Trump just planted the seed of his destruction
There may have been no more honest action in this administration than when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted the Pentagon was predicated on war, tossing aside former assumptions that it engaged only in "defense." And here we are.
Only one year into his term, President Donald Trump ordered troops into a war without an articulable argument as to an Iranian threat, never mind justification proven by fact. Appropriately, the result ensures Trump's eventual personal demise, but sadly, too, the destruction of the American public's hard-earned global goodwill. But struggle back anyway.
Trump will eventually go, but unlike the first term, the war now vitiates any chance that decent nations forgive and forget, not this time. Of course, this is what happens when unserious people plow forward in a seriously dangerous and unforgivable cause.
Hegseth spends news conferences berating media coverage, before taking notice of the bodies of service members, all because even in war, content is seriously king.
Absolutely, the vast majority of the American public understands the administration's motivation with drone-like precision. Our Secretary of "War," under our president's predation, desperately needs an outlet to ensure his "bro" followers concentrate on it all being alpha-cool.
The White House supports that same need with video memes, "pow" — straight out of video games, literally. To be sure, the world, too, despondently sees the same mystifying behavior, one enjoyed by far too many of our fellow citizens, a "real action" movie that plays out to horrified audiences elsewhere.
A most serious war by the most unserious people ensures well-deserved consequences, ones as unbounded as imprecise, impossible to predict.
But again, here we are. Indeed, momentarily and embarrassingly, embrace exactly where we are, the world sure does. A president in a ballcap over bodies.
A "Secretary of War" obsessed with the media play:
The wartime president dancing the night away:
An insulting Orwellian assurance, higher gas prices, all needed to bring gas prices down.
See?
The world sure sees.
Of course, we soothe ourselves knowing Trump can't last. Indeed, again, the war ensures he likely falls even sooner. Just know, the world remains unsoothed knowing that the American voters who put these men in place do last, and again, unserious voters usher in the most serious result. "We" don't trust these people, nor do they.
But the global community's response — redirecting trade, shifting alliances, and abandoning assumptions — that reaction will last much longer than an impending national political solution. Dems will surely get their mid-term blue wave; meanwhile, the world will just wave.
But as undeniable and inevitable the result may be, Americans must expend every effort to at least minimize the extent. It is awfully tempting to just give up. It's done. We're gone, at least from where we were. But it can always get worse — always, the result more impactful and enduring unless abated, however that may be done.
Perhaps the only good news in all this is that unserious people who wage war without real analysis are just as vulnerable to paper bombs from files, revolts over coffins, or simply the public exhaustion that simply bursts forth in unanticipated ways, all against an administration just as flat-footed, just as politically unaware and unserious. Movements and cults stand impervious to pushback right up until they're not, and are, by definition, even more impervious to resurrection.
Trump and Hegseth seem astonished that Iran closed the Hormuz Straight, paralyzing the transport of energy across the globe. Assuredly, they'll be no less astonished if and when the American public's rage — one born of hard work and faith — paralyzes any dodge, any cover-up, freezing the situation in place. Nowhere to go.
See? The world will see that, too. And, no, they won't forgive and forget, the consequences cascading, exact end results unforeseeable. But the struggle to crawl back must begin somewhere, so let it start now, at least in some way.
The Trumpers tell us this all avoids Iran's nuclear threat. Fine. Force them to prove it and call your Congressional representative again. Because the administration is not ready to meet that demand straight up.
We know the administration wanted a diversion from Epstein revelations. Not fine. Save some focus on the Epstein matter because their every action, every speech, all of it, belies a resulting fear of their demise. Call your Congressional representative again.
Protest the war, project our seriousness, share the world's shock. Vote for God's sake... at least demand it. Congress definitely hears that message, even a third time.
The most serious action by the most unserious people, all of it unsustainable, consequences just as assurable, remains inevitable. Meet it all with serious action, still, because the world depends on us, even as it backs away. Rest assured.
It's all just so awful. But they've laid their seed of destruction, rest also assured.
Because war to avoid talk of rape? Well, these unserious "war fighters" finally found a battle way too serious. Make that call — the world is listening.
Jason Miciak is a former associate editor of Occupy Democrats and a Rawstory writer at large. He is an author, American attorney, and single-parent girldad. He can be reached at [email protected], on "X" @jasonmiciak, and please follow on Bluesky, currently seeking beta readers for his newest novel, soon to be released.You May Also Like
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