Without Congressional action, the man who imagines the world revolves around him has now brought the United States into war with Iran.
https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/he-did-it-the-us-is-at-war-with-iran
"The strikes are a perilous decision for the US as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism."
~ The Guardian
“In The Atlantic, foreign affairs scholar Tom Nichols noted: ‘President Donald Trump has done what he swore he would not do: involve the United States in a war in the Middle East.’”
~ Heather Cox Richardson
Have to get those poll ratings up, right?
The obscenely rich need more tax cuts, cutting Medicaid (and Medicare) to pay for the tax cuts aren’t playing well in Peoria.
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/june-21-2025
"Donald Trump bombing Iran without Congressional approval is not shocking.
Since January 20th, he has rendered our Constitution virtually irrelevant, ignoring every policy, precedent, and channel designed to prevent a maniacal individual from operating unilaterally and endangering our people."
~ John Pavlovitz
https://johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/trump-declares-war-on-iran-thats
LIKE CLOCKWORK. Trump was always going to do this attack.
"My last Substack predicting the war was only off by 72 hours.
Lev Parnas said its was his reality show and the two weeks was a ploy. Turned out to be true.
If Trump thinks this is one and done he is fooling himself.
This war has only just begun."
~ Malcolm Nance
"Donald Trump’s decision to order airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities yesterday evening represents one of the most dangerous and reckless foreign policy and military gambits in recent American history. It was a devastating blow to our international credibility and a violation of the War Powers Act."
~ Mark Mansour
https://mmansour.substack.com/p/trump-takes-us-into-the-unknown
"The recent bombing ordered by Trump—justified as preemptive defense against Iran's nuclear ambitions—can be traced back to evangelical dispensationalist theology, which holds that Israel’s geopolitical security and dominance are essential precursors to the second coming of Christ."
~ Jemar Tisby
#Trump #Iran #war #dispensationalism #evangelicals
/9
https://jemartisby.substack.com/p/bombs-for-the-apocalypse-ted-cruz
"What’s good for Trump isn't necessarily what’s good for America — or the world."
~ Robert Reich
"If you live in the United States, you are in greater jeopardy today than you were six months ago. So is your family. So are your friends and neighbors."
~ David Rothkopf
And not just the United States….
https://newrepublic.com/article/196860/trump-unexpected-crisis-national-security
"Trump is unpopular. His agenda is repulsive. And the Republicans who abet him want to follow him like automatons, but the stink of failure easily unmoors them.
He’s seeking a way to restore his veneer of being impervious to dissent."
~ Jason Sattler
https://thecause.substack.com/p/trumps-war-on-iran-is-illegal-and
"If I was now in the MAGA camp — and I talk to a lot of people there — I know there's a lot of ambivalent feelings. Some of them are very upset. A person who tends to email me every time I write an article criticizing Trump just emailed me minutes before I got on the show here with you saying that he's devastated and that he feels completely betrayed. Because a lot of these people genuinely did not want to see more wars."
~ Trita Parsi
https://thelefthook.substack.com/p/trump-joins-israels-war-with-iran
"They genuinely believed that this was a candidate that would deliver that to them. And they generally are against these wars because they have paid a higher price for America's war than most liberal-leaning congressional districts in the United States have because they send more soldiers to the front lines than blue states tend to do."
"It's worth remembering that this is a war of aggression started by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a criminal who is massively unpopular in his own country."
~ Rebecca Solnit
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #war
/15
"A few short comments:
As the NYTimes declared, 'The US has entered Israel’s war on Iran.'
As Scott Schapiro of Yale Law School commented, 'I’ll say it again. It was a huge mistake for Congress to abolish itself.'
United States Constitution, Article I, Sec. 8, Clause 11: '[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To declare War.'
Everything Trump says is a lie."
~ Robert B. Hubbell
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/sunday-comments-open-c4c
"Last night, Trump bombed three nuclear sites in Iran.
In the wake of these events, there has been little to no discussion of the theological motives behind all this. But theology matters, and it may be what tipped the scales in favor of attacking Iran."
~ Diana Butler Bass
Bass then points to the recent text of Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel, telling Trump he was spared by God to be the "most consequential" president ever.
#Trump #Iran #war #evangelicals
/17
https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/war-and-prophetic-ecstasy
Mike Huckabee is an ordained Southern Baptist minister who buys into the very modern, untraditional (and, many would say, completely aberrant) notion that Israel has a special role to play in ushering in the end times — and Israel must be supported at all cost and without any criticism by true-believing Christians.
This notion is powerful in US evangelicalism and the MAGA movement.
Bass writes,
"While the rest of us are trying to discern signs of fascism, many American are discerning the 'signs of the times.'
We think Hitler. They think Jesus. We think of the innocent suffering. They think of the final judgment. We pray for peace. They believe that the Prince of Peace is returning with a sword.
That's how completely far apart the narrative worlds are."
"Trump swept into office amid promises of peace. But now that he’s got power, he’s wholly disinterested in upholding his promises. He views himself as completely unaccountable to anyone and everyone, because that’s what autocrats do. And now the United States is being dragged into another war at the hands of an autocrat drunk on power."
~ Brian Tyler Cohen
https://plus.briantylercohen.com/p/trump-plunges-the-us-into-a-new-war
"None of this had to happen. In 2015, President Obama—together with China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union—signed a deal with Iran that would’ve prevented the country from developing nuclear weapons. …
But that deal was ended in 2018 by Trump."
~ Dean Obeidallah
https://deanobeidallah.substack.com/p/trump-did-not-end-wars-he-just-dragged
"The big reality is that wars don’t end just because you say they do or you want them to. They’re inherently unpredictable and have impacts which play into the future in ways you can’t control. Donald Trump has taken us right into the center of a major war with a major regional power, albeit one that is for the moment on its knees militarily."
~ Josh Marshall
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-few-thoughts-on-trumps-bombing-raid
"When he was elected, Donald Trump suggested he could hammer out a new relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister who was used to getting his way with the White House. But after just over 150 days in office, it appears Trump has fallen into the same trap as his predecessors – and launched the most consequential strike on Iran in generations."
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #war
/23
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/22/trump-falls-into-the-netanyahu-trap-israel-iran-us
"Trump’s Presidency is failing and unpopular, and he had to do something. Elon attacked and emasculated him, and made him weak and stupid. Global leaders are not bending the knee, and there has been no 90 trade deals in 90 days. Putin is treating him like a coffee boy, and Zelensky has made him look like a clown."
~ Simon Rosenberg
"His economic policy is slowing the economy down in every country in the world including the US, has caused our credit to go through an unprecedented downgrade, and the American people have figured out this budget bill will make their lives worse (as it will). All across the country local news organizations are reporting on how his cuts and plans will do harm to their communities. He keeps losing in court, badly."
"The Vatican elected an American cardinal who has been very critical of his Administration. He had to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia home. No one showed up for his sad birthday parade. His ugliness has spawned what appears to be the biggest protest movement in American history. His immigration enforcement escalation has backfired. His intel community has called bullshit on his claims of Iran’s nuclear progress."
"The idea that we are getting bogged down in yet another war in the Middle East, after having finally and painfully exited two protracted wars in the region earlier this century, is stomach turning. That it came from a president who promised 'no more wars' is a deep betrayal to many of his most ardent followers, though they are unlikely to ultimately abandon him over it.
They are, after all, in a cult."
~ Jay Kuo
"Once the rush of excitement among his base over the massive display of U.S. firepower recedes, and the reality sets in around what yet another war really means for our country, Trump will be more heavily burdened politically than before. The anti-war candidate will be a wartime president, and his MAGA coalition could begin to fracture."
"Trump's military parade failed to give him the psychological fulfillment he sought, and so Bibi Netanyahu was able to sell him on an illegal invasion of Iran that would fill that need instead."
~ Marcy Wheeler
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #war #MAGA
/29
https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/06/22/when-hegemons-backslide/
"By refusing to alert Democratic lawmakers of the attack — by violating not just the War Powers Act (which has become a three decade habit) but also the National Security Act — Trump launched this war as an attack on democracy, both on the Democratic Party as the legitimate opposition but also on Congress as a coequal brach of power, as much as on Iran."
@wdlindsy And what's ANYONE going to do about it but define the problem and maybe scream a little? I'm very serious, not being rhetorical and wanting some real answers.