I was on R.B. Ham’s “Beyond the Pale” podcast recently, when I said that it looked like Donald Trump was giving us another of his ingenious head fakes, and was pulling back from Iran. Literally at that moment, R.B. put the breaking news up on the screen. It brought back memories of Syria, when Israel ordered Trump to attack them.

That’s why I don’t make predictions. There I was, left looking like Nellie Connally, after she told JFK, “Well, Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you,” seconds before shots were fired by someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald. I don’t know if this means we will become truly involved, but I hope Trump will replay his actions on Syria, when it was a one and done thing. Well, one and done two times. That’s the thing about Trumpenstein; he plays the part of an effective bully, but when Israel talks, he listens. Supposedly, the bombs eviscerated four well known nuclear sites in Iran. Except that many of us, including our own intelligence agencies just a few months ago, don’t believe there are any nuclear sites in Iran. For all we know, our big, beautiful bombs killed a bunch of civilians. It’s not like we haven’t slaughtered civilians countless times, dating back to 1846, in the Mexican-American War.

As Marjorie Taylor Greene pointed out, no one voted for Trump so that he could attack Iran. No MAGA voter wanted to make Iran obsolete. Tulsi Gabbard embarrassed herself by backtracking her earlier, accurate comments on Iran’s nuclear capability. Maybe RFK, Jr. can give her Rabbi Shmuley’s phone number. We knew Trump would do whatever Israel said- the guy has streets named after him there. But at the heart of MAGA is an America First philosophy. No more “senseless wars,” as Trump has called them. Becoming entangled in Iran, or anywhere else, completely discredits the blustery leader of that movement. Trump is in his fifth year as president. Where’s that infrastructure upgrade? And what is DOGE auditing now? When will Kash Patel make his first arrest? Karoline Leavitt is lovely, and Pam Bondi looks great for her age. That may enough for Trumpenstein, but not for his voters.

Well, I suppose we have to show off all that artillery sometimes. When you have a trillion dollar defense budget, people expect you to drop a few bombs here and there. Collateral damage- lots of collateral damage- is baked into the equation. We mastered the art of destroy and rebuild during WWII, the “good” war that so many Americans wax nostalgic about. That’s why they’re so anxious for WWIII- look at how cool the last World War was! Maybe that will cause an uptick in the marriage rates. Soft soy boys marrying their tough, tattooed gender fluids right before they’re shipped off to battle. Bruce Springsteen seems really sold on the Deep State now, so maybe he can play the part of Glenn Miller, and write the soundtrack to the new world conflict. Lots of elderly rock stars would sign on as well. Our view of “patriotism” was born with the first two world wars. Uncle Sam says loose lips sink ships!

WWII was the last war that was declared by Congress. They haven’t followed their constitutional obligation since then, despite all the nonstop forever interventions and occupations in far flung, much smaller lands. Jeannette Rankin was the only member of Congress to vote against declaring war against Japan. She had to have a police escort out of the Capitol, for her own protection. ‘Murricans don’t take kindly to those who don’t vote for war. Rankin was a real Lefty, an early feminist. But they stopped inviting her to all the best cocktail parties after she held fast to her principles. You have to love a woman who said “you can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake; it’s a stupid way of resolving things.” And we wonder why they picked Harriett Tubman instead of Jeannette to be on our counterfeit, fiat currency. Jeannette is more forgotten now than the great antiwar activist General Smedley Butler.

So what lifelong “journalist” for the state Tom Brokaw called the “greatest generation” did their thing. Raped enough women in Japan and Germany that they had to build special brothels to accommodate their illegal migrant-like “sexual emergencies.” Dropped enough firepower on Dresden- one of the world’s most beautiful cities, full of ancient churches, priceless artwork, but of no military significance- to kill 39,000 toddlers alone. If it hadn’t been done by the “good guys,” you might even call it a war crime. After the war, there was Operation Keelhaul, over seen by Allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lots of innocent Germans died, but Ike had to start his political career somehow. You can read more about under reported Allied atrocities, in my books Crimes and Cover-Ups in American Politics: 1776-1963, and American Memory Hole: How the Court Historians Promote Disinformation. And then we spent a bunch more money on the Marshall Plan, to repair the damage.

We’ve done that a lot ever since then, in all those undeclared wars we’ve fought. For absolutely no logical reason, of course. It’s a “national security” thing, you wouldn’t understand. So, to be fair, bombing Iran for no reason is not any more ridiculous than fighting “contained” wars in Korea and Vietnam, with “demarcation” zones, and no goals or strategy. The Right used to call them “no win” wars. With the first Gulf War, we established a continuing presence in the Middle East. Sure, burying surrendering soldiers alive by plowing them over in their trenches seems harsh, but “war is hell,” as the satanic would-be serial killer William T. Sherman once said. If we have to bury you alive to make you stop “hating our freedom,” we’ll do it! And then, of course, there were the ugly videos from then Bradley Manning, published by Wikileaks. Bombing civilians for sport, playing soccer with decapitated heads. Support the Troops!

Iran represents no less a threat to us than Iraq or Afghanistan did. Or Syria. Or poor Yemen. An entire wedding party in Yemen was murdered during the administration of the beloved Barack Obama. That probably sealed the Nobel Peace Prize for him. Assassinating American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki with a drone strike, and then following that up with the drone killing of his sixteen year old son, was just icing on the cake. So if our troops do become involved, and start shoving things up the asses of male Iranian prisoners, as they did so prolifically during our struggles with Iraq, it’s in keeping with our military strategy. Seymour Hersh claims there are videos of U.S. troops raping Iraqi boys, in front of their screaming mothers. Now that tape would probably awaken at least some of the sheeple. But it remains as missing as the Epstein files. Trump has some tough acts to follow. Will he prove up to the task?

I have to try and find humor in this. How can I write seriously about the situation? Iran hasn’t invaded anyone in 300 years. Or maybe it’s 3000. At any rate, it’s been a very long time. They don’t represent the slightest threat to the United States. If those “sleeper cells” really existed, they would have taken down our laughably outdated power grids after some 1.5 million Iraqis- including an estimated 565,000 children- died as a result of our embargo. You’d think that any self-respecting “terrorist” would be compelled to act in such a case. But not a single “suicide bomber” has done anything in order to seek vengeance. America has shown that it can fight any tiny country in the Middle East to a stalemate. Well, except for Israel. That’s who we’re fighting for, after all. And when we back a country by proxy, like Ukraine, we’ll work on their infrastructure for them. And help secure their border. We just won’t upgrade our own infrastructure, or secure our own southern border.

So, here we are, with a world class Military Industrial Complex. Lots of shiny planes, tanks, and bombs. But we meet every definition of a Third World country here at home. Infrastructure neglected for more than sixty years? Check. Massive and widening disparity of wealth? Check. Homeless people camped out in tents and shitting in the streets? Check. Massive corruption at all levels- from school boards to federal “representatives?” Check. Untrustworthy electoral process? Check. State controlled mass media? Check. Public officials never held accountable for their actions? Check. Fraud and money laundering revealed, but ignored? Check. Fractional reserve banking system that creates money out of thin air, and charges imaginary interest on it? Check. Court historians, who lie about our history? Check. Public education system that has produced untold numbers of illiterates? Check.

Two nights ago, our power went out for over an hour. It wasn’t raining. No wind. If there was a way to contact our power company, I’d do it. They wouldn’t provide any rational answer anyway. I live in one of the richest counties in the country. I can’t imagine how bad the power grids are, or how big the potholes are, in Mississippi and Arkansas. I lived in this same county as a child, and we never lost power, except briefly and occasionally during thunderstorms. Our power lines were above ground. The ones we have now are underground. So make that make sense. I see signs for “road work” everywhere. Lanes closed, causing traffic backups. This appears to be the sole purpose, as I have yet to see any actual road work being done. Some “projects” have gone on for years. Nothing upgraded, just lanes still closed and traffic still backed up. And no one, except me, appears to notice. Well, I do complain a lot.

If your house had a hole in the roof, holes in the floor, water spraying out from broken pipes, and a busted heat pump, would you ignore that and turn your attention to the neighbors? That’s what our leaders have done now for a very long time. Prioritized a warmongering “bipartisan” foreign policy over the most dire domestic problems. Once again, we’re being distracted by the latest foreign hobgoblin; in this case, not a demonized individual, like Hussein or Bin Laden, but the collective hobgoblin that is Iran. They’re shouting “Death to America!” How can we not bomb them? They’re a “state sponsor of terrorism,” whatever that is. If I was a terrorist, I’d at least ask for a nifty Iran baseball cap or something. Sponsors usually provide that kind of stuff. To the 70 plus percent of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, unable to save even $1,000 for emergencies; Iran, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, is totally irrelevant.

Evidently we learned nothing from Vietnam, which produced the only large scale antiwar movement this country has ever known. All those antiwar protesters, which included a young Bill and Hillary Clinton, went on to support our future foreign misadventures overseas. Our court historians and career politicians continue to tell you how “good” the Civil War and WWII were. They’ve made secular saints out of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, and Woodrow Wilson, the biggest tyrants we’ve ever had. No wonder Americans love war. Have you ever seen a huge peace parade? With flags flying, and antiwar advocates cheered and celebrated like military veterans have been in so many parades glorifying war? I’ve had to accept the fact that most people simply prefer war to peace. It’s exciting. Dramatic. Lots of unforeseen storylines. D-Day. Operation Iraqi Freedom, whereby we disrupted whatever freedom Iraqis possessed.

When they celebrated the 250th anniversary of the United States Army on Trump’s birthday, you had to guess they were gearing up for some kind of military action. I mean, otherwise all that glorification of the troops is kind of wasted. The Founders, especially Jefferson, were dead set against a standing U.S. army, by the way. Actually, the Founders would be opposed to pretty much everything that our government has done now for over 150 years. Even Alexander Hamilton probably would have blanched at bombing a country that had never attacked us. JFK was the only real voice for peace we’ve had in the White House, perhaps since John Quincy Adams. Political candidates now know better than to run on a platform advocating peace. Anywhere. #Stand with Ukraine. Bomb, bomb, bomb bomb bomb Iran. Hit Iran hard, in the words of Lindsey Graham, the foremost chicken hawk in the country.

If our involvement in Iran continues and/or escalates, MAGA will be just a sad historical footnote. Ross Perot’s Reform Party has already been forgotten. More and more people are turning towards populism, even anarchism. Slowly it is dawning on most of them that Trumpenstein is not the answer. Immanuel Goldstein wasn’t the answer in Orwell’s Oceania, either. As Lenin observed long ago, the best way to defeat the opposition is to lead it. We aren’t allowed any opposition that they don’t lead. Our “opposition” is either George Soros funded, or centered around Trumpenstein’s massive, cartoonish ego. What comes after MAGA? This latest flexing of Israeli muscle has opened the eyes of millions more Americans. You won’t convince them that a country that strikes first is “defending itself.” The mask is off, but the power remains. Will enough Americans be mad enough to finally launch real protests?

https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/first-world-bombs-from-third-world