(Un)Christian Nationalism

 

Along with the Criminal President’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him is another popular Big Lie held as gospel in the radical right MAGA fringe cult: “America was founded as a Christian nation”.

Well, THAT would surely delight the Founders, wouldn’t it?

Or not.

“The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State.” ~James Madison, 181 

Article 11 of the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, negotiated by President Washington, signed by President Adams, ratified by the US Senate, expressly refutes that the US is a Christian nation "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"

But it’s not theocracy when we do it, right?

Right. And of course it’s not criminal, unjust, or cruel when the Criminal President Trump and Republicans do it, as well. 

The DHS post was timed with last Sunday’s "Rededicate 250" rally billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation under God.”

Director of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin is the perfect replacement for the evil Kristi Noem . Mullin’s Christian nationalist cred is substantial.

Turning his back on his Savior’s message of compassion for the sick, he demanded that the Affordable Care Act be delayed or defunded.

After the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, Mullin displayed his unchristian lack of compassion when he called murder victim Pretti a "deranged individual" in a Fox News interview.

He’s now in charge of the army of ICE thugs and the private concentration camps where cruelties against thousands of non-violent immigrants are hidden from the public. Turning his back on his Savior’s message of welcoming immigrants he’s the embodiment of the exact opposite of, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born”.

And speaking of racist white Christian nationalists, one of them was asked at last Sunday's Trump's "Rededicate 250" Christian nationalist rally to comment on this on FOX (R):

Christian Nationalist and supporter of the Criminal Pedophile Protecting President Mike Johnson responded: "They want to erase the history of America and pretend as if we’re not a nation that was dedicated originally to God… The people who are the naysayers and who have created this new term of 'Christian nationalism' as a pejorative, a derogatory term, are trying to silence the influence and the voices of Christians, and I think that's wildly inappropriate."

More radical Right lies and projection.  

Mike Johnson has partners in the extremist antidemocratic New Apostolic Reformation that promotes their Seven Mountain Mandate, or Seven Mountains Dominionism. It holds that there are seven aspects of society that believers seek to dominate: family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government.

Their Dominionism advocates silencing the majority of Americans by Christian dominance over the United States. 

Just what the Constitution and Bible tells them to do, amirite?

We get it. White Christian nationalists and evangelicals represent Trump’s deluded base of ignorant and/or racist sheep.

They don’t care if their vile Criminal President Trump is above the law and his Administration and cronies are unbound by our Constitution. They seek to enforce their criminal, corrupt, racist, and antidemocratic POWER over the rest of us.

Johnson defended his fellow bigot Phil Robertson the duck hunter after he told GQ that homosexuality was "just not logical" and a sin, saying Robertson was being "punished" for expressing his opinion. 

Yes, another “persecuted” white Christian bigot. When will enough be enough?

In a 2003 article, Johnson warned: "Homosexuals do not meet the criteria for a suspect class under the equal protection clause because they are neither disadvantaged nor identified on the basis of immutable characteristics, as all are capable of changing their abnormal lifestyles." He wrote that legalizing same-sex marriage could put the country's "entire democratic system in jeopardy". In another article, he wrote, "experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”

He is also morally outraged at transgender students using the wrong bathrooms because Jesus preached against it when he condemned homosexuality. Just kidding. That never happened. Gays and transgender Americans just make him feel icky.

In other words, a MAGA loyalist, hypocrite, and unrepented bigot.

Sunday he and his ilk decided to celebrate America as a “Christian nation”, the hallmark and calling card of Christian nationalists.

The same white Christian nationalist responded to another question at Sunday’s Trump/Christian Nationalist rally.

Shannon Bream FOX®: What is your message to Black voters about redistricting?

Mike Johnson: This brings back fairness and certainty to the system.

Nothing dishonest or racist about that, I’m sure.

What he meant was "brings back unfair advantage to white nationalists" and "certainty of their one-party rule".

During Trump's "Rededicate 250" prayer event at the National Mall, the Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the late preacher Billy Graham, spoke via a pre-recorded video at the prayer event, describing America as a country that has become "morally rotten" and "completely sick with sin." He mentioned issues like "transgenderism" and "opening women's locker rooms to men" as a couple of examples.

Or as in the fear-mongering bigotry of their Most Unchristian and morally rotten Leader, “Transgender for everyone”. Oh, dear! This sounds like a threat! Does that mean they're out to force us all to swap genders? 

Graham said. "Why do we need to rededicate ourselves? When God sent the flood and destroyed the earth, it was because man's heart had become so evil and violent. In the news, we see unimaginable violence: rapes, murders, [and] unimaginable violence. Video games are full of violence. We have an insatiable appetite for violence."

Gee, that sounds a lot like the ICE thugs sent out by a guy who wants to pay his pardoned loyal thugs for beating cops bloody trying to overturn an election he clearly lost. 

Graham once suggested opposition to Trump was the work of a "demonic power”.

Last week during a radio interview with Eric Metaxas, evangelist Franklin Graham was about to say that he thought it was "almost a demonic power that is trying" to oppose President Trump, according to the Washington Examiner.

At that point, radio host Eric Metaxas interrupted, saying "I would disagree. It's not almost demonic. You know and I know, at the heart, it's a spiritual battle."

Graham agreed, and then, essentially, went on to say how unusual it is to see such opposition to a president with a record-breaking economy.

Anyway, you get the point. Christian nationalists are ignorant and or racist white conservatives who think America was founded as a “Christian nation” and are terrified of being “replaced” by atheists and people of color or other faiths.

Lest anyone be duped otherwise, there is no room for Christ in Christian nationalism. 

My dialogue with one of their radio propagandists essentially confirms this.

Anyway you look at it, the most racist and bigoted, and least Christian Americans among us want to dominate our lives, government, and country.  

And that means voter disenfranchisement, cruelty, and punishment for both the majority and the least of us. 

Recommended reading:

Oops

 

Oops. Dear Leader accidently told the truth.

Q: To what extent are Americans' financial situations motivating you to make a deal with Iran?

TRUMP: "Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody." 

Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon.

It was always Israel's war, so we already knew they would stop Iran's efforts to build one, but they found their hitman in our Belligerent Buffoon. And at our expense to boot.

But be of good cheer, America. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett brings joyful tidings.

"People still don't have faith that the golden age is upon us, that Trump policies are working...And just as Secretary Bessent said, credit card spending is through the roof. They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else, too."

If that doesn't sound like great news, then you're just not a real patriot, amirite?

Now it's down to we the people directly and indirectly paying even more to support Netanyahu's radical Zionist criminal regime. 

And of course China is relishing Trump's warmongering as more cover for invading Taiwan, as Putin does with his war on Ukraine.

Putin, Netanyahu, Xi, and Trump have each other as inspiration and comfort for their military aggression.

It's a win, win, win, win for all four dictators. 

I have to share the fitting image of Junior Dictator Trump sitting down to dinner with Xi. (He had the woman behind him remove his chair cushion that he and Xi were to sit on.)

"Toddler Tyrant at the Adults' Table". A small man looking even smaller. 

Cui bono? Trump's oligarch companions in China.

Supreme Racism

 

"The Supreme Court betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, and they betrayed our democracy."- Barack Obama

Before I proceed with my rant, let’s start with some insight from historian and fascism expert Ruth Ben Ghiat:

 

Elections as Tools of Autocracy and White Supremacy

In the 21st century, we have a proliferation of electoral autocracies, or countries with strongman leaders who keep a semblance of democracy going (opposition parties and, sometimes, a degree of independent media), including by holding elections. In a separate essay, I will analyze the bag of tricks autocrats deploy to turn elections to their advantage, including invalidating the will of the people by removing already-elected officials from their offices.

The central point here is that in 2026, the aim of “competitive authoritarianism” is to take away competition: to take the “fair” out of free and fair elections, while redefining freedom as a liberation from the corruption and chaos of democracy. During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump described the act of voting to his Evangelical Christian followers as a kind of burden he would free them from. “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote,” he promised them.

Authoritarianism in all its forms depends on people acting against their own interests, in this case seeing the abdication of agency and giving up of rights as something positive, as almost a relief. Let the leader decide for you! Let the leader, who is an agent of divine providence, decide your destiny! Getting people to believe this is one of the main functions of personality cults that depict the leader as infallible.

Of course, propaganda is not enough to “fix” the problem of voting. That is why autocrats work hard to achieve “autocratic capture” and have the courts, the media, and other institutions retooled to reflect the ideologies, priorities, and methods of the autocrat and his partners.

This is where the Supreme Court decision fits in. By striking down a key element of the Voting Rights Act, the Court has once again made itself the vehicle of the crusade to end American democracy as we know it. “Justices” such as Clarence Thomas (“Corrupted by Billionaires, Including Harlan Crow, Who Has a Garden of Dictator Statues”) and Samuel Alito (“Flew Insurrectionist Flags At His Homes”) act like far-right political operatives. Both long ago jettisoned democratic ideas of conflicts of interest and judicial impartiality.

Giving immunity to a head of state who incited a violent mob against Republican and Democratic lawmakers on January 6, 2021, was one blow to our democracy; legitimizing practices designed to disenfranchise Black voters is another.

Undoing Our Multiracial Democracy So That White Supremacy Can Prevail

Every authoritarian state has a central ideological pillar and fixation. In America, the retooling of institutions to serve autocracy and the fanatical desire to remake the country in the image of White Christian nationalism go hand in hand. I have written repeatedly about the ongoing war on Blacks, and how Donald Trump from 2016 on has made himself the protector of every kind of racist, from neo-Nazis to those who hate immigrants and religious minorities to people who never really accepted the end of Jim Crow and the democratic doctrine of racial equality.

This is why Trump continues his attacks on the Obamas ten years after they left the White House. The very idea of a Black man as president must be “undone” in the public mind.

 ~~~

Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias warns: “Not only was the Supreme Court's Callais decision cynical and wrong, it has now resulted in the Republican governor of Louisiana declaring state of emergency to cancel the ongoing congressional election. If you think this ends in Louisiana or with redistricting, you are not paying attention.”

Reviving Institutional Racism

These are indeed the glory days for 21^st Century American racists and “Christian” nationalists. Their white privileged minority rule has just become set in concrete; thanks to the serial criminal they TWICE installed into the Oval Office.

White Christian Nationalists have their racist criminal president. They own Congress. And they own the Supreme Court, abetted by their token black White Nationalist. They have won their decades-long engineered coup by taking control of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of our federal government. Now their corruption and rampaging abuses of power are overwhelming our ability to even keep track. Every day more cons, grifts, inside deals, extortions, cronyism, and nepotism come to light. But not to justice. 

I won’t mince words. Their long-term damage is more than likely fatal to our constitutionally weakened democracy, already undermined by the corrupt Supreme Court, antiquated electoral college, and anti-democratic and disproportional power in the Senate.

This weakness was exacerbated by an American electorate that was too racist, ignorant, misogynistic, and apathetic to vote against a second Trump presidency. A qualified woman of color was spurned in favor of a racist, corrupt, lying, indicted criminal and conman. This isn’t difficult to understand, considering enough racist, ignorant, misogynistic, and apathetic Americans rejected a qualified moderate white woman in favor of the racist pathological liar ten years ago.

Americans opened the door to the formation of a corrupt, highly partisan, white Christian nationalist Supreme Court. Americans didn’t learn from their demolition of women’s reproductive rights. They didn’t learn from the Court’s authoritarian decree of “presidential immunity”, demanded by the indicted Criminal President.

And there’s no reason to think they will learn from the destruction of Roe v Wade, fabricated presidential immunity that eliminated equal justice under law, and now the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Gerrymandering by white Republicans has been greenlighted. Gerrymandering by Democrats for fair representation for African Americans has been virtually outlawed.

The racist majority on the Supreme Court has all but assured a white Republican Congress and presidency far into the future. The Louisiana v. Callais decision is nothing less than wholesale election rigging for the benefit of the Republican Party.

As the rights of Americans are falling like dominoes, the increasingly authoritarian Republican Party will continue to lock our country down into a white nationalist, antidemocratic tyranny under minority rule.

MAYBE enough Americans will be motivated to vote for a Democratic congressional majority this year after Trump’s recession arrives and bleeds our wallets dry. But remember this. Trump and his evil henchmen will do everything they can to control, disrupt, and deny the next two elections.

Election interference is already well under way. From Reuters:

In January, a DHS agent sought unredacted voter records and voter registration information from Franklin County, Ohio, without explaining the basis for the request. Reuters found similar federal requests for voter data, access to voting machines or revived fraud investigations in at least eight states, including Nevada, Colorado, Michigan and Missouri, often tied to claims previously rejected by courts.

There’s the very real threat of massive voter intimidation by armed ICE agents stationed at Democratic leaning polling places.

I’m afraid I can see this evil dictatorship going for another 10 years at least. The next two elections will face every obstruction and authoritarian measure Trump, ICE, and SCOTUS impose on them, likely including inciting mass disorder and canceling the elections by declaring a state of emergency. He won't leave willingly. Sorry to be such a downer, but the arc of justice has been bent towards an arc of tyranny. If they win the next two elections this coup will extend indefinitely.

The forces of white nationalist tyranny, abetted by corporate and oligarchic interests, are expanding their control over the former mainstream news media, making it even more difficult for American voters to have access to vital information. The post-truth era is upon us and the tyrants and oligarchs are more than adept at using every tool of disinformation it to consolidate power.

President Biden’s plan for Supreme Court reform will never be revived as long as MAGA racists dominate our congress and high court. He knew what needed to be done by suggesting a constitutional amendment to “make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office.” The court’s recent decision last month in Trump v. United States, Biden wrote, “means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.” But the United States, Biden stressed, “was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law.”

At the behest of the Criminal President the Alito Court terminated our quaint notion carved into the portico of the Supreme Court building. “Equal Justice Under Law” is no longer an American ideal.

I don’t want to be the negative grumpy guy at the party, but the chances for needed reform are rapidly slipping away.

It’s come down to this. Democrats can only hope to reverse the destruction of the remnants of our democracy by winning a supermajority, with DC statehood and expanded SCOTUS. This will require unified and disciplined messaging that seems almost impossible for them. It’s reasonable to presume there are always going to be the Sinemas, Manchins, and Fettermans to drag them down.

More than ever, we need younger American voters to turn out in record numbers. We also need millions of older Americans to wake up and smell the tyranny.

I won't hold my breath because I honestly don't expect to live long enough see a free and remotely democratic republic again. I'm afraid the American people will suffer through austerity and privation before real change can happen.

However, I will not abandon hope that younger Americans will learn from the ongoing debacle and impending collapse of what we once had, and they realize what needs to be done. It will be up to them to drive the final stake through the fetid heart of Trumpism.

Yet He Persisted

 

23-year old Adam Mockler is a brilliant and insightful rising Gen Z political commentator featured on youtube and CNN. We can hope his voice will be heard as marking a sane pathway towards our nation’s recovery from the toxic hate and swath of destruction left by the Trump Cartel.

More ghoulish, gloating, and gleeful cruelty from the Criminal Sociopath:

And there's this:

(Senator Mike Lee of Utah called it "A nightmare on Walz Street", referring to governor Walz.) 

See the pattern yet?

Yes, Jimmy Kimmel did it again. He made a joke that enraged Trump and his wife by violating their delicate feelings.

On Thursday night Kimmel parodied the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which is usually hosted by a comedian who roasts powerful people, including the president.

His set up for the joke was, “So, I thought, why not … do some of the jokes a comedian might do if our president wasn’t a trembling drama queen who’s scared of comedy?”

And who would be surprised that the Drama Queen and his wife share a thin-skinned fear and hate for free speech?

Melania went on a social media tirade against Kimmel. In her Monday post on X, she called the late night comedian a “coward” who “shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America…Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” the first lady said. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”

Melania's “faithful and loyal” Kimmel-hating Drama Queen husband shared her outrage. He contemptuously sniffed that the host is “in no way funny” and "diplomatically" described his monologue as a “despicable call to violence” in a Truth Social post.

Say, isn’t that something like telling an angry mob to, “March to the Capitol! Fight like hell if you want to take your country back!”?

Clearly the Trumps want to incite hate for Kimmel, and to see that the maximum possible level of punishment is inflicted upon him. 

Of course this applies to everyone Trump hates, or dares to challenge him, or dares to disagree with him, or dares to mock him, or dares to criticize him, or  dares to report his criminal acts, or even unflattering information about him. 

Seeking to punish those sorts of people and to silence their voices has always been the MO of every bully, thug, tyrant, dictator, sociopath, and authoritarian leader. There's every reason to understand all of these terms apply to our Criminal President.

Yet Kimmel persisted.

Monday night Kimmel responded. You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We’ve all been there, right?

He went on to explain.

It was a pretend roast. I said, “Our First Lady Melania is here. Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump you have a glow like an expectant widow”. Which was obviously a joke about their age difference, and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he is almost eighty and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that…

And also I agree hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.” 

Then on Tuesday:

During his remarks welcoming King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the White House earlier in the day, Trump noted that his parents had been married for 63 years. Then he set the premise for Kimmel's age joke:

“That’s a record we won’t be able to match, darling,” Trump, who turns 80 in June, said to first lady Melania Trump, 56, who was sitting just behind him. “I’m sorry. Just not gonna work out that way.”

Attacking and falsely accusing comedians reveals moral and intellectual weakness. It's also an attack on our First Amendment by the actual domestic enemies of our Constitution and Republic.

Trump v Pope

 

It’s time for Reverend Dave to step up to the pulpit with my sermon, “Why Trump hates the Pope”, (and MAGA is ok with it.)

If Trump isn’t the antichrist, he certainly comes closer to being that than anyone else in this century. He is a racist, grifting, sex offending, extortionist and felon who pardons powerful drug kingpins, protects rapists and child molesters, and richly rewards the worst oligarchic servants of mammon in history 

Yet he’s “God’s Chosen” in eyes of his deluded cult and duped supporters. He can do no wrong that would elicit their disfavor and diminish their devotion.

The truth is the last thing the MAGA cult is interested in. Trump’s word is their gospel, and journalists who don’t praise him are their hated nemeses.

Last October Pope Leo said journalism is "not only an act of justice, but a duty of all those who long for a solid and participatory democracy."

He quoted Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism" in asserting that the world needs a free press and objective information. He cited her warning that "the ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

"With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing.”

That went over like a garlic-covered silver cross would with vampires. In Trump’s view the Pope is supporting the “enemy of the people”.

The Pope’s next blasphemy against MAGA was directed at Trump’s alcoholic, spouse-abusing war monger Pete Hegseth for invoking Jesus in justifying the slaughter of Iranians:

“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’” 

Leo reminded us and warned others, "Blessed are the peacemakers! Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. 

The “Woke Pope” even dared to mention the characteristic shared by every anti-MAGA and anti-war resister. 

It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by ​every honest conscience."

Pope Leo didn’t neglect to include the likes of Putin, Orban, Netanyahu, and the Iranian leadership. He meant ALL tyrants.

"The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters!" he said.

But it gets even worse, as the “Woke Pope” transformed into the “Commie Hippie Pope”:

"The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to ​rebuild. They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration ​are nowhere to be found."

There it is. Trump virtually sees the Pope as a woke leftist commie hippie, a threat to his imperial rule, and enemy of the people.

Wasn’t Jesus similarly deemed by the authoritarians in charge back in his time?

Maybe Trump will want to bomb the Vatican next, so they don’t develop a nuclear weapon to wipe out Mar-a-Lago?

Nothing is too deranged anymore. Nothing.

A Simple Test

  

Reporter: Why did you attack Pope Leo?

Trump: I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess. We don’t like a pope who says it’s ok to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope that says crime is ok. I am not a fan of Pope Leo.  

Q: Did you post that picture of yourself depicted as Jesus Christ? 

Trump: I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with Red Cross... Only the fake news could come up with that one.

~~~

Is the authoritarian MAGA brain capable of conscience, self-examination, and questioning its beliefs and assumptions? Or is it afraid to even consider such questions? The liberal mind is open and not afraid of questions.

 

A simple MAGA test. A or B

1.

A: Team Pope

B: Team Trump

2.

A: Team Truth

B: Team Big Lie

3.

A. Team Constitution

B. Team Christian Nationalism (As in, America is a “Christian nation”)

4.

A: Team democracy, rule of law, compassion, and provision for the general welfare

B: Team mammon, tax cuts for billionaires, indicted criminals, cuts in healthcare, and cruelty towards protesters and asylum seekers

 

Team A or Team B? Or mixed?

Only responses with answers will be published.

 

I’ll go first.

Dave Dubya: Team A all the way.

 

 

Happy MAGA Easter

Also from the man anointed by Jesus to save America: "We're fighting wars. It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these things."

 Or in the words of the Criminal President's henchman Whiskey Pete Hegseth, “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”, calling for “justice to be delivered without remorse...We ask these things in bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ,” he concluded.

Can I get an amen? Let's hear it for war crimes for Jesus!

Winning the hearts and minds of Muslims...er...I mean Christian nationalists, everywhere.

And pay no attention to this radical, woke, anti-American, antifa spokesman:

“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Pope Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

Every CINO's Savior:

A reminder:

MAGA/Zionist Axis

 

Regular readers will recall my disputes with fellow blogger, arch-conservative, and Trump supporter Darrell. Darrell now has an ally in Infidel, another blogger who refuses to allow my comments.

I’ve been keeping track of Infidel’s newfound faith in Trump and his war on Iran. He knows Trump lied about Iran being “two weeks” from hitting the US with a nuclear weapon. He probably knows Trump lies every day, but this time is somehow different. It’s all about “freeing Iran”, no matter how many innocents are killed and how much suffering we inflict. Some of us are reminded of the Vietnam War when, “It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.” 

Like Trump, he doesn’t want to hear any disagreement or questions on his views. He never publishes my remarks, as his privilege. As Trump said, “Sometimes you need a dictator”.

So why am I bothering to question his pro-war beliefs? Primarily because he summarily dismisses my views as simple partisanship at best and “morally depraved antisemitism” at worst. His accusations that I am part of the “most twisted and ugly and morally depraved elements within the US” and of the “ignorantsia” who “took to the streets protesting against the operation to free Iran”.

If he thinks I’m a “most twisted and ugly and morally depraved” member of the “ignorantsia”, then I’ll dare to give him another reason to demean and insult me.

It is time again for my inner "villain" to utter the most politically incorrect, snark-seasoned, and semi-facetious opinion in America.

 

The nation of Israel was formed by UN resolution 181 in August 1947 and became a nation in 1948. UN Resolution 181 has proven to be a tragic blunder that assured endless war. It became an endless path to hell paved with good intentions. Let's remove religion, "God's chosen people", WWII, and ancient history from the equation.

I propose Resolution 181 be rescinded or amended to let Palestine be Palestine where Jews and Arabs lived together for centuries. I would allow one of our deep red states be the new Jewish State, in addition to ending all weapons shipments to the rogue state of Israel. (It's still a better deal than the US ever gave to Native Americans.)

We could finally make Washington DC the 50th state, so the flag would stay the same.

Yes, I know it's impractical and nearly impossible, but so is peace in the Middle East.

I'm open to any better idea...if there is one.

Despite how ludicrous this may sound, I've yet to hear a better suggestion for a way out of this mass madness.

Infidel is a Zionist. It seems being anti-Israeli government is antisemitism as far as he’s concerned. This is also what AIPAC’s central message has become, as Infidel dismisses the idea that Israel has any influence on Trump joining Netanyahu’s war.

He never acknowledges Netanyahu’s or his IDF’s war crimes. His empathy lies only with Israeli victims of violence. Palestinians who are beaten, killed, and forcefully evicted from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank are not on his radar. He even suggests they had it coming. Israelis are never the bad guys. 

His words are italicized below:

We will soon be hearing -- have already been hearing -- from the most twisted and ugly and morally depraved elements within the US.  The types who view this conflict as just one more opportunity for petty domestic political point-scoring.  The ones who would happily leave the theocracy in power in Iran, at a staggering cost in human suffering, if they fear its fall might be perceived as a "win" for Trump.  The vile Israel-haters of the far left and far right have already oozed forth with their Der Stürmer conspiratardia about evil Jewish manipulation of the US.  Don't listen to them.

This works one way. I would never accuse anyone who would "happily leave the dictators in power in China, Russia and North Korea, at a staggering cost in human suffering", if he didn't cheer for Trump starting a war with them.

The “conspiratardia” would include everyone who clearly understands Netanyahu and Hegseth pressured Trump to join Isreal’s war. As I noted, Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent resigned saying: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

Behold the “ignorantsia”: Most Americans know very little about Iran, so they view this situation entirely through the lens of US politics -- thus their reactions to it are irrelevant.

Never mind Trump’s war is already having serious impacts on every American who has difficulty in affording what is essentially his dollar per gallon war tax. This will raise prices for food and other essentials. “Petty domestic political point-scoring”? No. We’re way beyond that. Consequences are felt here and across the world. 

And speaking of consequences, what happens to US airmen who are shot down and captured in Iran after Reichsfuherer Hegseth declared, "No quarter!"? War crimes beget war crimes. Bombing a bridge and returning to bomb it again with rescuers working on it is a war crime. Or so the "ignorantsia" would assert.

"My point is, Israel's enemies are proven liars.  They lie and lie and lie."

Yes, they do. Too bad Iran's enemies are also proven liars who lie and lie and lie.

BTW, Putin is the real winner. Again. He's raking in extra billions as we Americans pay dearly for gas and soon enough, paying more for everything else.

All because liars promise unicorns and rainbows in the Middle East if they kill enough people and “bomb them back to the stone ages”. Again, some of us are old enough to remember how well that same slogan worked in the Vietnam War.

“Trump can't keep track of what he's doing or planning. That's typical of a person with dementia. But the military knows what they're doing, and so does Netanyahu…Any such operation involves risks, but at least now there's hope.”

In other words, it’s war criminal Netanyahu’s war being joined by a demented war criminal American as Commander-in-Chief. The demented criminal commander has a sycophantic propagandist as head of the Department of Defense who has been actively denying promotions of black and female officers, while purging the higher ranks of anyone who questions, or is perceived as disloyal, to Trump .

What could go wrong? Is starting a war based on lies and “hope” wise? How many deaths are an acceptable sacrifice for lies and hope? How great a financial burden for working class and poor Americans is acceptable for lies and hope?

Trump has virtually declared his intentions to commit more war crimes upon the Iranian civilian population. "We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two weeks. We're going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong."

~~~

Al Jazeera reports:

During his prime-time address to the nation, Trump said, referring to Iran: “We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks, we’re going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong.”

Trump also said “discussions are ongoing”, adding that the conflict could end over the same period.

The current war on Iran began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched their attacks. Tehran hit back, targeting Israel and Gulf countries.

More than 2,000 Iranians have been killed in the war so far. Thousands of civilian sites, including hospitals, schools, universities and pharmaceutical factories, have been attacked by Israel and the US.

Janina Dill, a global security professor at the University of Oxford, told Al Jazeera that if Trump’s “stone ages” threat implies that the US will destroy structures and buildings that characterize a modern society, “then this would be illegal because it implies directing attacks against civilian objects”.

International humanitarian law prohibits targeting civilian objects deliberately during war, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

“The statement is particularly appalling since it repudiates the claim that the United States is fighting the Iranian regime, implying rather a war against the Iranian people and society more broadly.”

~~~

But, no worries, Trump assures us, "We can't take care of daycare. We're a big country. We're fighting wars. It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these things." 

For an atheist, Infidel seems to have extraordinary faith in an indicted felon and war criminal president and his politicized military. I would suggest he examine the results of Trump’s politicized DHS and DOJ for some insight into how all this may develop. But of course, that would be the perspective of the “morally depraved, Israel-hating ignorantsia”.

Following this pattern of demonization, I expect the absurd accusation of “America-hating” to follow soon from the MAGA/Zionist axis of war enthusiasts. 

 

MAGA Fools Day

 

Keeping Score

 

How many times have Trump and his Iran War supporters lectured us about the “thousands of Americans killed by Iran”? How many still believe Trump when he keeps saying, “We won this war!”?

I’ve lost count on both questions, but “thousands of Americans killed by Iran” sounds like a great reason go to war with them, though.

Lets’ leave Israel and Netanyahu out of the discussion for moment, even though they goaded Trump into joining their war.

One Trumpist gloated in a previous comment thread.

The “Colonel”: We are doing something that NO OTHER AMERICAN PRESIDENT HAD THE BALLS TO DO.

IRAN has been killing OUR SOLDIERS, and our Citizens for 47 years. TRUMP is Finally ENDING THAT CRAP.

He’s echoing Trump, of course. No other president worked for Netanyahu and Putin either. Putin thanks him for HUGE oil profits, and Netanyahu thanks him for fighting his war for him.

Trump is doing EXACTLY what he promised NOT to do and what George W. Bush did. They BOTH started wars of choice in their acts of aggression in the Middle East. 

The White House posted a long list of Americans killed by “Iran” titled, “The Iranian Regime’s Decades of Terrorism Against American Citizens”.

“For nearly half a century, the Islamic Republic of Iran — the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism — has killed and maimed American citizens and service members through its own forces and proxy militias. More Americans have been killed by Iran than any other terrorist regime on Earth.”

Note the inclusion of “proxy militias”. Very few were direct actions by Iran’s “own forces” against Americans. Almost all the cases of Americans being killed were preceded by “Iran-backed”, or “affiliated” entities.

I asked the colonel a few rhetorical questions. I mean “rhetorical” in the sense no answers are expected. Trump supporters HATE answering questions.

What kind of colonel thinks starting a war will end killing? A MAGA "colonel".

How many American children has Iran killed? None. We killed Iranian children without so much as an apology. (Retired intelligence officer Captain Josephine Guilbeau explained how the cameras on the Tomahawk missiles would indicate their target was a school. But they launched another one instead of confirming the target. She calls it terrorism, and she's correct by definition.)

How many American soldiers were killed by Iran?

Now we’re getting to the question at hand. Let’s look at some facts and historical context

The answer is very few directly, but by their Arab allies in Lebanon and Iraq. 

Reagan put Marines in harm's way with no military objective and they were killed by an “Iran-backed” suicide bomber. 

After Bush LIED about WMD’s and Saddam working with al-Qaeda HE STARTED the Iraq war. We have no way of knowing how many Americans were killed by Iranians in Iraq. We know they were invited to assist in resisting the American occupiers. This was all due to US aggression. Americans seem to have forgotten that the guy who starts wars of choice is the guy to blame for the deaths and destruction.

Bottom line: Excluding Afghanistan where Iran wasn’t a participant, all those Americans died because of misguided or dishonest actions by US presidents. The American deaths number in the thousands.

What kind of colonel can't see this pattern?

So, let’s look at the body count.

Thousands of American troops were killed by Iraqis, many with Iranian help. Obviously, not all of the thousands of casualties were inflicted by Iranians or proxies, but let’s count them anyway, just for argument’s sake.

If "Iran-backed" entities count, then US-backed Israel and US-backed Iraq have slaughtered HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of Arabs and Iranians in Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and in Israel. The body count from Trump's war is already in the thousands in Iran.

How’s that for perspective?

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians were killed by America-backed Iraq alone.

From AI:

During the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, the United States provided significant covert and overt support to Iraq, including billions in economic aid, intelligence, and dual-use technology, to prevent an Iranian victory. This included intelligence sharing, over $200 million in direct arms sales (like helicopters), and allowing the sale of chemical/biological weapon precursors.

This all came back to bite us. Iraq and Iran were terrible regimes, but the US is definitely not the good guy in the Middle East. Only the peace activists are the good guys. Israel, Iran, and the US are not among them.

“When you get into trouble 5,000 miles from home, you've got to have been looking for it.” ~ Will Rogers

 

THAT's the crap that needs to end, or we're looking at MORE AMERICANS getting killed by terrorists.

I'm the "Villain" Again

 

Once again fellow bloggers Infidel and Darrell inspire my politically incorrect rant and despicable thoughts. 

Since both Darrell and Infidel have silenced my views from their comment threads, I’ll once again offer my snark-seasoned, yet somehow rational, remarks here. Readers may recall my thoughts about their positions on Trump’s war in a previous post.

Since I’m getting comfortable being the outcast and villain at both Infidel’s and Darrell’s blogs, I’ll be happy to extend this discussion here at my blog.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~

Infidel:

The regime's thugs had specifically ordered hospital staff not to help wounded people.  It has always been well known that rape and torture of detainees is part of the theocracy's standard treatment of dissidents.  This is part of what will just go on and on with no end in sight, if the regime is not overthrown.

----

Does this remind anyone else of ICE? Despite ramifications of the Criminal President Trump’s war of choice in the US and across the globe, Infidel doesn’t want any discussion of domestic politics around the War Criminal’s war. But this paragraph BEGS for it.

Yes, let’s ignore the Criminal President and his ICE thugs for taking the same path. That stuff is only bad when Iranians do it, right?

Pay no attention to how ICE thugs ordered a doctor away from examining Renee Goode, who was just murdered by one of them. After all, she and Alex Pretti were just a couple “domestic terrorists” who got what they deserved. We’re NOTHING like Iran, amirite? Just accept Hegseth’s wrapping his war in Christianity because that’s nothing like Christian nationalist theocracy. 

Pay no attention to the rapes, abuse, and neglect suffered by thousands of non-violent immigrants in Trump’s concentration camps. We mustn’t draw attention to how our Criminal Crusader demands dissidents he calls “traitors” to be arrested by his corrupted and politicized “Justice” Department.

Let’s forget about all the summary executions in Minneapolis, on the open seas, in Venezuela, or in Trump’s next war on Cuba. Hospital patients on ventilators are dying as his embargo on their oil is shutting down their electricity. (You commies got a problem with that?)

 

And finally let’s not consider the extreme likelihood that Trump’s reckless bombing of scores of schoolgirls will only inflame MORE anti-American terrorism. Or will their families also “greet us with flowers” like in Iraq? But what do I know? I’m not an “expert” on the Middle East and this is no time to consider the lessons to be drawn from America’s tragic history of meddling in the Middle East. Fear not, for Donald Trump is the “only one” who can fix it.

Yeah, that’s the ticket.

---

Infidel pronounces his judgment for those of us who dissent:

We will soon be hearing -- have already been hearing -- from the most twisted and ugly and morally depraved elements within the US.  The types who view this conflict as just one more opportunity for petty domestic political point-scoring.  The ones who would happily leave the theocracy in power in Iran, at a staggering cost in human suffering, if they fear its fall might be perceived as a "win" for Trump.  The vile Israel-haters of the far left and far right have already oozed forth with their Der Stürmer conspiratardia about evil Jewish manipulation of the US.  Don't listen to them.

---

Um, didn’t Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent just resign, saying: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

We are advised, “Don’t listen to them”, so forget about Netanyahu pressuring his fellow authoritarian Trump to join his war. It never happened if we don’t think about it, or read about it, or notice his six visits with Trump in the past year. To do so would be tantamount to “happily leaving the theocracy in power in Iran”, or something like that.

For suggesting Trump is only compounding the suffering and deaths of Iranians and Israelis alike, it would seem Darrell and Infidel would agree that I represent “the most twisted and ugly and morally depraved elements within the US”.  But, hey, not everybody can be as moral as Netanyahu, Donald Trump, and his henchmen. People like me just can’t keep from objecting to a war of choice waged by war criminals who have been feeding us their lies and unbridled hate all along.  It seems our “petty domestic political point-scoring” is clearly transforming us into being “antisemitic” and “anti-American”. This demonization and smearing is what we get for objecting to a reckless and incompetent war criminal, but I’m used to it by now.

If only we’d just keep repeating, “Iran was two weeks away from a nuclear weapon and we’d all be dead by now if not for Trump and Netanyahu”. It would make us FEEL so much better about Trump’s FEELING the need to start a war. For good measure, and adding a touch of Christian nationalism, we may join with Hegseth in asking Americans to pray “in the name of Jesus Christ” for a victory in the Iran War. For God is ALWAYS on America’s side, and always on Israel’s side, no matter how many kids we kill. Can I get an amen?

Now it’s time for a “real American Patriot” to chime in.

=

Darrell:
I do not understand the antisemitism and the cheering for America to fail simply to not give the opposing political party a "win". That is a twisted way of thinking and a complete lack on awareness of the evils of the Iranian regime perpetrated over nearly 50 years. The ignorance and unwitting support for such an evil theocratic regime by some Americans is disgusting. I pray that the Iranian people stand up and finish the job to remove the theocracy and to govern themselves.

=

Infidel:

Darrell: It's the result of how toxic and polarized politics has become. Scoring points over the other "team" has become more important than actually getting positive goals accomplished. Most Americans know very little about Iran, so they view this situation entirely through the lens of US politics -- thus their reactions to it are irrelevant.

------

Indeed. Objecting to Trump joining war criminal Netanyahu’s war is now “cheering for America to fail” or at the minimum displaying one’s “ignorance and unwitting support for such an evil theocratic regime”.

Speaking of the Israeli war criminal with the blood of tens of thousands of children on his hands, he’s showing the same affection for dictators as our Tangerine Tyrant.

Infidel and Darrell share a blind faith in Dear Leader’s blundering, brutal, and bloody aggression, accepting any cost to America, and refusing to hold a vile tyrant like Trump accountable for his war crimes. I will not and cannot agree with this.

I cannot find comfort in whatever the war’s consequences may be for the rest of us. Would paying higher gas and energy prices that leaves less money for food, shelter and healthcare for Americans also be "irrelevant"? Would a recession and increased terrorism be equally "irrelevant"? I suppose 13 dead Americans in uniform and their mourning families are "irrelevant". (How many more Americans must die before it WOULD be relevant? Again, I’m not the expert that the pro-Trump war folks are. If experts like Bibi, Trump, Darrell, and Infidel can accept 10,000 dead Americans and a million dead Iranians why should it bother me?) 

And is it also "irrelevant" that Trump's pal Putin is the only clear winner in this war? With sanctions lifted and his oil profits doubling, Putin can slaughter more Ukrainians. Another gift to Putin from Trump via Iranians is how to shoot down US F-35 jets.

So far this is all acceptable with Infidel and Darrell, even without the fall of the theocratic regime in Iran. All glory to our criminal Dear Leader. 

What happens in the event this Khamenei to Khamenei succession is the only regime change we’ll get? Do we proceed to invade and occupy Iran? Do we keep bombing Iran in perpetuity, or until a bloody civil war breaks out with both sides hating us? Is no cost in lives and treasure too high? Is this our nation's most urgent priority? Oops. BAD Dave! No more treasonous, antisemitic, twisted and ugly and morally depraved questions from YOU!

The Criminal President’s Crusade for Goodness shouldn’t be questioned. That would be downright unpatriotic, pro-theocratic tyranny, and probably communism. Right, Darrell? For in addition to being a communist, I’m now “twisted and ugly and morally depraved”, unlike the Party of Trump suppressing the Epstein files. After all, it’s ONLY child molesting and rape, for Pete’s sake. I’m guessing that stuff is also only bad when Iranians do it.

Maybe there’s a final solution for people like me who dissent. Republicans are working on it. It begins with demonizing us as communists, Ayatollah lovers, and domestic terrorists, followed by blatant suppression of our free press and our right to vote, assembly and free speech.

But never mind all that. We should just remember we’ve always been at war with Iran. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. And we love Big Brother Don the Con for protecting us, destroying evil, and liberating the world.

Our stable genius couldn’t possibly fail. As the malevolent and mendacious man Infidel and Darrell trust to fix Iran and the Middle East said, “Sometimes you need a dictator”. 

Why not give this fascist criminal and protector of child molesters with unaccountable "presidential immunity" more power to do whatever he wants?

What could possibly go wrong?