144 Comments
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Lucian K. Truscott IV's avatar

"and seven to twelve combat supporting vessels" added to the sentence about the carrier strike groups.

shee-rah's avatar

I thought that the Strait was mined and that it would take six months to clear the mines. How will the vessels and their American escorts be able to pass through?

Lucian K. Truscott IV's avatar

Misspelled "putt" too. Shows you how familiar I am with golf.

Leigh Van Lydegraf's avatar

Putz can be used often when discussing Trump, also!

US Blues's avatar

Hasn’t it been a little over two months so far? Or am I missing something?

“…..2,000 ships that have been anchored on either side of the Strait since February 28, more than four months ago.”

Dick Montagne's avatar

It would be final pairs if they are pressed for time it might be threesomes, but play goes faster in pairs. And it’s been 2 months not 4, last week at some point was 60 days which was why the brillcream boy was on the hill. Every single one of his enablers is as loathsome as he is, they all reek like their clothes had been shit on by a diarrheatic dog.

Rick Hoff's avatar

I think Trump is putting American warships in harms way so he can unleash more bombs and justify it. He really doesn't care about the lives of the men and women on those ships, but he is sure looking for an excuse to bomb Iran and at the same time feel it is justified. He is just using the US navy as bait.

arne link's avatar

He is trying his best to get Iran to fire on our ships so that he can declare war and stop the midterm elections. Everything is focused on stopping the American people from voting.

Janet Robbins's avatar

When the so-called “safe passage” goes horribly wrong, look for him or the odious Hegseth to announce the equivalent of Marc Antony’s call: “cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.”

Dirk  Faegre's avatar

If Dumbo starts firing upon Iran, then Iran fires on the Gulf states; their desalination plants and power plants.

That clearly brings on global recession.

That brings worldwide unrest — everywhere.

And our pathetic Republican House & Senate will have to shoulder the blame.

It’s not like we don’t know what will happen if Dumbo goes ultra-stupid again.

Hang onto your hat Buttercup, looks like a rough ride ahead.

Kenneth Tiven's avatar

I disageree with " if Dumbo goes ultra-stupid again".... he has been consistently that way his entire life, an early adherenrt of. Dunning-Kruger adapted for Amercian commerce.

Mary Roeser's avatar

What do you mean, "if Dumbo goes ultra-stupid again"? When hasn't he been ultra-stupid? Seems to me he began life being ultra-stupid and 80 years later is still ultra-stupid with absolutely no breaks in the stupidity. Not one, not ever.

Lawrence Dietz's avatar

Doze two bozos would't know from Marc Antony, but maybe Mark Anthony, a baseball player who kicked around the minor leagues for a few years, a guy maybe as memorable as some of the players in "Bull Durham."

Kenneth Tiven's avatar

WW2 did not stop elections in America. But Trump, with experience in bankrupting so many different enterprises, is determined to eliminate what we call "we the people people democracy." There appear to be only cardboard guardrails keeping us from tumbling into the totalitarian abyss.

Lady Emsworth's avatar

I sincerely hope Iran holds back on giving trump any reason to declare "war" rather than "an excursion". The mid terms are the one chance we have of making trump and his enablers behave even a little better. And until we get back some power over the trump coterie, we are NEVER going to resolve the Iran problem.

celeste k.'s avatar

I hope you're right, and Iran sees this as a way to help us get rid of trump. Hard to hate the murderous Iranian guard more than trump. He's no better than they are. Hateful and murderous, except they are much smarter than he.

Lady Emsworth's avatar

Such a paradox.

OUR press, which we WOULD believe, won't tell the truth about trump - and if the Iranians did - we wouldn't believe them

Mary Roeser's avatar

Our own Agolf Shitler has managed to make the IRGC sympathetic.

Janet Wagner's avatar

What happened to the fact that shipping insurance companies have refused to back ships attempting to go through the Strait of Hormuz? Won't that affect the decision that boat captains have to make about taking Trump seriously on his so- called "safe" escorting offer?

Lady Emsworth's avatar

Please don't start asking sensible questions - as far as trump and his Merry Men are concerned, it's all just "Do what you want, when you want."

joannegucci's avatar

OMG! Just when you thought Thursday, was bad came Friday and guess what it was worse than Thursday and now it’s Sunday and it’s even worse than Thursday and Friday combined! Has tump found anyone to give him the codes? These soldiers are being sent to an ambush, can’t this be stopped somehow? 😰

KATHERINE H. TERHUNE's avatar

You said it perfectly and you end with the same question I keep asking… How do we stop this ASAP, like yesterday???!!?

I love your intro comparing one day to another, and then the other… Almost poetic…

Great post. Devastating topic.

joannegucci's avatar

Katherine, thank you! The one positive in this dilemma we’re all in, around the world, is the beautiful, wonderful connections caring people with & for each other💙

KATHERINE H. TERHUNE's avatar

Oh, Joanne, for sure!!! See, you’ve done it again! (as Jess Craven likes to say, as she closes her daily Chop Wood Carry Water posts!)

I like to cross pollinate from one Substack to another Substack when I notice information that relates, and it fits with my aim to stay current myself and to share anything I find that might be useful.

But I’m certainly no great source of factual information or of wisdom, with all that’s going on. I think I look for patterns more than anything else, and try to be encouraging… Which leads me to echo your sentiment, that the beautiful, wonderful connections of people caring with and for one another… It is quite a phenomenon. I’m not sure I’ve encountered anything like it anywhere else.

Ralph T.'s avatar

But Rick, doesn't that sound like some sort of actual plan, which seems well beyond the scope of the "world class genius" in charge? Maybe it's a bit more like a game of Whack a Mole.

Robert N Abernethy's avatar

Well let’s see;

little Donnie is an idiot.

Little Donnie is incompetent.

The Iranians hold all the cards.

The Iranians are basically reading little Donnie’s mail.

Little Donnie is supported by the 1/2 Pint, who is also incompetent & was told that by at least three Senators in a public Congressional hearing.

This war-on-a-whim has no positive outcome for the United States.

Little Donnie is an idiot.

Thanks again Lucian. Your reports are the most lucid thing about this clusterfuck.

bitchybitchybitchy's avatar

Little Donnie is a tool of Vlad

arne link's avatar

Why hasn't anyone mentioned his hour and a half chat with Putin before he said he would remove troops from Germany? Putin calls the shots with this dimwit.

Robert N Abernethy's avatar

Vlad the Impaler has Kompromat on the Felonious Pedophile-in-Chief.

We need the rest of the Trumpstein Files.

The evidence of his treason is buried in the mass of flight logs & e-mails.

A thorough forensic exam will reveal more than sexual predation. Tho that’s bad enough.

Ralph T.'s avatar

The fact that so much of the blatantly illegal activity from child rape to grift and stock manipulation is so out in the open and paper trailed points to a big reason for the whole bunch of them to stick together and hope to never leave office. Or perhaps there will be a blanket "Every Republican official" amnesty issued on the way out the door.

Robert N Abernethy's avatar

They believe that they’ll be in power forever (& maybe live forever).

Like all reactionary autocrats, they can’t conceive of the day the guillotine goes up in the Place de la Concorde & the Tribunal sends the cart & the guards.

Judith Swink (CA)'s avatar

As it was then named, Place de la Revolution. It's a giant space and must have been an incredible (and terrifying) sight with thousands of Parisians there and overflowing down side streets into the Place.

shee-rah's avatar

He wants to be the American Putin.

Leigh Van Lydegraf's avatar

That means he's to find someone that is dumber than he is...I have a Pet Rock from days gone by!

Judith Swink (CA)'s avatar

I've read this several times, mostly on substack, and heard it also, mostly on MSNOW.

BG Pete Chiefari's avatar

I'll second that! Absolutely!

Ransom Rideout's avatar

Exactly and doing a very good job of eliminating the US as any global defense agiainst Russia.and China. HIs Dacha awaits.

Christina Johnson's avatar

Lucian the Lucid…that’s who he is! Thank God for it. Often times I am exhausted by this missing link of humanity. It would be so helpful if Trump would just SHUT UP and find a grown up to clean up his mess. I know: keep dreaming!

Robert N Abernethy's avatar

We’re in this together.

I don’t like the odds.

There’s a person following him with the “Football.”

& the world shudders.

joannegucci's avatar

Feels so helpless, we’re doing all we can, but we’re not the ones with the levers! Sickening

joannegucci's avatar

OMG! Just when you thought Thursday, was bad came Friday and guess what it was worse than Thursday and now it’s Sunday and it’s even worse than Thursday and Friday combined! Has tump found anyone to give him the codes? These soldiers are being sent to an ambush, can’t this be stopped somehow? 😰

Robert N Abernethy's avatar

There are no grownups in this administration. & apparently none in the GOP.

We have to ride it out.

Doris Corea's avatar

If he gets voted in, the American people love being abused both mentally and physically! I for one DO NOT! Vote him out!

US Blues's avatar

Vote who out? Captain Befuddled Brain will never be on a US ballot for president again.

Ralph T.'s avatar

What ballot? At this destructive pace, 2028 is a long way off.

Doris Corea's avatar

I think it was fairly obvious that the subtext is…impeach him! Any idiot knows he can’t run again. I haven’t been around for 80 years for nothing!

joannegucci's avatar

Robert, So afraid you’re right, never doubted, thanks for your reply 💙

M3333's avatar

I worked with the US Department of Defense for 22 years and enjoyed my interactions with the smart and patriotic folks of our military. Unfortunately, the Orange POtuS and plastered Petey have turned this “war” into a FUBAR!!! Pray that we do not lose any more of our brave soldiers!!!

Judith Swink (CA)'s avatar

FUBAR is exactly the right word. And not the polite version....

Bill Corbett's avatar

What could go wrong, plenty. I served on an aircraft carrier 56 years ago and I'm damn glad I'm not on one now. If anything goes wrong the captain is blamed and loses his command not to mention any crew lives that may be lost on some stupid folly. He needs to go lay down with Rudy and embrace the afterlife.

Adam's avatar

"He needs to go lay down with Rudy and embrace the afterlife."

Oh BOY! That would be splendid!!! In the immortal words of Smokey Robinson, "I second that emotion!"

Bill Corbett's avatar

As an old "Smokey Robinson" fan, I love this.

Adam's avatar

Hahaha! Wait for it...

Jack Hassard's avatar

Donald Trump is dangerous, but more significantly, he takes pleasure in harming others, even entire nations. He’s a sadist, and he not only uses speech to harm others, but he stays up all night to tell us how he will harm others. He has no idea, as Lucian explains to us, what the hell he is doing, nor what he unleashed when he went to war against. Lucian has written about Iran's geography. I decided to follow up on his ideas and have looked at a variety of maps of Iran. Trump will put thousands of American soldiers at enormous risk. But he doesn't care. Remember, he's a sadist. He has no empathy and lacks any sense of humanity.

Kenneth Tiven's avatar

And let's not forget thjat the mainstream media in print and NBC in TV humored him for decades. Americans used to believe what they read and viewed. Too many still do believing only what agrees with their own hate and anger.

Buell Hollister's avatar

Trump, it has been pointed out, is in a state of full narcissistic collapse. He has - allegedly - already been diverted from using an atomic weapon by staff, but how long will that last? The first thing I look for every morning with dread is news that he has overcome the last line of resistance in the Pentagon and ordered a nuclear attack. I cannot imagine Hegseth standing in his way, especially if he thinks he'll go straight to heaven in an apocalypse. Tomorrow is another day after another poor night's sleep

Henry Cohen's avatar

The whole world is laughing at our certifiably demented and insane president because the Republicans in Congress want it to. They are responsible for allowing Trump to continue in power, and they are more culpable than he is, because most of them are not demented and insane but know what they are doing. No one has described Trump's pathology better than Ted Cruz did in 2016. Please watch all three minutes of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxnkfE6Y5iI

RJM's avatar

Thanks for the link, Henry Cohen. I think you will make many who read these comments amazed to like Tec Cruz for a few minutes and then mourn that he became such a spineless worm butt-kisser not long after the speech.

Henry Cohen's avatar

He is worse than a butt-kisser. He and his colleagues have killed 750,000 people by allowing Trump to illegally impound USAID appropriations. They have authorized ICE to assault and murder people with impunity. They are carrying on the war on Iraq.

Kenneth Tiven's avatar

King Charles did it with a scalpel the other day in Congress,.

Doris Corea's avatar

Donnie Boy loves only himself! He hasn’t an iota of respect for anyone else on this earth. The world is his board game! And he cheats! If he was playing a game with me and cheated on me, in my Jersey City behaviour I’d give him his comeuppance so he’d never forget & he’d think twice before doing it again!

No one does that now to him (& I mean more in a serious verbal way!)

His ilk needs serious reactions on the part of the American people. Vote the bloke out of office!! The numbers show the American people are disgusted with him and his selfish ways!! But then dear Mary Trump warned us in two of her books about his self centered & selfish behaviour!

Get with it says I to the American people or you’ll lose more than just your respect!! Go for it and help our country rise above the muck & mire this asshole of a president has created!! To sit on your hands will dirty them in more than one way!

Timothy Cooper's avatar

Mr. Truscott, you have laid this situation out thoroughly, concisely, and logically, and I thank you.

Of course, Trump is a very simple-minded (and addled) man (debatable) with an extremely simple-minded plan. In this 3D chess game he's not even in the room, much less the table. It'll be another bizarre plan tomorrow, accompanied by more threats.

And I find it very sophomoric and unpresidential to communicate to the world over social media

- Karen Cooper

Ed Weldon's avatar

When we get through this mess the people of the USA need to take a long hard look at our system of governance and how it has enabled this to happen.

Steven Dundas's avatar

Lucian,

I was tempted to write about this moronic action of Humpty Trumpty but I’ve been working on an article about our lawless Supreme Court. But thank you for writing this. Judy asked me earlier what Trump’s statement would do. I said very little as words are a lot easier than actually accomplishing the mission. But, what else would any thinking person understand with Trump on a golf course?

All the best and as always, watch your six.

Steve Dundas

Tom Twain's avatar

How has the U.S., a great country, managed to unleash such a deranged beast to prey upon us and the rest of the world? This is the same guy who pledged while running for office that he would be the "peace" president, America First, and keep us out of wars and being the world's policeman. The same guy who promised that he'd be far to busy running the country to go golfing. He has no idea what he's doing and his clown cabinet of idiots only enables him. He's going to go down in history as one of the worst mass murderers in history because of his careless actions.

MaryPat's avatar

Hiis (trump's) actions aren't "careless." They are deliberate. Just following Putin's orders, and continuing to con his own audience.

Ed Weldon's avatar

He's a liar. Don't trust liars. Or be a fool.

Lawrence Dietz's avatar

No Hollywood producer in his or her right mind would look at what you've written, Lucian, if it were laid out as a treatment, and say, I want to make that movie. Oh. wait a sec. Steve Bannon was a Hollywood producer before he turned to geopolitics. One thing about the next time the docs test T***p. They keep proving he can tell the difference between a bear and a giraffe, but can he tell the difference between a giraffe and the mast of a U.S. Navy ship?

Adam's avatar
May 4Edited

Is he able to discern his hand from his ass and more importantly, his ass from a hamburder?

shee-rah's avatar

First he’d have to pull his head out of his ass.

Adam's avatar
May 4Edited

Imagine William Shatner 'Shatnerizing' the dialog like this: "But wait! You're wrong! He can't pull it out. He likes it in there! You hear that? That abominable sound? Do you hear it?"

Whispers - "He's grazing!"

Cheryl Towers's avatar

I attended my grandson’s graduation today, and the speaker spoke of noble things. We had three full hours of joy and uplifting words. Then the reality of “outside” intruded and it’s sickening. The dogs of war will have a field day.