Bombing Iran and making big holes in their nuclear weapons development program was probably the most rational act that 47 has done so far. Except for a couple of things: First, he refused to continue negotiations on a deal to limit Iran's program so that it would pull back on nuclear weapons peaceably and unilaterally. He didn't want to pay any prices for that.
But in fact he did: He bombed the nuclear facilities that he refused to negotiate to originally prevent. So we all paid for it, in a sense. And because the job's not finished, it didn't work the way he intended. We may keep paying.
The old Jimmy Carter philosophy of showing respect for other nations, prestigious or not, has disappeared with Barack Obama, whose bargaining ostensibly delayed Iran's nuclear program for 15 years (before the monster took over and wiped it out). But something he and his clueless Defense Secretary, Pete (Tattoo) Hegseth said afterwards that caught my attention, but no other commentators, amazingly.
47 did to Iran what Israel did to Iraq in 1981: it bombed its nuclear research and development facility. After the hand-wringing of several too-little-too-late Democrats (and one Republican, Thomas Massie, who's been written off as somewhere off the wall long ago), and conveniently ignoring the authority Congress gave Joe Biden to use his powers to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the dust has settled on 47's decision: Probably necessary. Military and/or commando repercussions? We will see. Those attacked, if not completely obliterated, play long games and have elephantitis of the memory.
All this for something that was deemed necessary, but ineffectively addressed. The fact-finders that enter the fray after bluster has been obligatorily spewed have concluded that Iran's nuclear development has been taken for a step backwards, all right, but for a few months only. Iran built the facility way the hell underground to prevent a 'bunker buster' such as 47 had planned.
That's not the only thing that's bothering me, though. Congress sounds like the wee little piggy far too often now, the Republicans having jettisoned any vestige of investigatory or oversight powers after pledging, one at a time and one event at a time, undying fealty to this monster in exchange for not having to run in primaries. (Yes. He's still a monster. One decision which might actually have a good outcome does not make him prescient or wise. It just makes him lucky. Don't forget his disgusting overreach concerning the border.)
What bothers me is what he and his also quite twisted Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, had to say in announcing the attack on Iran. Both, in effect, prayed out loud, calling on their god to justify their actions.
They beseeched their almighty, and quite openly at that. No commentator has made a point of noting that.
Mentioning god? Yes. Presidents have all done it. Franklin Roosevelt prayed aloud over the radio in urging the D-Day soldiers and sailors forward, so 47 can always get a briefing by one of his sycophants who'll likely tell him about it. But as in nearly all things he's ever said, 47 is being, once again, disingenuous.
In all likelihood, he's calling out to his base, many of whom honestly believe that their god arranged, somehow (never mind elections), to rule their country in this, their time of greatest need (again nonsense). He is, also, probably trying to bond with Israelis in saying, in effect, that their 'promised land' has been saved for another day and other attacks.
No greater, or worse, depiction of Christian nationalism has yet existed. An action of government has been directly connected to divine intervention, and that of war besides. It will be utilized again, I'm guessing, when he attacks someone else for some other reason.
Lots of books have now been written about this complete nonsense; not nearly enough on how too much of the public has been taken for a ride by it. The only thing left for 47 (and Hegseth, a true believer) to do is keep reinforcing it whenever conflict either happens or is imminent. Count on it: 47 will call on his semblance of the almighty to get the minions to pray for him or an expected outcome.
Nobody that I've read in the New York Times, Washington Post, or any other periodical have called him out on this. It's the same mentality that liberals have used from when hints of this dangerous phenomenon began, perhaps 50 years ago: Don't challenge it and maybe it will go away. How's that strategy working?
And has it been evoked so often so that it doesn't deserve special mention anymore? Not if it's been thoroughly discussed to this point. Which it hasn't.
Ignoring the camel's nose in the tent, inserted long ago with the Christian Coalition's support of Ronald Reagan, has allowed it to enter and crap all over the rest of us. It is all around us, oozing its way into our thinking despite our efforts to ignore and dismiss it.
An author whom I've read recently, Katharine Stewart, has put it quite well: "The separation of church and state is a good idea--and we should try it."
Christian nationalism is more than a fad which will rise and fall with the market or the public's cultural tastes. It's more like an attachable mania, a frenzy or delirium that chases logic down the road. It underwrites why Republicans in Congress can't budge without invoking Daddy 47 anymore. It is why they don't even make public statements unless asked by reporters, whom they dodge endlessly before ducking into private elevators (at the Capitol). The fear is here and it has taken hold. It is no longer discussed in trepidation that someone important, someone vital, will awaken out of their stupor. The reason is someone's god.
This will not make things better. It will make things worse and far more dangerous. If 47 can get away with evoking someone's idea (certainly not his; he's faking this, too) of a deity that goes along with destroying some other country, based on their own idea of religious fundamentalism, he will take that to its ultimate realization. It will justify a nuclear attack.
He has made the unthinkable thinkable on other things that people have relied on: Why not shatter our belief that the United States would never stage a nuclear attack on someone else without direct provocation, without even a direct or obvious threat? Why not justify it by saying that a god told 47 to attack Iran?
By Thanksgiving--they said a few months, so I'll take the license--Iran is likely to have recovered, say the analysts. What then? The token missile attack that followed the 'bunker buster' was, it says here, a ruse. It will divert our public's attention, as if the outrageous 'big, beautiful bill' currently being discussed didn't go a good enough job of it. Trust this: They are planning something we have never seen before in retribution, be it cyber or an alliance with another unfriendly power or something else.
We have that ahead of us. Do not give up on demonstrating, on protesting, on taking on those whose minds have been bent out of proportion by a sinister huckster with aims at world domination--only for himself. It's too dangerous of a world now. We can no longer walk away from it.
Be well. Be careful. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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