing a blubbery lunatic, they won’t use the one tool our Founders provided for exactly this situation. It’s inexplicable.
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Meaning the 25th Amendment? That was ratified in 1967. Not given to us by the founders. But you are correct. They won't use it.
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The Founders did, however, give us IMPEACHMENT and CONVICTION. We need to clamor for those means of getting drumpf out of power, but the colluders will keep colluding even with a war criminal because his rape and fraud convictions and his cover-up of his Epstein crimes were not enough.
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Anca
Yes and the Founders gave us a Constitution to be defended and protected with the rule of law being enforced including the federal criminal law against insurrection.
Trump is a felony criminal terrorist promising to commit war crimes and genocide in Iran. Krugman has correctly said, terrorism, according to the official government website definition “involves violence or the threat of violence against people or property to further a particular ideology.” The official website goes on to declare that “Terrorists do not care who they hurt or kill to achieve their goals.”
Yes, Trump is a terrorist. But Trump is also the leader of the Republican party and therefore the Republican party is a terrorist organization that is also on the verge of being guilty of commiting war crimes. There should be no surprise that Republicans are supporting the war and will support everything that Trump is proposing to do. All this terrorism with planned war crimes was enabled by the insurrection that began on January 6, 2021, and continued in 2025 and 2026 as planned by Project 2025 after the election of Trump in 2024. The insurrection is a criminal felony that violates federal law as led by Trump and his administration with felony criminal support from oligarchs, Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court, and Christian nationalists in the government. Terrorism in 2025 and 2026 happened when the federal law against insurrection was not enforced by President Biden and AG Merrick Garland from January 2021 to the end of 2024.
The war in Iran was driven by Israel, the corrupt Netanyahu war machine, and Hegseth, a Christian nationalist/Dominionist, who believes the war with Iran involving Israel was necessary to trigger the Second Coming of Christ. Dominionism is a political/religious ideology that believes Dominionists are “the chosen” “born again” followers of Christ who would be saved in the Second Coming of Christ to judge the world, defeat evil Democrats and anti-Christians, and establish a righteous kingdom.
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I know about Dominionism, but I very much doubt that either drumpf or Hegseth can think to end of times when they can't think to the end of the day. I agree with you about Project 2025 and the motives of those who formulated them. They chose their useful idiots.
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And regarding impeachment, Ben Franklin supposedly argued for it during the writing, saying that, if there is no means for removal by impeachment, the only option available would be assassination.
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…and assassination is how Huey Long’s reign - the only comparable incident in American history history that I can think of - came to an end.
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Assassination is the never option. Impeachment is the answer, expecting congressional action.
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Oops! My bad - it’s right there in the name 25th. I was background-thinking about the whole Amendment process, which feels like a dead letter in modern times; I predict we will never make another Amendment; the Constitution is equivalent with the Bible.
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Prof. Krugman says twice "... in good conscience." That presumes the current people serving Trump have a conscience.
The problem is he got rid of all those people in the first term. Anyone who has any moral character or would push back on horrible ideas is long gone.
Over 100 International Law Experts Warn: U.S. Strikes on Iran Violate UN Charter and May Be War Crimes
https://www.justsecurity.org/135423/professors-letter-international-law-iran-war/
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Definitely war crimes. Saying “May be” is just obnoxious.
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The problem is sociopaths and psychopaths lack a conscience. Nobody with one works for someone like tRump.
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the parasites still stay for sustenence and once butterfingers is gone the will awaken their morals
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And the comprehensive condemnation by JustSecurity.org is dated 2 April--before the even more egregious threats made by Trump & co since then.
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Sounds like The Hague may have a special award for him. All he has to do is show up and claim it.
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we don't need the hague, we can try traitors ourselves
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You certain about that? The Corte di Tutti Corti might have a contrary opinion.
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We--and the Brits--killed as many as four *million* German and Japanese civilians in WW2. We killed up to three million Vietnamese civilians during the war in that country. We and the Brits systematically destroyed Iraq's sewage treatment plants during the "No Fly Zone" period after the First Gulf War, resulting in 250,000 Iraqi deaths due to diarrheal diseases--mostly kids and old people.
The only difference this time, is that Influencers like Paul are speaking out *before* the hammer drops. Let's hope it is enough to stop the Trump-Bibi war from descending deeper into madness.
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why do they say strikes "may be" a WC, they need to take a stand too instead of weaseling out with mild assertions
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I fear that you are right about that that. Even so, I can think of several amendments that we need : 1) Eliminate the electoral college in favor of popular vote for President 2) Reverse the Citizens United "money is speech" decision 3) Set term limits for Senate and House and prohibit trading of stock, bonds by any member of the. Portfolios turned over to independent fiduciary. (maybe we should also consider members of House to be selected by lottery (similar to juries) 4) Removal of Pardon power for the President and requirement for financial disclosures.
Legislation might include 1) Requiring independent Justice Department by requiring 2/3 majority vote to appoint the AG. Require independent Secy of Defense requiring 2/3 approval , Require Secy of HHS to be suitable qualified with MD degree of PhD in relevant health sciences 2) Strictly enforced Ethics standards for SCOTUS
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Those are all great ideas but unless there's a total political collapse of the Republican party with the election of super majorities of Democrats, and a Democratic President, and replace a lot of the Supreme Court, and small states magically give up power. It will never happen.
I think we will have to do the best we can and limp along with the current system we have. I do like getting rid of the filibuster as it is currently practiced though. Then some reform legislation might make it through with a Democratic President.
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Hello Jeff... It would have to be a Democratic President with a Spine... GWB should have been prosecuted for War Crimes, but GWB Paints Landscapes now... Obama had big Majorities in Congress that Obama Squandered which helped lead to the rise of MAGA...
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I am not a huge Obama fan, but the majorities won when he was elected were fragile, and were quickly lost. I do not believe he could have prosecuted W for war crimes, nor would he have rendered a former president to the ICC for that purpose.
Contrary to what many conservatives alleged, Obama was a moderate, constitutionalist Democrat -- one man's opinion.
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Hello R... Obama in 2008 ran a Successful Marketing Campaign, and once Elected, just continued GWB's Wars, and Policies... This was the seed of MAGA... Obama was in Deed, a Center-Right Republican a-la GHWB...
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The seed of maga was a Black man being elected president and seeing him in the White House, and not a single thing Obama did or didn't do.
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The Dems are basically just to the right of Nixon. This is however irrelevant now. The current admin is led by a psychopath, and the GOP is a cult. There is no functional government. Party nuances are meaningless.
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Well, I think he was a center-Left Democrat, but we are splitting hairs. Many self-labelled "conservatives" swallowed the Fox News line that BO was a radical leftist Socialist because-- gasp! -- when a mere junior Illinoisan Senator he always voted for Democratic-supported policies!!!!
The problem faced by 'centrist' politicians is that by trying to avoid being 'partisan' they rarely attract decisive numbers of support from the other party, and often end up quarreling with the activist wing of their own.
Governing is harder than campaigning.
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The problem is that Democrats play by the rules, laws, and norms and have some notion of what our nation should be (for the most part). Republicans look for ways to get what they want and lately don't care much about things like democracy and decency getting in the way. Maybe that will be the lesson, playing hardball is the only way to go instead of kumbaya and cooperation.
Biden could have put the screws to Trump, but let a non-partisan Justice Department do the job and I don't think will happen next time if there is one. Obama had a thin super majority and after that Republicans filibustered and regained a majority in the House so he couldn't do much of anything. I sort of wish he'd waited to run. He could of beat Trump easily.
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Hello Jeff... The simplest Explanation for Obama's failure, is that Obama made Big Promises, but Obama didn't deliver... The Apache have strict Moral Code, Don't Promise What You Can't Deliver...
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thank goodness there's a block button. Ignorant drivel.
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Obama did not have big majorities and Ted Kennedy died. Go back and look at the facts.
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remove the electoral college
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I can dream can't I? I realize it will take time...maybe never so long as a good portion of the population continues to be blind to oligarchic take over. I'd be happy to get 1) and 2).
Thee is a reason that both parties won't rid themselves of the filibuster as it seems to protect the minority from getting "run over". In my opinion (and in the opinion of some other legal scholars of which I am not a member), the filibuster is unconstitutional. It effectively imposes a supermajority rule for legislation because that's what is required to even reach the Senate floor. The filibuster was originally conceived to allow ample time for debate, now it's used to keep a vote from happening at all with minimal (practically zero) effort. The constitution outlines what situation requires a supermajority....conviction of an impeached party, passage of a constitutional amendment, etc. Routing legislation (not even expenditures or WAR declaration require a supermajority). I agree that it should be eliminated as it currently exists, but get it back to its original intention...to allow debate. NOT to block legislation completely. The rule has been abused and can be eliminated by a willing majority, but thank goodness we have it while Trump is in office. Senate leadership is hiding behind it to keep Trump from his worst legislative instincts because they can't get the required votes. Change it, and you get a voter ID law before November and vote suppression on steroids.
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Apr 9 Edited
I think your dreams are right on track. I guess I'm old enough that I'm skeptical about what can be accomplished, but I try not to be cynical. I think the Electoral College will be around until the end of time. It doesn't make sense but gives small states power. There's the Interstate Compact but that sounds Unconstitutional to me if it ever came to be. And last election Minnesota would have given our votes to Trump, so that sounds repulsive. I can see #2 though, but it will take a long time to change the composition of the court unless Democrats can expand it but then that means owning Congress and the Presidency and likely eliminating the fillbuster.
With the filibuster, I don't think most people recall but up until recently the filibuster was hardly ever used to block legislation since it was difficult to physically hold the floor basically forever. Almost all legislation was passed by a simple majority in the Senate up until the filibuster was made into a simple declaration ("I'm filibustering this") and Republicans used it over and over against Obama blocking his judicial appointments.
Yes, it's holding back some egregious legislation like SAVE. In these times of Republican blind obedience to our despot majority rule affirming whatever he wants does not seem like a good idea. But the filibuster also lets some Republicans hide behind the Democrats since they don't have to take the vote, so maybe it wouldn't pass.
But it's also telling that Republicans don't want to roll it back since they know it works both ways and since they usually stand against reform and progress they will need it.
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Apr 7 Edited
Well, the founders did give us the ability to amend the Constitution - they were mostly lawyers after all - but I agree with you, for some reason, the Constitution seems to have become lapidary in the 1950s, which, if you remember was the era of the cold war and anti-Russian hysteria.
That was also when the teaching of schoolchildren began to include assertions of American exceptionalism - just as Soviet schoolchildren were taught the superiority of Sovietism over Capitalism.
Now, it's a dangerous thing to tell children they're exceptional - they start to believe it. And of course, the corollary is that the Constitution must be the greatest document ever written, (whereas the founders saw it as just a legal document open to amendment). And that, in a nutshell , is why I think there have been so few amendments since the cold war (the 25th just emphasized what was already standard practice (the VP takes over etc, etc,), and the 26th just solves an issue about congressional pat. The 23rd and 24th were also not particularly important.
The point is, we have not had a substantial amendment to the Constitution in 75 years, which is almost a third of the time since the Constitution was written. You can make the reasonable argument that, if anything, as life got more complicated and the population grew and became more diverse, you would have expected more amendments rather than fewer.
What has become clear is that the one amendment needed now is the abolition of the office of POTUS and the establishment of a parliamentary democracy. May our current crisis focus all minds on what is important.
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Never is a long time. I hope we do not think "difficult" means never. To me it means that something must be very important to add an amendment. And likely that is why this process was put in the USA Constitution. As opposed to the Texas Constitution with so many amendments.
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This is a little on the sarcastic side, but the Bible has been revised for the convenience of the critics to support all kinds of differences that surfaced during the reformation. Some of them wise and others just to support a preferred power structure outside of Rome. So nothing (except perhaps the Ten Commandments is "written in stone"..even though even that has had some inconsequential wording changes). So I'm sayin' there's a chance.
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That sounds about right: a 2,000 year old text is more adaptable than our 200+ year old founding text. It seems a sign of our slow decline that we can’t agree on anything. I think this is why the Greeks distrusted democracy - they knew us plebeians were unfit to the task.
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The Founders' tool is impeachment which they wormed out of twice and could've done a third for obstruction of justice post Mueller. So their cowardice pretty much covers the board.
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Cancel the World Cup and announce the moving of the 2028 Olympics. We know corrupt FIFA won't do this but the national football associations should be pressured not to attend. If the associations don't boycott, the stars should announce that they will not play. This, more than most things, would show even the oblivious that things are not normal.
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It's not to us to reckon what "they" won't do. It's on them!
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We need to remember Spiro Agnew. Before getting rid of Nixon, Spiro had to go. Who would replace Trump that would be better? Vance? I think not, just as evil and cleverer.
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Not as dangerous. Completely without support
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This. He would be a lame duck, only approved by a hand of billionaires. Still dangerous tough.
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Vance may be more articulate, but he's as off-putting as stepping in fresh dog poop. (I'm trying to clean up my language). Vance could run as a Democrat and he'd still lose. You can take the trash out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the trash.
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There is a section in the 25th that provides for impeaching all the leaders in the administration, which seems to be an obvious option, albeit challenging in the current environment.
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I accidentally omitted that this section provides for *simultaneous* impeachment.
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Unfortunately, the German generals failed in their attempt to remedy the situation all at once. Perhaps ours could be more successful.
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But without whatever it is that Trump has that inspires actual worship in millions of his followers.
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Even if they were capable of action, Congress is out of town.
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Of course they are. Nothing going on in DC . . . .
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They can be called back.
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Not by Mike Johnson unless he grew a spine.
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The astronauts on Artemis II are the only ones to see Earth now as it spins...precessing as though all human foibles don't really matter all that much.
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Space station wanna chat...
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I think that is absolutely by design and not a knee-jerk reaction, along with Vance being out of the country. This has been planned for a while.
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Perfect metaphor!
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This is a national emergency. There is nothing stopping them from speaking to each other on the phone and arranging a press conference by zoom to jointly condemn this.
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JF yes, republicans are such cowards. They will never take action, they are complicit in all trump does.
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It's very explicable - the techbroligarchs are still finding this idiot useful. the lackeys in congress are not paid to do anything contrary to the will of our masters. it's very clear.
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That’s why Vance was sent away from Dc by Trump’s controllers
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I just read that Vance is in Hungary, campaigning for Orban. Totally normal? It is now.
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To keep him away from a 25th amendment push
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JF you are so right.
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There's one small problem. You're talking as if Trump is doing something that the congress people don't like. Have you noticed how Lindsey Graham speaks? He's probably more culpable for this fiasco than even the orange dictator himself. Trump isn't the sole problem you have. There is a long queue of even worse characters waiting behind him!
Trump didn't fall down and knock his head in the last one year. He was always like this. And yet, people elected him and the congress people and the SC judges supports him. All of them are part of the problem. The 25th Amendment isn't a solution unless it can be applied on all of them. I don't think you have the luxury of playing whack-a-mole for the rest of your lives!
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It’s true; all the GOP is under some kind of authoritarian spell. The 25th Amendment is like a fairy tale. I can’t imagine the circumstances it would ever be used, and as you noted the entire MAGA cabal is waiting to carry on the destruction, so it hardly matters.
Our culture and society seem degraded beyond repair. People were entertained by Trump’s mean and vulgar antics on stage. Reality TV scrambled the brains of the numbed against actual reality. And along comes AI . . .
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Framers did not account for an attack on Earth by a sadistic hive-mind from outer space.
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I’m still on my first cup of coffee, out in the west . . .
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Enacted after the Kennedy assassination.
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Thanks, Gary and Mark. What I get for not double checking and therefore deleted. Our larger point stands, and I appreciate your correcting it for all.
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Nope. Ratified in 1967 before Nixon was elected.
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Apr 7 Edited
I remember a time when Republicans went to President Nixon and told him he had lost the support of the party and of the people, and that if he did not resign he would be impeached and removed from office.
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Wholly different times back then, no? These days division is the fundamental definition and identity. But ---Trump's malignant extremes have corrupted even this, so maybe - given time and deeds - some R's will realize their responsibilities. (?)
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Most of the "division" is an illusion IMO. The Democratic leadership works for the same rich assholes that the Republican leadership works for. Moreover, it looks to me as if the Democratic leadership is far more interested in fund-raising off outrage against Trump than actually doing anything to stop him.
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What do you think that would do? Clinton and Bush are both held in very low esteem, and the latter was the worst president since the 1850s, if not ever. Obama has influence in the Democratic Party, but that's it. The three of them can do absolutely nothing, zilch, about Trump. And the 25th Amendment? There's not a person able to initiate that process who would do so. You're stuck with Trump and the spineless Congress, both elected by the American voters.
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They can and should BE LOUD!!! Express outrage and horror. We the people are. We need ALL leaders, former leaders, military, clergy, artists, media to do the same. SCREAM LOUDLY!!
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If, for no other reason, than to make a public statement that they are against this madness.
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Why can’t the Republican Congress be arrested using the RICO and conspiracy charges (and several others)?
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Because the DOJ doesn’t arrest Magga republicans. They just go after the guys they can’t even get an indictment on.
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Dear Paul, from Iran🤍🖤
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Apr 7 Edited
Just find a desk and crawl under it .
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In my grade school we were sent out into the hallway as if that would save us.
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I think going into the hallway was to get us away from windows. Before that, the drills just had us get under our desks. In Los Angeles, we went from doing that as bomb drills (WWII) to doing the same thing for earthquake drills. Then, back to bomb drills and earthquake drills with the same signal: "DROP." The visit to the hallway was added for a while. I don't recall doing that when I was teaching.
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Yes I was there. I was also on ground zero in La Havana. I’m a pro.
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that was to save the class not the jokers dumped out of class into the hallway
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It really doesn’t matter what others esteem is, anyone one with a recognizable name and especially we regular people, if we have any values at all, must put our opinion out there!
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Trump is destroy your country, first of all try to stop this lunatic evil.
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They were all in on it since JFK.
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Thank you for this clear post….
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arrgh
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they should go to Washington or wherever the fuck Trump is and stop him
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Please check out http://Electiontruthalliance.org
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There are 33 mil registered Republicans; they need to start this intervention!
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Last time I checked most of them were on board and fully agreed with what Trump etc were doing ...
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Apr 7 Edited
All cowards and liars.
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I agree with you. If he goes ahead with this threat it will destroy the US past, present and future. Their legacy too will be tainted.
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Why aren't all the retired generals speaking up? Mark Hertling certainly is. But where are all the others?
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WAKE UP AMERICA https://www.instagram.com/p/DWT_RqilG5s/?img_index=1
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There was a time not so long ago, when then secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, said about the US bombing policy in IRAQ / Afghanistan said “ what are we going to do ? Bounce the rubble one more time.”
So, Pete Hegseth, what will you do when all your targets have been destroyed?
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Actually, that is a scary question.
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Apr 7 Edited
Hey Danny, why would ex presidents "stage an intervention" ? Trump's Truth Social histrionics are louder and more inept but his actions are on the same line as every President since 1945 with the exception of JFK.
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Sounds like you are very happy right now. Enjoy. Hint: the best place to be in an atomic attack is ground zero. Figure out where that is.
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Why ground zero? Isn’t that the worst place to be?
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JFK? Eisenhower started US intervention in Vietnam but Kennedy did not stop it. And that’s just one example.
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We need to find a way to begin the peal off members of Congress and create a group of people who can work together, yes across the aisle! Maybe in secret…and to point out the people who are the money behind the BatShit crazy!
Name them, embarrassing them!
Rebuild the guardrails of all kinds…public humiliation for the funders, a safe place to be rational for the few we need.
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Too late.
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Totally agree! In dire times it is necessary for all to speak out!
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Will that make any difference??
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This is one of the best ideas i've seen. Former presidents should lead a push for impeachment and rapid conviction. It CAN happen under these horrific circumstances (but especially when dems retake the senate, although we really don't have that much time). But where the hell is george w bush?
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Further to my earlier comment, somewhere here, I should have referenced Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, rather than the 25th Amendment.
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Any intervention would be useless with this monster, but, of course, they should speak up, especially the Republican one, although he was never willing to sacrifice much for others.
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How? He would arrest them for treason.
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Oh well, in that case your goose is cooked.
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I wish I were living in an alternate universe right now. No Donald Trump, No Pete Hegseth, No Stephen Miller, NO Christian Nationalists, NO merging of Church and State, NO likening of Donald Trump to Jesus Christ or our savior, or our king. I want it ALL gone. I want this CULT destroyed, And I want all this news and commentary gone. Everyday there are more unimaginable stories about Trump which puts him in the public eye every single nanosecond of each day. Trump and his band of
nut jobs are destroying our souls .
And it’s ALL diversion from the Epstein files. All of it: Ukraine, Gaza, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran.
If all the newscasters could refrain from invoking his name for 24 hours, that just might destroy him. His ego would be bruised and maybe he’d just disappear in a tiny orange cloud and then maybe we’d be able to take a deep breath and enjoy the riches of spring.
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Paul, I have never appreciated you as much as I have these last several days. Thank you for injecting humanity into your daily reporting. The economy matters, but mankind matters even more. Thank you.
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Thank you for saying this. It’s why I started following Paul so many years ago now. A speaker of truth, not claiming infallibility, but having an economist’s mind, humanity’s wellbeing and a clarity of voice to help people make sense of the world. When you find trustworthy people, they provide some light in the darkness.
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Yes!! ❤️❤️❤️
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Agree, it is Wonderful. Then again, it makes sense, the purpose of having an economy is to realize human potential which includes a cultivated consciouness.
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YES!
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I truly believe every idiotic, amoral, blasphemous thing he and his closest and closeted minions put out for the world’s consumption is for one thing only.
To protect his personal wealth and freedom from what is in the Epstein files.
It would be helpful if ALL news coverage began and ended with the truth of every actions ultimate connection to the Epstein cover up.
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I have read that Trump has moved into and out of crypto currencies. Perhaps he will keep a great portion in this fake money myth. To me, it may be very ironic. But I do know that the best customers of sales people are other sales people. And it ought to also apply to grifters.
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I think that we pretty much all feel this way. I'm in the UK, so I have some distance from it, what it must be like so close to is unimaginably horrible.
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It is unimaginably horrible.
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I think he’s bluffing! He’s trying to scare Iran! And the rest of us.
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Even the threat is against article 33 of the Geneva conventions.
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Why would he even know that nor care!
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He is trying to scare them, but he’s also panicking. No telling what he’s capable of.
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One thing is certain. There has never in recorded history been a case in which a military moved thousands of troops into an area and did not use them. What Trump will use them for is unknown, but they will get used against Iran.
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We can but hope so.
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Convicted Felon always lies. So the bridges and power plants may be the safest places. Maybe he'll try to occupy Kharg Island.
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Kharg is a good bet. So are the islands near the Hormuz strait.
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How much are you willing to bet?
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It’s working
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It’s working on me…
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I hope you're right.
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Where is every single American’s outrage. The people are out there, where is corporate America? They too will suffer
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We the American people, have become responsible by association for what’s happening in the Middle East, Lebanon, Iran, the Golf Emirates, Ukraine, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, and domestically the unpunished unbelievable abuse of children, women, grifting, and on and on…Now we are responsible because we know, and we are just watching…
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I feel helpless to do anything because I am. Ones who could stop him won’t.
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Hopefully you will vote.
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I always vote. I voted. Voting isn’t enough apparently if bozos can be elected.
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I hope there’s a special place in hell for any Republican or Democrat who is willing to idly sit by while the world erupts in a nuclear conflagration.
As the professor has pointedly stated, that moment is long in the past.
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God help us
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which god?
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I’m an agnostic but I’ll take any godly intervention at this point. Who cares? How about Zeus or Apollo or Themis, the god of justice? Any god will do. Strike them all with flash lightening on a clear spring day and rid the earth of them.
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Take me with you PLEASE!
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We could ask a friend for US regime change? Britain? France? Canada? Anyone? Given the state of our military at the moment, you might want to create an alliance, quietly and quickly. I’ll leave the gate open… Waiting anxiously for my beautiful country to return….
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I love your last sentence. That’s exactly how I feel.
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Apr 7 Edited
I’m going to state the obvious: those 30% of MAGA Republicans who still support this Administration need to be publicly shamed and shunned for the rest of their lives. I’m not kidding. Ridiculed. Uninvited. Blocked. Ignored. Fired at work (political ideology is not a protected class regarding labor law) and also refuse to do business with them, only interact at work at the minimal necessary level to the point it’s obvious to them that they are a scourge. If you married one, file for divorce, take the kids whether you’re male or female. We need an extinction level event of shame. If it’s a family member, disown them. Shut their businesses down if they are self-employed. They need to be punished and burn with shame for the rest of their damn lives.
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Perfectly said, Ellen.
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It wouldn't work. We already did that, during Biden's term.
All it did was give him the opportunity to become more butthurt and vengeful, and plan his “retribution” on us all.
He'll never stop.
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Which civilization is dying tonight? It’s not Iran.
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Our civilization died November 2024.
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November 2016, if not 30 april 1789. It has always been on this distructive trajectory.
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In the 1970s the KGB began watching trump. They needed a traitor, a spy who would have no patriotic ideals, a man untethered to pesky laws and good karma. They liked what they saw in trump; the vanity, greed, disrespect of laws and norms, and the ease it takes to manipulate him, especially when around big money and power.
So finally in the late 80s trump lost his casinos due to bankruptcy and no one would give him a loan. So Russia invited him to Moscow and the rest—as they say—is this terrible history.
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I dont think you can kill a zombie Nation.
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Oh you can. They die all the time. This one is just about to go.
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the Zombie Nation I refer to has been stalking the World since at least '45
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No, it happened when that escalator got stuck and didn’t make it to HELL, which was the real destination for that evil couple in 2015. When he announced his candidacy and began this felonizing of the presidency, this Russianizing of our elections and the Naziizing of our nation.
We will never recover or return to where we were before. Hopefully we can end the Republican Party full stop and create the sort of country we not only need, but deserve.
No one, no matter what they’ve done in their lives, how much they’ve broken laws or cheated others, even committed pedophilia at Epstein’s Island deserves a horror like Donald J Trump.
No one.
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You know what? I think MAGA is growing acclimated to accepting the pedophilia. I agree with you; I’m 73, and I know we will not recover from this in my lifetime. I’ve heard suggestions that we outside the MAGA movement be accepting of those MAGAs who now see the light; fine for others but I never will. Never.
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Yes. They've been around for at least 5,000 years relative to America's 250 years.
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The U.S. civilization isn't dying. The U.S. is merely proving to the world that it is uncivilized.
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Does the relative quietude from even D's in the legislative branch attest to the level of disbelief in what this pathetic, barely elected dunce proclaims? The war crimes threats are both US military laws as well as international. I expect all have NO statue of limitations.
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All of Congress is on Spring break.
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"Toga Party!" while Rome burns. Congress is a farce.
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If Iran goes down, I hope they take the US down with them.
That's what we deserve. We are the bad guys. Sick, depraved, demonstrably evil.
As an ex navy officer, I take my oath to the Constitution seriously. Ironically, I see no way to defend that Constitution without extraordinary measures. The failure of Congress to intervene in today's chaos may be something from which we cannot recover.
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Apr 7 Edited
I don't want more bloodshed especially our own, but I agree that Congress has failed here. When we're down to the conscience of military commanders to do the right thing, it's pretty desperate. Also, Hegseth and Trump have removed many who might do the right thing.
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Trump has genuinely done an amazing job, like no other. He has turned global opinion re the Iranian theocracy on its head. Of course we know that Trump probably envy’s Iran government’s treatment of its opponents, and by his words, we know its never been about the well being of the Iranian people.
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While I acknowledge the severity of this situation—it is severe—we didn’t just get here in isolation.
The United States is, in fact, the type of country that would destroy a civilization. It is the type of country that eradicated entire Native tribes and enslaved people for hundreds of years—and yes, slavery has existed throughout history, but chattel slavery was different. I hope no one comes for me about that, because I don’t want to get pulled into that conversation, but the distinction matters.
What also matters is that we never enacted real consequences in this country at the end of the Civil War. We allowed the Confederacy to continue to fester, and it is still trying to destroy the country to this day. Period.
The United States would not agree with the United Nations that chattel slavery was a crime against humanity, so what makes you think it wouldn’t be capable of destroying humanity? After all, aren’t we the only country that has ever actually done it—used a nuclear weapon against another nation?
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As the Cold War ended there was real hope that the US might be moving away from its traditions (not so different from many other national traditions really). That ended with 9/11 when the US public went kind of crazy. The endorsement of torture and the failure to identify and punish, or at least shame, the actual torturers was a turning point – anyway I felt so at the time and still do.
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WE are the biggest bully in the world with our military might and testosterone laden leadership.
We have been in a war every decade since WWII. And had our asses handed to us in Vietnam & Afghanistan. 20 YEARS there, and it was all for naught in a day. In ONE day. That says it all.
Everything about this country is money, money, money, and war is a HUGE business.
This is our karma. Just wait until the retaliation here. Fucking insane morons, all of ‘em.
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Yes, we have done all that and you'd think we would have learned something. If the republican leadership is so proud of their country they should organize an intervention. Time to utilize the 25th amendment.
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Paul, you are yet again speaking truth about a fatally flawed system, but few are ready to concede the strength of your argument. The mass media continue to dance around the obvious, looking in vain for appearances of "guardrails", long ago rendered asunder by this piratical, venal, stunningly corrupt, and malignantly lying regime. And, more importantly, who can or will stop this evil man from using nuclear weapons on the battlefield? That ONE person ALONE has the authority to order incineration of millions of people surely
is the singlemost failure of the evolved "unitary executive" transmogrification of constitutional government into one-man rule.
Yet, here we are, under the thumb of a less-than-serious and less-than-rational individual, with seemingly no exit.
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The MSM is infuriating. The house is on fire and the guy who set it on fire is standing there with the blow torch and gasoline. The MSM reports on what he incoherently says to justify setting the house on fire and then it's on to some story with cute puppies or how are those astronauts doing? Oh and let's give it the both sides treatment.
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I doubt Netanyahu or Trump or any leader will need to resort to odious and unpleasant nuclear weapons given their convention weapons are rather more manageable and they do the job of destroying women and children and poor civilians and infrastructure and military quite satisfactorily for the Leaders purposes.
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in fiction when a gun is introduced it is always used, I hope that is not true for nukes
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yes thats a good observation. Truman used 2 nukes and from what Ive read, the brass was against it -he didnt have to -just like the rats who shoot up and terrorize a dusty cow town in the movies
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The US also dispossessed Indians of their real estate which in today's dollars is probably worth trillions. So took Africans labor without compensation and Indian real estate without compensation.
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also the european countries did as much in Africa as we did to the First Peoples. If you look back on history our species dominant feature is killing others - romans, mongols brits, germans russians japanese, chinese, even belgians
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African chattel slavery was collosal crime against humanity but to declare it as the most, "the gravEST crime", lost votes. 55 nations abstained or voted against that recent UN GA resolution (A/80/L48). BTW transatlantic was not the only slave trade.
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The statement is fully within the definition in Article II of the UN Convention on the prevention of genocide of 1948
genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
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There are 5 types described. Of note, anti trans laws commit 2 two types of genocide
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The first three are the most relevant, i omitted the rest for ease of reading
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I don't believe this is talk of just destroying civilian infrastructure—I'm pretty sure he's talking about using nuclear weapons.
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My fear exactly!
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He's old and obviously quite ill and he may have been told that he's dying. I fear that he could be ready to use nukes to start WWIII because he doesn't want the world to go on without him in it. He'd call that winning. He's lethally dangerous.
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Yes, a malignant narcissist with the powers of the US presidency. This is a frightening scenario.
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His niece Mary Trump has said that if he thinks he's going down, he'll try to take everyone else with him. I believe her.
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We live 64 miles downwind from Philadelphia. The good news is that we don't need to stock up on anything if the war extends that far.
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Thing about Trump is, I honestly don’t think he believes the world WILL exist after he dies, regardless of what he does. I don’t think he believes, at his base, that anything besides Trump exists now.
The one who I would worry about starting WW3 as a funeral pyre is Putin.
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I fear you are right about this. I’ve had that thought for quite a while. It’s deeply alarming. AND TERRIFYING.
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That’s what i think too
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At the very least, striking a nuclear plant or a storage site for radioactive material would be disastrous.
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And using nuclear weapons in Iran will effectively give Russia permission to use them in Ukraine.
There really is nothing to set beside stupidity. It is impervious to logic and evidence. And the stupid are charging ahead, utterly confident in their complete lack of expertise and total absence of critical thought.
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Yes, that's his position using such language. He'd drop the bomb, ending the Iranian people. This is truly a moment of time to stand up, and remove him.
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And once you drop the first, the second is twice as easy.
I wonder which "blue" states are marked so that he can upend the elections?
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If so, will the military stand up to he and Hegseth?
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Not a chance
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Iran has no nuclear weapons. The CIA and so on certified to that.
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the ayatollah issued a fatwa against using nukes because they kill noncombatants
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Yeah. What's the contingency plan in that case? A question that's been gnawing at me.
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I think he's hinting about nuclear weapons because there was pushback about vital infrastructure. This way people will relieved when it was just vital infrastructure.
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I agree…or Bibi will use them.
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israel has 90- 400 nukes to use for the Samson Option
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Apr 7 Edited
If he does it will be "Look what you made me do! You did this to yourselves by not opening Hormuz."
I really, really hope there are enough safeguards to prevent this, but I have no idea what they are other than the military refusing.
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I'm afraid you are correct.
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He is.
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At least one Doomday plane is in the gulf. Its purpose is to act as an antenna, enabling conversations with nuclear subs in the area.
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The insane man needs to be taken out. Whatever it takes. This is not who we are.
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Do not advocate for violence. If you do, you are no better than Trump.
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To save hundreds of millions? So had it been possible to take Hitler out we shouldn’t have? I mean his own people tried, still can't believe how often they failed…
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Naive remark. Fight now or you will have no country. Get a spine and a gun.
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How much are you getting paid to incite violence so Trump can declare martial law? Don’t give him an excuse.
As a practical matter, Seal Team 6 easily took out the highly trained bin Laden. Amateurs have zero chance against the US military.
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Oh blah blah f’ing blah.
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But YOU are….you (Americans) voted for all the people in Congress and Senate to REPRESENT you, and they are the ones that can do something about this….and they won't. THEY REPRESENT YOU! ( ALL Americans)
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Apr 7 Edited
Joe -Im a little surprised he hasnt been taken out yet, but he is supported by most of the country, half of which didnt bother to vote in 2024. It seems the only president that has been "taken out" was the peace liberal.
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An ancient and beautiful civilization that we could seek to learn from. Instead we put them in the crosshairs. Iran is the center of the world’s heritage. Educated people. Zoroastrianism is a peaceful religion. We were wrong to install the shah. We created the opportunity for the fundamentalists the are the scourge of Iran. Go back to the 70’s and the Iranians were like us more than they were different. Now the US is becoming a religion-driven oppressive regime, the kind we supposedly condemn. We will never win this. We are so wrong.
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Thank you, marie. Spot on.
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I am heartbroken. This is a changepoint; we won’t recover I fear.
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I am too and fear the same. 🤗
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Zoroastrianism? That was ended in Persia with Islam. The civilization in Trump's war threat refers to the Isis-hosting terrorist dictatorship the Islamist Regime of Iran.
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Officially ended is not the same as ended. There is such a thing as private beliefs.
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It’s 10:20pm in Australia now. I am afraid to go to sleep because I have no idea what I will wake up to in the morning. Every now and then I think we’re all already dead and we’re actually in hell. And that’s an odd thought for an atheist to have. It’s certainly a dystopian nightmare now.
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I've been having trouble sleeping because I keep imagining how this will play out. I'm tense, anxious, and fearful, as well as being horrifically ashamed of what we/USA have become. This is truly a nightmare.
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I think we all probably have PTSD from this maladministration.
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I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
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Sending deep concerns to you tonight from Chicago - ✌️
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Thank you Kathleen. Likewise.
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3 am in QLD. A few hours sleep. Waiting for ON THE BEACH with no cyanide pills.
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I am so stressed out I can hardly work.
Just knowing that this one person can direct our armed services in such a heinous fashion, that service leaders lack spine to just say no to a obvious war crimes, and the death of more innocent people.
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There is what he can say; and what he can do - huge difference. This will be another in a long line of Trump trolling the left to gain attention.
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Your words bring me to tears. In grief over the possible end of the promise and dream that has been the United States. That the whole world is on the edge of a seismic change, at the hands of a vulgar clown is beyond comprehension.
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LOCK HIM UP! I cannot believe this, but I have no doubt he will do it and this man must go. Wake up GOP!
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Wake up House! Impeach.
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Impeaching will not prevent this now. But needs to be initiated. The problem we have a bunch of Christian Nationalist believing Trump is initiating the Second Coming. No way are they going to do anything.
The military needs to resign en mass instructing troops that any strikes on various infrastructure is a war crime and so are participating in genocide.
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That would truly surprise me, the military resigning en mass. The tentacles of rot reach too deeply into the military for us to depend upon them. We could see a schism develop in the military ranks. That is a common response to civil unrest and coup attempts. Unfortunately such schisms usually play out for power, not patriotism.
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The only way those work is if the military and police refuse to support the regime. Otherwise they just mow everyone down like they do in Iran.
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Well, you know the military is a common coup originator. In practical terms that could mean a blood bath erupting in the Pentagon between regime supporters and dissidents within the military. Or something like a major base revolting en mass, with some casualties of course.
I don't wish to portray the officer corps as some sort of 5th column but keep in mind that those who attain the ranks of Lt Colonel, full Colonel, and Generals are nothing if not motivated and ambitious individuals that are very experienced in 'people skills.'
An alliance formed between a handful of equally ambitious politicians and a military contingent is something to reckon with when chaos reigns.
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The enlisted troops cannot resign; they could only desert. I'm afraid the majority support Trump.
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There is a group that believes that Trump is Christ. David French showed video of this in a conversation with Charlie Sykes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGxWor0H1Oc
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butterfingers said "I am the Chosne One" while pointing upward.
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That belief could easily become a military schism point.
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True. I saw a video a few minutes ago that makes the claim that Trump's people are preparing the military to support him in a coup attempt. Supposedly Tucker Carlson believes it. I don't see that working, myself.
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It would surprise me if the idea is or has been explored. I don't see it working either. A trump coup would be guaranteed to make anyone's life worse, not better.
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recall when butterfingers pointed upward and said "I am the chosen one"
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He's been impeached TWICE. he doesn't need to be impeached again. He needs to be convicted and imprisoned and if you see that happening i have a bridge you may be interested in.
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That’s better. 25th Amendment, Impeachment, War Crime Tribunal at the ICC. The Rule of Law.
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Please please please military personnel do not strike. Please I beg of you. This is not right
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Military people please note: during the Vietnam War many Americans came to despise the military, in part because of perceived atrocities. The public will surely turn against all military people still more strongly if they cause many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of deaths by "destroying infrastructure" (to mention just one thing, Iran's water supply is already almost at breaking point and relies on pumps)
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If Trump carries through on his stated intention to commit war crimes, he needs to be charged with crimes against humanity and tried in this country. Not by the International Criminal Court or any other international body, but by a US criminal court. This is our mess, we need to clean it up. This is not what we stand for
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I dont think we belong to the international court when it comes to our own people
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You’re right. Murder is against American law. Charge him in US court. We don’t need to beef about foreigners prosecuting Americans, that’s a rabbit hole we don’t need to go down.
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Apr 7 Edited
Thank you for saying this so clearly. The Donald Trump quote struck me as virtually the same as what Adolf Hitler may have said in the 1930s as he planned the extinction of Jewish civilization. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs should be the first in line to reject this promise.
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He just got fired
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Millions of right wing christians are believing that this is the moment JC will return to fight the battle of Armageddon.
Let. That. Sink. In.....
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How can anyone who is aware of Trump's post this morning work?
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I just went out to my garden tables for a while and planted some vegetables.
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Since Trump's attitudes and attributes are the exact opposite of Christ then they aren't Christians. They can call themselves what they like but in their language they are the followers of and servants of Satan. Can't be disputed.
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They are sick.
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And they are going to be hugely disappointed.
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The Israelis think our Evangelical Christians are on their side. Nope. In their story, they are the only ones going to heaven while everyone else dies a nasty death.
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Oh yes. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/05/israeli-settlers-driving-christians-out-west-bank
Among religious extremists of any stripe is the last place peace will be found.
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please let's not call those Goths "settlers" -it sounds so benign
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A quick search finds this about the leader who brings about the end (lightly edited):
"Rise to Power: initially promising peace but leading a global "anti-kingdom".
"Deception and Charisma: He will be a brilliant, persuasive leader who deceives many, appearing "christ-like" to some before his true nature is revealed.
"The Antichrist will force a system that controls commerce, requiring all to worship him or face death"
Hmm
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And I have relatives brainwashed by churches who have said that Bill Clinton was the Antichirst...then it was Obama...and then it was Biden...
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You do not need to be right wing to believe that. Have a read of Revelation, particularly Chapter 13
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I have never felt such deep shame in my country as I do today. And I have the fear that tomorrow will be worse.
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Whatever may or may not happen, the genie is out of the bottle. A super-duper sane person like Krugman is speaking of doomsday (for the US, not Iran), and it seems a majority of his readers share his deep concerns. America will never be the same again...
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Yes! I am horrified by Trump's words and ashamed to be an American. How else can we react. This is all our fault as Americans. We have allowed this to happen. And I'm ashamed and horrified!
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Apr 7 Edited
The civilization that Trump is destroying is ours.
Every decent ideal that Americans have fought for over the course of 250 years has been dragged into the gutter and destroyed.
Trump and his enablers need to be impeached, removed, and sent to The Hague for prosecution. Let them sit in cages while they answer to the world for their crimes.
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Trump as a modern-day Croesus of Lydia, told that if he attacked Iran he'd "destroy a great empire"?
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🤯
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If we cannot stop this destruction from happening, we better know that our way of life will be destroyed as well. Other countries and rightly so will punish us. This is a global economy, and we are not in charge of it anymore even if Trump pretends that we are.
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My first thought was "The civilization that dies tonight will be ours".
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and if we think he will not effect a military coup by November we are truly insane.
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Apr 7 Edited
From comments here:
“I have never felt such deep shame in my country as I do today…”
“I am ashamed and horrified!”
“I’ve been having trouble sleeping…”
“I’m so stressed out I can hardly work…”
“My heart is breaking today…”
Who does this to people? I grieve for this nation, for this world.
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So many to blame for letting it get this far. From FOX news to the cowards in congress to the pastors carrying water for trump and anybody that voted for him.
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Our tax dollars make this possible. I grieve that reality.
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We seem to be sleepwalking into a constitutional crisis. Will congress return from vacation? Will the military push back? A dark moment indeed.
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Note the timing. Congress is out of town and Trump reigns alone.
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We've been in a constitutional crisis since Dec. 12, 2000, when the Court broke the constitution and appointed Bush.
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and citizens united and electoral college
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The people who voted for this despicable being and those that didn't bother to vote brought this all down upon us: the corruption, the cruelty, the incompetence, the endless lying, the chaos, the lawlessness, the extortion, the threats, the tariffs, and on and on. The choice in November 2024 was clear: it was a choice between an immoral, convicted felon and fraudster and a moral Black woman. It could not have been a starker choice. There was no ambiguity. It wasn't 6/7. And America chose the immoral felon. A man given carte blanche by the Supreme Court to commit any crime as an official duty. And America elected a Republican Congress totally under the thumb of the felon. So here we are.
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American voters destroyed the American civilization in 2024.
It might be rebuilt. But the damage is sure to last decades and decades.
No other national leaders or citizens will trust American voters again. They will see these voters as warped and willing to elect to office the most vile and corrupt.
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I fear that Trump will order the use of nukes. I fear more that Hegseth with endorse that order. I fear even more that Hegseth has so decimated the officer corps that no one will be there to stop it.
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It has all led up to this moment, and if he cant be stopped than we have utterly failed as a government and as a people.
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All retired general officers, including all those thrown out by Trump and Hegseth, should band with ex-Presidents, ex-Cabinet members, ex-State Department personnel - any and all ex-senior Fed officials and condemn any illegal action.
Why the military acceded to the war in the first place is troubling. This is a war waged on the say so of one man, a man whose behavior calls into question his sanity every day. Our Constitution disallows this. Therefore, Trump’s orders to the military are illegal.
Congress did not authorize this war nor did they fund it. Therefore the will of the people wasn’t considered.
Illegal war. Unresponsive Congress, Supreme Court, military command structure.
Our checks and balances are not working.
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An expert on PBS Newshour last night said that there is no statute of limitations for war crime prosecutions. She asserted that Europeans would hand the accused over to the ICC, so any military commander who carries out this order would not be able to travel to Europe.
Trump opined that Iranians want to be bombed, because it would somehow make them free. Think about how we would feel if our entire electrical grid nationwide were destroyed.
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sir:
appreciate you keeping these clearly appropriate admonishments out of the paywall.
this isn't 'look at this argument and the underlying info..' it is late stage patrick henry...the bad guys are not only here but are getting worse, more crazy and more dangerous.
november is coming...battle stations, this is not a drill.
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WE THE PEOPLE need to stand up against this cruel, illegal craziness of the MADMAN in the Big White House! All of you: Please call the White House Comment line (202-456-1111) and the
White House Switchboard (202-456-1414) and demand that JD and the cabinet put forth the 25th. It is long past time, and we have an obligation to do what we can! And I agree with Danny: All ex presidents should stage an intervention NOW!
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Republican, under the "spell" of Trump, would never let this happen.
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Thank you for this post. I am now seeing it reported in places other than on Substack. This is indeed a dark day. I have already messaged my congresspeople but as most are Republicans, I'm not expecting any action. This is not normal, people. Where are our representatives?
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Thank you for speaking out. This morning I already called again the offices of my Congressman and 2 Senators. I left messages for 2 and talked with a lonely sounding intern at the other Senate office, who of course could not speak for her and referred me to a page with her statements. I am scared.
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Good!
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I'm still betting Trump doesn't pull the trigger tonight, but my confidence level is pretty low. Unfortunately, I don't believe you'll see anyone refuse to obey illegal orders, nor do I think any general officer will resign if Trump orders what will clearly be war crimes.
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Half of our population and whole world doesn’t know what America stands for anymore.
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If God really is on our side, he would strike down this Project 2025 monster to leave him drooling in a wheelchair- and soon.
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When the Roberts Court gave the orange stain immortality, they were so wrong. They gave a meglomanic power he can't handle. Now the dementia has taken over him the entire world is in serious trouble.
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They gave him immunity, not immortality.
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Let's hope McDonalds will work some magic real soon. The world can't take much more of the greed & corruption that exists now in our once great country.
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Or IMPUNITY
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For the sake of all that is decent, I hope they didn’t give him immortality. That would be my definition of a living hell for all eternity.
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Fortunately, even they don't have that power, though if they keep upholding his worse impulses, his wrecking ball will last far longer than his body.
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This morning I turned on BBC. JD Vance was live in Hungary lambasting the EU while on stage with Viktor Orban supporting his re-election. If Orban doesn't win, he'll steal it. At the same time Trump's message about his Eve of Destruction was breaking. Now it's about the Strait of Hormuz after saying he didn't care about the Strait and it was other countries' problem.
I hope Trump is bluffing and preparing TACO's for supper. No one should be able to commit war crimes and atrocities in the name of God and America. "We're doing this for Jesus"--Hegseth
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Paul, thank you for saying what so many of us are thinking and feeling. There should be so many more public voices speaking these truths. I also have no idea what will happen. I’m shocked, not by Trump, but by the number of Republicans in Congress that appear to be complicit.
We are stuck in this moment together. I take comfort from hearing you share your views. We must believe that all the harm this administration has wrought will be undone. I hope we’re here to see it.
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Thank you, Paul, for saying what we outside of the US are desperate to see said (and done) by Americans. If this were happening in another country, you would expect to see everyone out in the streets and marching on their parliament. That IS what it takes, and it’s beyond horrifying to see it isn’t happening. Is your lunatic leadership planning to try out a nuclear weapon? That’s what it sounds like. The coda is Tom Lehrer, isn’t it? The US, which inflicted these monsters on the world, will be able to watch it all unfold on TV, from the comfort of their suburban cul de sacs.
Zombie nation.
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Thanks for that Paul. Just wish your message could reach all the people that need it.
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"I mean, are we civilized if we do this kind of thing?" No. But others have done it before you and clawed their way back from the brink, including my own country, the UK. It will certainly take some time, and the circumstances are different. Most of the horrors that the UK visited on the rest of the world were invisible to most people in the UK most of the time. That's not an excuse, that's just stating a fact. Today's horrors are on show from start to finish. I hope he pulls back, but he's quite obviously demented and should be removed from office, so it's a failure of the guardrails and a failure of the moral sense of those who would have to implement pulling him back, and doubtless can't imagine their lives if they did.
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This is all horrifying.
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Oh no, it can and probably will get darker. The orange monster is a demon from hell intent on destroying the US if not the world.
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Sadly, with the most recent military firings by Hegseth,who is left to counter these heinous crimes/orders?
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This is fascism.
Now I understand why leaders in Germany and Italy and Spain went along with it.
It's frightening to oppose.
And it's incredibly powerful for those who support it.
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Apr 7 Edited
It is 8am here in California. The tyrant’s deadline is 8pm ET. That gives us 9 hours to stop him. Congress is on vacation and the fascist regime is in lockstep. All the checks and balances have been removed. It’s way too late for impeachment or the 25th anyway. I pray our top military leaders will refuse any illegal orders. Only they can stage a coup to remove him.
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You and Steven Beschloss are the only ones on Substack who are saying this loud and clear. I have been posting to SS for over a month pleading with the guys in charge to do 25th Amendment! Looks like more people are now saying that it's time, well past time! You're dead on, Paul, he's not going to destroy Iran, he's actively destroying US. Cowards in Cabinet are still deaf, dumb and blind to his behavior, threats. You must Act Now or we won't have a country any more
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Tragically accurate and true-all of it. Those in military who remain silent should be ashamed. It is past time for our military to be the honorable men and women that they were and must continue to be. They must speak out and refuse to commit the atrocities Trump/Hegseth and Vance want them to commit. America, WHAT HAVE YOU BECOME? The once proud land of the free and home of the brave is committing war crimes all around us. RESIST AND SPEAK OUT!
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The civilisation Trump inherited has already died by his hands. Reminds me of Croesus’ story who thought that the predicted victory would be his and that his enemy’s empire would be destroyed. However he lost and his empire was annihilated.
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This is very much the response of a sociopathic authoritarian. Politicians who could do something to stop it right now are similarly disordered personalities. This is by design. Normality, ethics and humanity were not prerequisites to the creation of this administration. We are uncivilized, untrustworthy and destructively mad.
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It makes me want to scream out loud in public. Wake up! This is happening. This madman must be stopped.
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Mr. Krugman’s piece sounds like we are not already guilty of war crimes. Providing Israel with 2000 pound bombs which they then use on densely populated areas resulting in the deaths of over 70,000 people, many of whom are women and children, seems like a blatant crime. America should wake up to what it’s already become.
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Where is the New York Times? Wall Street Journal? The Press in general ? Why is this all being sane washed? Not a peep about this lunacy? Just a ‘think piece’ by David Sanger on the front page of the NYT and pablum about ‘targeting’ in the WSJ.
I have no idea of what the lackeys at the WaPo say since I dropped that rag when they failed to endorse Kamala.
Apparently, destroying a civilization is acceptable work for an American President.
I see clearly why you left, Paul.
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Right on the nose. Some people are harmlessly wacko. Some are dangerously wacko but so out-of-it that they don't realize it. Trump is criminally wacko. He knows what he is doing. He may be hurting inside, needing massive amounts of attention, telling blatant lies about himself and to himself in order to stave off the nothingness. But he knows. His actions are engineered toward particular ends, not random. The cruelty is intentional. When frustrated in his attempts to satisfy his needs, he aims to cause maximum damage as his way of forcing his will on the universe. He is criminally insane.
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It's weird to be hoping for TACO. But I'm afraid the armageddon lunatics are in control and they don't mind unleashing it.
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Thank you for this clear moral statement about where we are as a country.
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The Germans have spent generations dealing with the guilt of the Nazi regime. We are there.
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“I think that the civilization that may be destroyed tonight is our own.”
Absolutely brilliant, Prof. Krugman.
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General Caine should resign immediately! Today!
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It's unbearable.
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How is this spring different from all other springs? This season usually fills me with joy and hope. Not this year, knowing what may be ahead for us all.
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Absolutely!!! The question that haunts me is why the GOP and many, MANY Dems are going along with these absurd actions (since before Trump was in office)? Isn’t AIPAC’s control over our politics an issue? Aren’t they subverting laws against foreign interference? If we don’t remove money’s power in our politics, we’ll never get out of this mess.
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Paul, I cannot express how much what you say, and how you say it, means to me as well as the rest of the world who cannot abide this monster and his enablers…(Ihave The Second Coming and Ozymandias pinned to my wall, and often re-read them).
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We need to be ready with the economic arguments, however. Democrats, liberals and progressive people should lead with the immorality and criminality just as is suggested. But, when the person listening raises whatever objections they raise, it is important to be able to make kitchen table arguments against this war. And not be condescending about it.
Further on in the progression of the conversation: "Well, I do think the criminality of what he is doing is more than enough to condemn the actions. But, if we get into the everyday issues, those too are more than enough to condemn them. Here is why I think that... So, from those angles too, this war is bad for Americans in their everyday lives."
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TACO
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I mean, it is Taco Tuesday...
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Haha I was actually right.
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Whilst I totally agree with everything Paul says there is the issue of who will stand up to Trump at home or internationally.
As we have seen with Israel’s crime in Gaza we all “tut” but then…nothing
I fear this will be no different until America recovers its moral compass, even then I have my doubts
This a return to the politics and politicians of the 1930s.
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America has done this before- the fire bombing of Germany, Japan and Vietnam
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I wish I go sue Trump for mental stress and trauma he inflicts on me daily.
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Apr 7 Edited
Trump will literally go down in history as Hitler's heir if Iran is demolished. The fall of the US will displace all references and analogies to the fall of Rome. The US will forever be cited as the case that proved that democracy is not a viable system of government. And every bit of this will have been self inflicted. The government was not foisted on the US by foriegn invaders; the country did not collapse because of environmental disaster. The US brought this on itself.
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I got so upset I got short of breath & had to lie down. I can’t believe we have NO ONE who can yank this MADMAN OUT‼️
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I wonder how many Germans in the 1930s to the mid 40s felt the same as you do now?
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A bit of a tangent. If Trump escalates the conflict by doing even a fraction of what is threatened, Iran will respond with attacks on the Gulf nations. Those nations, particularly Saudi Arabia, play a balancing act between monarchy and fundamentalist Islam and have for a long time. Concessions are made by the government to maintain that balance. I wonder how this plays out when the religious leaders (and population, and military) see that the alliance with the US, and by extension, Israel, have resulted in the destruction of their country? I guess that will just be another consequence that none of the experts could have ever contemplated.
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Yeah, this could really change the already dysfunctional dynamics of the Middle East.
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From Europe, we still cannot comprehend how a nation that for over 200 years considered itself the cradle of democracy by modern standards can fail in such a way. How could the Supreme Court, in particular, under this right-wing faction, have given free rein to a person with such seriously unbalanced characteristics as the current president? And how could the right-wing legislators, who are no longer the centrists they once were, have lost their way so completely, whether out of fear of their leader or ambition to preserve their seats in Congress, to the point of abandoning the principles they once held as students or novices in their positions and allowing the nation and its values to be reduced to dust?
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Sometimes I think either the Justices made promises they could not keep by aligning so thoroughly with the Right prior to Trump. The "Originalist" wing have been part of the Supreme Court years before, but was ably balanced by greater numbers on the fair-minded liberal wing. But I cannot agree more, most of this Court is proving to be lunacy-- anti-Democracy, pro-tyranny, and the public at large's trust in the Court is perhaps the lowest it's ever been. We at least have the saving graces of Sotomayor, Kagan and Brown-Jackson, writing stern opinions for posterity. Small consolation, however.
Other times, I really have to wonder if the MAGA wing of the Court has either fallen to bribery, in fear for their lives, or BOTH!!
Thank you for your insights and perspective. America is deteriorating by the hour, and it's only 14 months into Trump 2. The fiends behind the tyrannical Project 2025 planned for Trump II, laying it out in black & white, from the time Trump left office in 2021. On Inaguration Day 2024, Trump signed multitudes of Executive Orders courtesy of these madmen.
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The problem is that Trump is merely a symptom of the disease. The disease is the US system itself, which periodically goes crazy, this being the worst since that other bout 165 years ago, but there are plenty of others (e.g. Jim Crow, McCarthy, 9/11 and Iraq). Prof. Krugman speaks of some ideal America that has never existed in reality. The US has always been a bully (Tom Lehrer was spot-on in "Send the Marines"), and now it is blatantly so. Corruption on an astonishing scale is no longer covered up, but flaunted. The US needs anothert revolution.
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While I sympathize with Professor Krugman's moral anguish over Trump's threats to destroy civilian infrastructure in Iran, I don't see it as an aberration but rather very much of a piece with decades of America's foreign military interventions - Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc - not to mention our support for tyrannical, murderous regimes across the globe. The only difference now is that we have a president who doesn't bother with even a fig leaf of justification.
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My concern is that no politicians on either side are saying out loud what you are correctly and appropriately saying now. This suggests that they all are betting that this is a Trumpian bluff that they don't want to expose. This is analogous to two cars careening toward each other with each driver expecting the other to swerve at the last minute. This is insane and creates the real possibility that there will be a crash. They need to stop this madness now before things go too far.
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Thanks for the moral clarity on this Paul. I totally agree that Democrats need to condemn the immorality and criminality and not resort to weaselly words about energy prices and whatnot. (They can include those criticisms after making clear what is most important). This precisely the kind of rhetoric that makes Dems look "weak"!
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Meanwhile Paul's former employer, the NY Times, has not even bothered to write an editorial condemning Trump's outrageous and illegal threats of war crimes.
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Do you suppose this will this affect his chances for the Noble Peace Prize?
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Kamala Harris, in her campaign, told us everything is happening if the orange gangster will become President!
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Congress must pass a concurrent resolution under the War Powers Act to stop this. Today. Trump and his admin have jumped the shark here and given elected leaders no choice but to move to stop him.
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I have to wonder whether The Hague is seriously looking at this.
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If he follows through on this threat, the civilization that is going to die is not found in the Middle East. It will be right here at home, where our nation will have suffered the death of its soul. And after all is said and done, the soul of a nation is all that there is to its life. It’s not the amber waves of grain, it’s not the purple mountains’ majesty, it’s the ideals that gave birth to a revolt against monarchy, it’s the fortitude that helped us defeat fascism. So forget about the 250th anniversary on July 4. It will be a funeral. We will no longer be a civilization, but just a collection of people led by mindless savages.
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Complacent Republicans will now be war criminals.
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This is a clarifying moment for America. This moment defines who we are as a people, the principles our nation stands for, our aspirations, and our willingness to tolerate naked evil. The curtain rises now. We shall see what it reveals.
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I've pretty much disowned family and friends that support trump. It's apparent that I was right to do so. The idea that we should be more tolerant and loving of the intolerant among us is absurd.
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i am scared. everyone should be. those in power need to take action. now
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Thank you for proclaiming the need for morality, the ambiguous, violent leadership that brings us to this morning’s anxiety-ridden search for a path of understanding HOW did we get here?
Mr Krugman, I am grateful for your service as an economist and a journalist.
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During this past especially terrible week, your voice, in my view, has been the one most straightforward and on target. I have shared it wherever I can. Kudos and thank you.
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Thank you very much Paul for speaking out so clearly and forcefully.
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It would be truly nice if what's left of American government with conscience and consciousness would simply walk out now. Leave Trump and his hubristic grifty minions along with their Republican Congressional slaves (who can't walk out, because they're on a vacation from not doing their jobs while in session) to see if they can actually get anything done or mean anything all on their own.
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Apr 7 Edited
He’s bluffing again. TACO!!
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I wrote to my Senators: Now is the time for you to stand up for the republic and denounce the president's terroristic threats against Iran. I will quote Paul Krugman from his post today: "The horrible but undeniable fact right now is that America has a terrorist president. And the whole world knows it. But we still have a chance to show the world that he is an aberration, that we are not a terrorist nation. And we can do that by standing up for the values that have always defined us."
I got back: "Thank you for taking the time to contact me about Iran. I appreciate hearing from you.
In January 2026, the Iranian regime brutally suppressed nationwide protests, killing tens of thousands of its own citizens who were demanding basic necessities and fundamental freedoms. This is what a desperate and repressive regime looks like when it clings to power. Today, the Iranian regime is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and a primary driver of instability across the region.
On February 28, the United States launched Operation Epic Fury, a strategic campaign targeting the Iranian regime’s military and security infrastructure and prioritizing threats to U.S. personnel and assets in the region. The Operation seeks to degrade Iran’s missile capabilities and nuclear ambitions, while also sending a clear message that attacks our servicemembers, allies, and international commerce will not be tolerated. Iran’s continued strikes on civilians in neighboring Gulf countries are deplorable, and the indiscriminate targeting of ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz must end immediately.
I pray for the families of the U.S. personnel who have tragically lost their lives while standing for freedom and democracy. The United States remains committed to countering Iran’s role as a driver of regional instability and its position as the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism. I look forward to continued communication from the Department of Defense on Operation Epic Fury, its strategic objectives, and timelines.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me about other issues that are important to you.
Sincerely,
Thom Tillis
U.S. Senator"
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That's far worse than a no-answer.
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My thought exactly. My subject was Trump's Terroristic Threats. These robo-answers are useless. I get them all the time I write.
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How disgusting.
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Apr 9 Edited
Dear Mr Tillis: blah blah blah blah. cute little propaganda exercise. senators make an awfully big salary, with lifetime guaranteed huge income after retiring, for this sort of stuff. seems to me we need some of the very intelligent, highly motivated young (under, say, about 40) people who could become an entirely different government. hope we can vote lots of them into office before the present lot sits on their hands as mr trumpf decides he's miffed and pushes the nuclear bomb button to make himself feel better....
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Thanks for your action. Can you also call?
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I've also called both already.
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Great. I did too!
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😢😢😢😢
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I NEED A SUGGESTION OF WHO TO ADDRESS ON THIS. IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO SUMMARIZE THIS HORRIBLE STATEMENT BY TRUMP. DO WE NEED TO CALL THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TO REMIND THEM NOT…NOT… TO FOLLOW THESE DEMANDS. WHO??
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Good luck with that. kegsbreath is playing war games and is chomping at the bit to bomb Iran to smithereens
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Start by calling your senators and congressional reps. If you’re feeling bold start calling the “moderate “ GOP who have shown a sliver of a spine, like Murkowski, Thom Tillis etc.
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I think it may be gone already; I give you Felon47 as Exhibit-A. . .
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Amnesties for people who participate in the solution.
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Bravo. This needs to be said, and heard everywhere.
(Also see Johan's article America Is Accelerating its Own Decline).
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I'd like to hear more from an authoritative source how, if Iran succeeds in ending the international trade for oil in United States' dollars, this will effect the nation's public and private debits.
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WE ARE CREATING FAR MORE TERRORISTS THAN WE ARE DESTROYING!
Anyone with a modicum of war experience (or common sense)knows this. Kill civilians, damage cultural landmarks and unleash unremitting hatred and revenge.
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Not to mention: destroy the universities, kill research, control the press and jettison anything that exposes these barbaric charlatans. Not to mention the full-frontal assault to voting rights and voting infrastructure across America. This playbook leads directly to some form of martial law sooner or later, IMHO. We're only 14 + months in with a
bit less than three years to go and look at all the carnage. They all MUST GO!!
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YES! The tally is immense.
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Only one word:
DESPICABLE.
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I fully agree, Paul, but you are aware, aren't you, that Trump was quoting Gen. Cutis LeMay (1965) in his pledges to "bomb Iran back to the Stone Age," and the US Military proceeded to carpet bomb a much smaller country (Vietnam), dropping more bombs than Europe got from all sides in World War Two, in order to achieve that. And both Democrat and Republican Presidents carried on with this program. I welcome the fact that the world has changed to some degree and good people like yourself think that genocide is outrageous and the US President pledging to do it deserves a War Crime indictment. But he's actually not as bad as Nixon and Johnson from the point of view of other nations, just worryingly insane and demented.
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And for what it's worth, Trump also repeatedly mangles facts, history and the English language. Note his reference "Stone AGES.." was there more than one Stone Age??
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Never underestimate taco Tuesday
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Let’s hope it will be Taco Tuesday here, Tehran, and Tel Aviv
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Thank God for TACO TIME
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What exactly constitutes a war crime? As a country, didn't we already commit war crimes against Japan through the Abombs and indiscriminate firebombing"
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Probably!
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This will not be popular on this forum:
1. War crimes. Russia has committed war crimes from the beginning in 2014. After the 2022 invasion, America and Ukraine held back from doing the same, but this was untenable. Ukraine was getting killed while Russia was just running out of manpower and weapons, while gearing up for more at home. Gradually, Biden & Zelenskyy began attacking Russia too. Now, Ukraine is launching more drones against Russia than the reverse; they are supplying drones to the desperate Gulf states who belatedly realize the U.S. is fighting with near obsolete 20th century technology (not counting satellites) and to their neighboring states (except for pro-Russia Hungary). There are & will be more war crimes.
2. Bridges & Power plants help Iran's military as well as its civilians. Bridges have been blown up in wars for centuries. Power plants supply vital electricity to modern warfare. They are legitimate targets. Without power, however, the desalination plants will halt & already water-short Iran will go without water - civilians first, but military too. This is a war crime, but since there's no water desalination plants just for the military, there's no way to avoid this.
3. Muslim vs. Muslim wars are endemic with war crimes. No one even mentions that. Islam simply does not care about human life the way the West does, yes, even now. It's impossible to defeat them without going down to their level at least sometimes.
4. Islam, led by Iran, is the most imperialist force today and for most of the last 1,400 years. Islam is dominant in 56 countries but arose in only one: Saudi Arabia (or, just "Arabia" before the House of Saud took it over). These countries are never governed by democracy even if they hold some elections; even Iran has an elected president, but the Ayatollahs & IRGC rule it. Islam in its full form is incompatible with the West. There's too many reasons why to explain here, but the fact they shoot 1,000s of their own peaceful unarmed protestors should be all you need to know. Many Iranians want the regime gone even if their country has to be bombed. It's impossible to cut through the propaganda on both sides to know if that's a majority of Iranians. Persia was there 1,000s of years, before Islam in 1979.
5. It's not just Israel's war. Saudi Arabia, the Abraham Accord countries & even pro-Hamas Qatar want Iran controlled, even while they negotiate with them & fume at how ineffective the U.S. is in protecting them.
6. How will this end? It may end...tomorrow. If Trump carries through with his Bridge & Power Plant attack tonight, the IRGC will counter-attack not only our planes - which Trump has set a timetable of 8pm-12am for - but ever Gulf country in the region. There's almost nothing America/Israel can do about that tonight. Attack sorties are planned far in advance & tightly choreographed. They don't deviate to "Oh, I think I'll fly my plane to bomb over there, where a missile was just launched." There are tight missions in modern aerial attacks.
The entire Middle East may be offline tomorrow. And for years or decades (Geostrategist Peter Zeihan thinks decades), not months. Oil will explode past $150/barrel tomorrow, markets will crash by 5-10% in a day or two, and keep going as oil & many other important things, keep climbing in price with no real substitutes in the short run.
Israel may survive but it's hurt more than they admit because there's no a lot of "unneeded" territory to forego in that tiny country. America will still have to contend with an Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz, but it'll be a Pyrrhic victory because no one will be shipping anything. Trump will declare victory. The Gulf states will think very hard about ever allowing America to rebuild their bases/targets in their regions again.
In the medium future, green energy will start to finally displace oil for transportation & electricity wherever possible, since oil will be so expensive. The air will clear. The oil curse will have been cast for a generation, long enough to shift power permanently to renewable sources available in home countries.
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My expectation is that today will be another Taco Tuesday. Either that, or the first day of WW3.
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Impeach & Imprison
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWzAEQJFPNg/?img_index=1
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Every member of the government who does not support this insanity should walk off their job now, including all military personnel. We cannot wait for the American people to wake up and have a general strike. That time and opportunity have passed.
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Secretary of Warfare Hegseth has largely hollowed out the top brass of the military. So don't expect adherence to the Constitution or national and international law by the military. Profiles in courage are not likely to be found.
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No matter what happens, the GOP and all his enablers will deem his threats of war crimes a brilliant tactical bluff. However, this is extraordinarily dangerous and risky territory. He thinks he can TACO, but there comes a time when an unforseen catalyst may force matters to spiral out of control. Not unlike his belief that he could start the war and be finished with it in just a few days.
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CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE REPUBLICANS. I just got off the phone with mine, and they seem on the edge of taking action (and my legislators are RED). Give them a push, demand a war powers resolution. Call your governors, call your local government, don't stop trying!
We have hours to intervene still, use them!
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This may indeed be our nation’s darkest hour, or our military’s finest one.
25 47
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Out of context? Sure. But undeniably true of our present moment, nevertheless.
“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”
Abraham Lincoln
Be in no doubt, the civilization this country destroys may be its own.
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We clearly now know how the vast majority of current Americans would have acted in the 1930s and 1940s in Germany. We are all (mostly just like the Germans of that time) good Germans.
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Well, since we're indulging in scary thoughts, let's keep in mind that Trump has been sounding a lot like he believes all the bible bunkum evangelicals have been marinating him in for the last 10 years or so. And that bilge includes the stories in Revelations. So maybe Trump thinks that somehow he's destined to bring on the second coming of you know who? That does seem to be the type of thing an ignorant narcissistic old fool like Trump would believe if told so by enough protestant priest and priestesses.
So the third season of Fallout may turn into a real time event; with all of us having to duck and cover for Jesus.
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America's darkest hour... so far this week.
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Apr 7 Edited
Unless he uses nuclear weapons, which I presume he won't, it won't happen. More likely he will put ground troops on the islands. In any case this is not going to end well.
Somehow as Franklin Graham put it on Sunday ""faith in God" did more to shape the United States than any other force." To put it another way our Christian faith allows our racism, homophobia, misogyny and war crimes.
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You’re absolutely right…it’s our own American civilization that is teetering on the edge…my god, when will this nightmare end?
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The saving grace here might be Trump's willingness to tell ridiculous lies to get himself out of trouble. Hopefully, just before the deadline we'll hear from him that there have been very positive developments in the [non-existent] talks with Iran which mean that though it will be some time before the Straits are fully open again, the brilliant and very, very tough - very tough! - line he has been taking with Tehran has already succeeded in getting them to open up the [insert name of channel around tiny island in the Strait which is only actually deep enough for jet-skis and pedalos] which is a huge concession from the regime; and Pete Hegseth, who's done a great job so far, will now complete the negotiations to fully open up the Strait [or suffer the consequences by being moved to a highly influential and lucrative new post that has been created for him, but with heavy parting hints that the whole fiasco has been due to his drinking].
Trump must know that his credibility is already shot to pieces with any constituency that was even remotely likely to lose trust in him and that everyone who's left (still c. 40% of the electorate, it seems) will believe anything that comes out of his mouth, however absurd.
Hopefully.
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"2. The civilian population ... shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited." [The destruction of electric power plants clearly fall within this category.]
4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are: (a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective; ...
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949,... 8 June 1977. The United States is a signatory to this protocol. Israel (of course) is not.
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The demented felon and the Republican party don't give one iota about international law. Or any international alliance or organization or treaty that interferes with "national sovereignty." Heck, the felon doesn't care about US law, so why would he care about international law? Plus the Supreme Court ruled that he can do anything he wants as long as it is an official act.
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call your reps and senators
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You and I seem to be the only ones here asking people to call senators and represenatives, yet it's the one thing that ordinary citizens can do. I hope they heed our call.
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Has anyone considered the simple fact that since his first "term," trump wanted to deploy a nuclear bomb just to see blow up? I have had this horrible feeling that that is where he is headed. At what point will Congress say "too much?" At what point will he be stopped? I don't think that anyone has told him what will happen to everyone - not just Iranians - if he does go forward with this. Am I alone in thinking he is the runaway train and there is no stopping him at any point? Shame there aren't more intelligent people advising him, eh? To say he is guilty of war crimes would - to him - be praise to his ego. He will go forward because he believes he is unstoppable and so far he is right...
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IMPEACH THIS INSANE MF’er NOW
AND HIS ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION
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The things you list should be done of course. But here’s a reminder: every word trump speaks carries the same value as his farts.
Whatever the destruction by US and Israeli militaries occurs tonight, it will not include the destruction of a civilization.
The vile trumpocracy will limit its attacks claiming there has been a breakthrough of some sort, a concession by Iran, or a manufactured reason to soften the damage. A victory will be declared and some form of plunder will be presented as our gain and their loss.
Isn’t this a template we’ve experienced before?
On the other hand, he is a sick man. Nothing will surprise me.
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Apr 7 Edited
Look no further than Putin's war in Ukraine. He's targeted Ukraine's infrastructure from the beginning but the latter has created a drone wall that is now the envy of every Middle Eastern oil sheikdom. Even Iran has learned from the Ukraine war. If Trump hits their power plants and civilian infrastructure, the Iranian people will be resilient just like the Ukrainians. Alas, the Putinization of America has always been Trump's goal.
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Trump‘s conduct is again a basis for impeachment; it is treasonous; it is conduct without congressional authorization; it is a basis for an alternate remedy: the 25th amendment. James Hawley
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“I feel like a hostage. Congress has the authority to stop this war right now — today — and they are choosing not to use it. I did not consent to this. I am not willing. Are you?”
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Wow! So, Americans need to choose- to preserve the idea of America, or not! I think it was Mahatma Gandhi, when a journalist asked him, "what do you think of the Western Civilization?" quipped "It would be a good idea!". A word play between noun and verb on Civilization.
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Wow, well when you are right you are right. There is no “what about” here!! End a civilization….. let that sink in….. end a civilization and yes, it will not be the Iranian civilization that ends they have proven their resilience over thousand of years.
It is American civilization that will be over if we do not stop this talk and action. No joking here folks. Even if he takes no action, just the utterance
Of this should be impeachable
Mr. Trump needs to be impeached, convicted along with every Congress person and Senator and cabinet secretary.
resilience over thousands of years, America
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Apr 7 Edited
Note to Military personnel and members of the Trump administration: Adolph Eichmann was only following orders.
Did not turn out well for him.
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In the grand scheme of the universe, American "civilisation" is the "flash of a lightning bug". But, if Trump makes good on his madness, it could well be global civilisation that totters.
America's culture, values and politics created this "slavering behemoth". If any vestige of civilisation survives, the records will show that it was America and no one else that brought on this new age of barbarism.
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Thank you for saying what is on many of our minds.
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We gave a toddler matches and believed he wouldn’t start a fire. It’s worse than that—he’s destroying the human race.
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Reasoning with a lunatic is impossible.
Stopping a lunatic is difficult.
Hopefully enough pressure can be brought to bear that this insane plan to bomb bridges and power stations will not occur.
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Stated brilliantly. Sad but brilliant.
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And what about Gaza? All of this have been done with complicity of the world. Nothing new here.
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Use the term issued by the Congress of Vienna in March 1815 to condemn the war criminal Bonaparte.
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Thanks!
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As you're asking for it, let me quote from my recent note:
"Iran is considered one of the earliest cradles of civilization.
I hesitate to find a corresponding metaphor for the USA, but at present and under Trump, the country is probably better characterized as the gravedigger of civilization."
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Apr 7 Edited
There's another possibility.
Trump is a hype-artist. He's a buzz-artist. He is a tease. Maybe his Truth Social post is a way to draw attention to himself before he announces the Biggest Diplomatic Breakthrough in the History of the World!!!
The post is clearly laying the groundwork for this possibility. (Krugman doesn't quote the whole thing.) This may be our darkest hour. Or it may be the Greatest Show on Earth!!!
Stay tuned....
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Thank you.
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This is about war criminals but who were all the war criminals in our previous wars. Were any ever prosecuted?
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I think the world is implicated too, if we all don't raise our voices
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Literally devastating, and spot on.
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I prefer impeachment and conviction to the 25th Amendment. Just take a look at the requirements for using the 25th Amendment. Republicans have the upper hand with this amendment. It just won't happen. When we win Congress in November, we need to impeach him and and other Administration officials.
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It's entirely possible that enough military people of rank scraped the bottom of their scruple bucket, forgot about promotions, stood up to Hegseth and simply said "No". The military has guns. Hegseth has religion and hair gel.
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Apologies to all who are suffering from age-related mental decline, but I just heard someone say maybe we should start referring to Drumpf as "Dementia Donnie".
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Demented, Deranged and Disassembling Donnie works for me!!
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> as Trump takes America on the course of becoming a criminal nation, a criminal terrorist nation
With all due respects sir, I dissent this statement. And when I say 'with all due respects', I really mean it. I'm an engineer/scientist from a third world country [1] who grew up reading your daily articles as a child (that explains why I'm here). Those articles were the ones that encouraged me to pay more attention to economics.
America isn't 'on course to becoming a criminal terrorist nation'. Iraq (2003), Cambodia (1969), Iran (1953) and countless others lay behind us as evidence. America has been like this since soon after WWII. All those arms manufacturers of WWII didn't want to lose their jobs or profits. Where else were those to come from, but wars? But those jobs and profits were paid with the blood of several races, including those of little kids who had no idea why they were being killed. Look at any conflict in the world. Chances are extremely high that it has a US fingerprint on it - either as a belligerent, or as an instigator.
Trump isn't an anomaly or an aberration. He's merely the culmination of decades of the US society's blind eye towards this blood lust and tragedy. Trump didn't spring out of vacuum. He's merely the scary and evident symptom of an ailment of the US society that has been festering for more than three quarters of a century now. Do you know of any other country that treats the daily news of school and mall shootings with apathy? The US's image as the world's righteous defender of freedom was a mirage. Americans were merely oblivious to the grotesque bloodthirsty monster that hid behind that facade.
I'm exhausted. Of all the news and pictures of little children suffering and dying everywhere in conflicts and famines. It's hard to ignore them and convince myself that it's normal because of the global politics that's beyond any of our reach.
[1] A non-aligned nation, a true third world country. Not the euphemism that Americans use to mock the unfortunate people of exploited and impoverished nations. I believe nobody knows its meaning better than you do.
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Trump has given Iran good cover to destroy all US bases in the Middle East. I think Trump is going to abandon those bases and allow Russia to take them over, just as he gave our base in Syria to Russia in his first term.
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Amen.
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Americans will not be rid of the tyrant Trump and his loyal servants for a very long time. The current regime in the USA is as disgusting as that of Hitler, Stalin, and other authoritarian regimes. My sincere condolences, Americans.
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very well said Mr. Krugman. please continue with your daily posts. YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED.
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How could this nation have allowed so much criminality, while he and his family loot our Treasury and stuff their pockets as fast as they can?
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Squarely on theGOPs back. Any GOP that has come out and supported this should be prosecuted with him.
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Have the Republicans no conscience? It is unfathomable.
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Unplanned synchronicity: while threatening the extinction of a civilisation, Trump speaks a moment later about the greatness of the travel around the moon. The pictures show us a beautifull blue planet, untouched by the vulgar stupidity of war mongerers
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Yes to all, thank you. Off to The Hague. The world wants no more.
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Thank you for your clarity—and for offering clear, readily available counsel to those in our military, across public service, and in Congress, where inaction only heightens the stakes.
May World War II remain not just history, but a cautionary lesson for those who choose not to see, not to hear, and not to act. “When intent is stated plainly, it establishes a record.”
And when parts of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps have reportedly been weakened, the responsibility on those who remain is no longer abstract—it is immediate and unmistakable.
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If Trump were anyone’s uncle, you would take his keys away and take him to a nice room with a fake phone and iPad and then lock the door when you leave.
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thank god he taco'd towards his favorite period of time, the fortnight. So we can go wondering what the fees would do the oil prices. Pretty sure he's not rationale enough to have stopped on his own--some of his own cabinet quite probably were muttering "25th" at him.
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I have admired you for years and in my view today is your finest hour. I totally agree with everything you said. Thank you!
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When does this stop? He’s alienated all of our traditional Allies, wreaked havoc on our economy, stifled scientific research, hammered the education system, staged an insurrection, fabricates nonexistent problems that require extreme solutions that border on inhumanity, brought us to the brink of ww3, then is confused when our former close Allies tells him to pound sand when he asks for help, treats the Constitution like toilet paper and constantly spits in the mouth the branch that is elected and supposed to be part of the checks and balances (their response is “Thank you sir, may I have another?”, he has the distinction of being the person most named in the Epstein files and he is making billions while crapping on the emollient clause. WHEN DOES THIS STOP?
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Apr 7 Edited
Agreed
Article 2 Section 4 of the Constitution of the United States of America says:
“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of Treason , Bribery or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”
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I have composed a new Musical coda for the current situation. The title is "Stand Your Ground"
It's 2min 40s.
DY
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Without science and its basis on facts and provable evidence, we cannot survive as Homo sapiens. Neither can democracy survive.
We are fast becoming a third world nation, and not only Trump and his minions are to blame, but every American who has not spoken out against this lunacy loudly and clearly.
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It looks like Paul got spoofed, along with a lot of other folks.
It turns out Tuesday evening that Trump has announced a 2-week ceasefire. His threat worked, as it were. He can claim they bowed down to him. It was a stunt.
Donald Trump knew when he wrote that pathological threat that he would announce a truce just in time, Tuesday. The cat was in the bag. The “fuckin” and “bastards” language was all braggadocio. There’s a good chance that the war is over for us, though Israel will doubtless carry on. Or maybe not. We’ll see.
Whether the intent for gains of investors during the predictable chaotic churn of the market was seminal or not is a separate question. We must realize that rightwing think tanks are full of intelligent, mercenary, and amoral people, and that we should recognize this sort of spoof for what it was.
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And yet, what of the Strait of Hormuz? It's baffling, breathtaking, and myopic how this spectacular chess piece held by Iran was not properly forecasted, analyzed or brainstormed before war commenced-- at least apparently. Or maybe it was .. (since we don't get any oil "outa there.") But any market watcher and certainly Wall Street and the military-- even Trump---- must know that oil and gas markets have not been "local" for over 50 years. Being a GLOBAL market, whatever happens in the Hormuz affects everyone who needs fuel. What about the $2 million bounty per oil tanker?? No matter one's politics or beliefs, the leverage the Strait provides Iran is enormous..
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Krugman illustrated one point in a post a few days ago showing an anomalous spike in futures trading just before a Trump announcement. It will take a long time for historians to unravel this thing, but for sure folks in the know are making money, perhaps a lot of it, from market swings post-Trump announcements.
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You're right, thanks.. I did read that post. And one can never underestimate the power of 💲💲💲 and the craven greed that follows...
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Sounds like Trump pushed it to the final minute before he had to accept a humiliating “offer” from Iran for a ceasefire. This is spin dressed up as cover by Pakistan apparently. Iran’s 10 point plan that Trump is trying to pass off as his.
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Trump just announced that he's backing off. Mary Trump is calling it Taco Tuesday.
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If this was an actual threat by Trump and not just insane ranting by a narcissist in ego breakdown and dementia then Vance would be in DC in a bunker not in Hungary trying to influence an election. Just my thoughts.
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Pardon my language, but FUCK THE 25TH AMENDMENT. Trump is a TRAITOR. He was a traitor when Putin was offering bounties on American soldiers and he did nothing to stop it. He actively assisted Putin by dropping sanctions on Russian oil, knowing full well Putin was aiding and abetting Iran's defense against a war Trump started. TRAITOR!
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⭐️Aaron Parnus just reported live- a retired general just went on MS Now & shared his unnamed sources said war crimes to target/kill Iranian civilians ordered by Hegseth were rejected! Which makes the “2 week ceasefire” moot/a lie!
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Excellent assessment Mr. Krugman. It is terrifying and sickening to think we have so many dishonorable republicans who are serving, and are just fine with, clearly a criminally insane and demented individual sullying our White House and government. He IS a criminal and his supporters ARE traitors as they allow this criminal to destroy this country and it's standing in the global community. Just WHAT, exactly, do these people intend to do with it's ruins?
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How Netanyahu pushed a foolish (as always) and over-confident (even more than usual) Trump into war, or the Israeli tail wags the American dog:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-iran-war-takeaways.html
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Thank you for your direct truthfulness. It’s time we all accept truth!
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The US has already destroyed civilian infrastructure and engaged in indiscrimate bombing causing civilian casualties. Israel has too, and since the bombing is coordinated and intelligence is shared, the US shares culpability for whatever Israel does. These actions are war crimes. Assassination of political leaders is a war crime. The sinking of the Iranian naval vessel off Sri Lanka was a war crime.
The only difference from Russia's aerial war against Ukraine is one of tonnage of bombs and duration. The question this night is whether the US will start to catch up on tonnage.
I'd say that the moral collapse of the US with regard to international behavior has already happened.
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TACO TUESDAY - and another has been announced for two weeks from now.
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Yes, this is the darkest hour for humanity in 70+ years.
When a *leader* declares 'a whole civilization will die tonight' by his own order, we have crossed a line from political posturing into genocidal incitement. Even if the bombs stay grounded tonight, the mere threat to demolish civilian infrastructure and life-sustaining resources is a war crime under international law (and perhaps even US military law). But the US and Israel have openly despised international norms and laws for many years.
Therefore, I insist that Trump and his enablers are only the fuel. What's the cause for this? The perpetrators and the regime must be held to account. The U.S. regime requires significant reform to ensure that no single person ever holds the power to blithely end a civilization never to be brought back.
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Not sure how it ends, but it's not looking like it is going to end well.
As the GOP was fond of saying, "Thanks, Obama."
I'm saying, "Thanks GOP."
We've exchanged Dem incompetence for GOP organizational competence that has lured the populace into the world of fantasy politics. If the Commander in Chief says it is so, it is so. If a war is in favor of the US, no matter how disastrous it may be, so let it be written, so let it be done. We have only to wait for the outcome, whatever and whenever it may be, and however it may be spun.
And whenever that time may come, we would be well served to see who benefited the most from that debacle and who benefited the least.
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He just tacoed. Here we go with the two-weeks thing again.
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Apr 7 Edited
The TACO King: https://www.axios.com/2026/04/07/iran-2-week-ceasfire-trump-pakistan
(I certainly don't want anyone killed! I'm just sick of the media, and most anybody believing a word that comes out of Sh*thead's mouth). Krugman, really...you fall for this; you thought it would happen?)
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Trump Is Rage Posting His Way Into Genocide Charges. https://newrepublic.com/article/208752/trump-post-iran-genocide-charges
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Truly our darkest most heartbreaking hour
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When people who are ignorant, or malicious or both,vote for a president, and representatives who completely ignore their oath of office, and supposed fidelity to the constitution, then all of this disaster is inevitable. I cannot imagine that any of these jellyfish will suddenly grow a spine.
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I have an app called "5 Calls." Get it. Use it. Call your elected representatives. The app is structured and organized. It's easy to use.
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Wow! You nailed it! I want to stop everything but feel compelled to go to my local bakery. Talk to people, this reality is a nightmare and I just want to wake up from it.
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I think you really should be featuring the awe that comes from watching how an electronic art--the Internet and "social media"--established a two-way brainwashing system that has re-wired at least half of the population. It's really the central piece of billionaire control. Perhaps they were inspired by China or, maybe, they simply are bright and realized this gift from nowhere was the key to 21st Century fascism.
So it's useless to quote Trump, because he is a mere symptom and not the real problem. People voted for this. And worst of all, they would do it all over again, right now. Oh, maybe not for Trump, but for exactly the same thing in another costume. In time we'll realize--too late--that it's who controls the AI models, not how powerful those models may or may not be, that determines the outcome. That "coup" you're writing about is not happening by military force. It is happening organically by ramping up "algorithms" to industrial scale using AI. The military is there only to keep order after the brainwashing convinces you to send your neighbors to the local warehouse/ICE prison, not because they are aliens but because they voted wrong.
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Krugman's right. And his expression of our helplessness is honest. We will stop wailing pointlessly "somebody's got to stop him!", and probably very soon.
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“These words are America’s words, until and unless Americans reject them.” - Tim Snyder, 4/7/2026
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I'm reading the threat is an attack on electrical system nodes, which is not possible to repair before people die
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Neither the evil nor the good in our history determines who we are. It is what we do now. - Tim Snyder, 4/7/2026
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Let’s hope it’s our darkest hour. And that it does’t get a lot darker in about four hours. There’s no limit to how much darker it could get, as long as Trump is in power.
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Stated simply and unequivocally… thank you. This IS our defining moment and every single Congress member should be insisting that Donald Trump’s insane threats come to an end right now. As Paul Krugman said with complete clarity …Trump’s threats are out of the question for moral reasons first and foremost. Unfortunately, something Donald Trump knows nothing about. DJT needs to be removed from office now.
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Thank you for your direct clear moral statement about our unfolding political disaster. There is very little discussion about the immorality that is being acted on. No one is reporting on how awful our political behavior is. By leaving the New York Times you gave yourself the opportunity to speak directly which you could not do while there. Thank you for all of your care and concern. We need our politicians to ACT in the manner of Jan 6. Not to damage and attack, but to make clear that NONE OF THIS IS ACCEPTABLE ANY LONGER.
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