“Dumb Presidents”

No Zoom today, Substack Live tomorrow 4PM PT / 7PM ET

Happy Sunday everyone! America is at war in the Middle East, again. Not to worry though, this time will be different.

I certainly empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East. I understand the concern, but the difference is that back then we had dumb presidents, and now we have a president who actually knows how to accomplish America's national security objectives. So this is not going to be some long drawn out thing. We've got in, we've done the job of setting their nuclear program back. We're going to now work to permanently dismantle that nuclear program over the coming years, and that is what the president has set out to do.

You see, according to JD Vance, “the long drawn out thing” in Iraq and Afghanistan was started by “dumb” presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, ignoring the fact that Trump was also president during the period he’s referencing. Nevertheless, Vance admits that Iran’s nuclear program will have to be “permanently dismantled… over the coming years” which sounds pretty “drawn out” to me.

The fact is that this is a conflict of choice by a degenerating president who needed a “win” to give his base something to cheer about. Here’s what Trump actually looked and sounded like delivering this message, barely able to read his teleprompter.

The Constitution gives the power to declare war exclusively to Congress. The War Powers Act of 1973 requires Congressional approval for the use of military force.

There was no imminent threat to America from Iran. The US intelligence community and the IAEA concluded that Iran was not near possessing a nuclear weapon. However, according to the Russians, now they may have one soon.

The Democrats are responding with the usual weak, pointless protestations. Here is beleaguered DNC chair Ken Martin with a statement that is not even strongly worded.

“Donald Trump needs to bring his case to Congress immediately.”

OK, Ken.

The fact is that Donald Trump is deeply compromised by Netanyahu who effectively forced Iran to restart its nuclear program in 2018 by conning Trump into ripping up the JCPOA. Trump ignored his own intelligence community and assessment of the IAEA that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. Seven years later, JD Vance blames “dumb presidents” for allowing this to happen when it was Netanyahu who sabotaged peace talks with the Iranians. Witkoff and the Iranians were literally in transit to the negotiating table when Israel bombed Tehran.

In the real world, Persia is 5,000 years old. The US government has been interfering in Iran since the 1950s when the CIA enacted regime change, ultimately leading to the revolution that installed the radical, theocratic Ayatollah Khomeini who took American hostages. Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan then did an illegal deal with Khomeini to hold the hostages until after the election, sealing the fate of Jimmy Carter. Reagan went on to provide weapons to Iran as part of the agreement. George H. W. Bush, with the assistance of Bill Barr, then covered it up.

The “military industrial complex” that Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address needs and wants war. Republican presidents have been manipulating our military to serve their political and electoral objectives for many decades—with the compliance of Democrats all along the way.

The Iranians have already declared that they will close the Straits of Hormuz, through which a quarter of the world’s oil flows. Gas prices will skyrocket, just to start. The risk of jihadist terrorism has been massively increased, while Trump has dismantled many of the government’s protections against sabotage, cyberattacks and terrorism, or put people like this 22-year-old lawn mower in charge.

It is impossible to predict where any of this will lead at this point, but suffice it to say that everything that we are being told by the regime is a lie, and every decision they make will drag us further into war.

I apologize, but I’m unable to do a Zoom today because of family travel. I’m writing this in transit. I will do a Substack Live AMA for paid subscribers tomorrow, Monday, 4PM PT / 7PM ET. We’ll talk about the state of this new war by a “dumb president” and I’ll be glad to answer any questions. Hope to see you!