"Even though the truth was often more complicated, they cast U.S. troops as liberators bringing democracy and freedom to those living under tyranny and oppression.

Mr. Hegseth has largely dispensed with that talk. His bellicose, at times vengeful, rhetoric reflects his belief that the United States’ lofty goals in Iraq and Afghanistan" (continued in /3)

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/2

(continued from /2)

"caused the military to lose focus on its main task, killing the enemy, and led to costly defeats in both wars.

In his view, the U.S. military’s strength is not rooted in its high ideals, humanity or moral purpose, but rather its ability to punish adversaries. Anything that distracts from that singular mission, he has said, is weakness."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/3

"Never has any party in power shown such gloating bloodlust as Trump and his dimwitted amoral ideologues are, with their infernal infotainment.

On TikTok and X they are peddling short videos romanticizing the war, glorifying cruelty."

~ Gene Weingarten

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/4

geneweingarten.substack.com/p/…

War Porn

In the 1960s, there was no shortage of pro-war propaganda in the United States aimed at young men, even in comic books — but not the image above or anything quite so nakedly and revoltingly … political.

^{gene weingarten (The Gene Pool)}

"War is BOOM BOOM, death raining from the sky, hell wrought on others from thousands of miles away by American soldiers with joysticks. The mangled bodies are not seen. They must be presumed."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/5

"Now that Trump has his war, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with it. He appears to have had no plans in place for either the future or Iran or protection for the straits of Hormuz. Instead, the White House account on Twitter is posting videos that equate war with video games or football."

~ Joyce Vance

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/6

joycevance.substack.com/p/thur…

Thursday in America

Justice Amy Coney Barrett was in conversation with the Chief Justice’s Counselor, Judge Robert M.

^{Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance)}

As Aaron Parnas notes, Trump just posted the following on his Truth Social outfit:

"I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so."

War, wielding weapons, killing others with big booms, makes tiny men imagine they're big ones.

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/7

aaronparnas.substack.com/p/new…

NEWS: Trump Underestimated Iran's Willingness to Close Strait of Hormuz, Pentagon Lashes Out at Media, Trump Says it is an "Honor" to Kill Iranians

Good morning everyone.

^{Aaron Parnas (The Parnas Perspective)}

As Aaron Rupar says, Peter Thiel's pal Alex Karp, Palantir CEO, loves the macho bluster of Trump's war, as he proclaims:

"What makes America special right now is our lethal capacities. Our ability to fight war."

The techbros, the broligarchy, are all in on the brutality, lethality, cruelty, and want credit for its technological base.

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/8

bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrh…

Greg Olear notes that David Ignatius says Trump has now taken us over the waterfall:

"I think up until this point, all of the stuff that Trump has done, while horrifying and awful, is also reversible, with the right leadership in place, over time. This is not."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #Russia #Putin
/9

gregolear.substack.com/p/rambl…

Ramble On: Over the Waterfall

Morning thoughts on the Iran war, the Iraq war, and the end of American empire.

^{Greg Olear (PREVAIL by Greg Olear)}

"This completely changes the trajectory of the country and the world. And it helps Russia, of course, because everything Trump does helps Russia, as I’ve been saying for almost 10 years now."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #Russia #Putin
/10

"The reverberations of Trump’s illegal war reached America’s shores on Thursday in three separate attacks. Although the facts are still developing, it appears that the attacks were carried out by terrorists responding to the US war on Iran." Number one:

"The first attack targeted a Jewish synagogue, Temple Israel, in Detroit (West Bloomfield), Michigan."

Robert B. Hubbell

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #antisemitism #islamophobia
/11

roberthubbell.substack.com/p/t…

Trump’s war reaches America’s shores

March 13, 2026

^{Robert B. Hubbell (Today's Edition Newsletter)}

Then:

"In a second incident, a terror suspect entered a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) class at Old Dominion University and opened fire, killing Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, an ROTC instructor.

And:

"Finally, a hacker group linked to Iran infiltrated the computer systems of a US-based medical company."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #antisemitism #islamophobia
/12

"A stupid war started by a stupid man for stupid reasons not even he can figure out.

This war will go down in history. So will the man who started it, as the biggest loser of this century."

~ Lucian K. Truscott

#Trump #Iran #war
/13

luciantruscott.substack.com/p/…

Iran’s war of pinpricks that bleed gallons

The wars carried out by the United States against Iraq and Afghanistan are not perfectly analogous to Trump’s war on Iran, but they are close enough.

^{Lucian K. Truscott IV (Lucian Truscott Newsletter)}

"We should face the honest, painful truth. It took America 20 tortured years, an unspeakable death toll, and finally the image of desperate people climbing toward helicopters on an embassy roof to acknowledge the bitter reality that our nation had lost a war."

~ Will Bunch

#Trump #Iran #war #Vietnam
/14

inquirer.com/opinion/iran-war-…

It took U.S. years to lose a war in Vietnam. Trump lost one in days.

It's increasingly clear that Trump's war of choice in Iran has failed spectacularly. America learned nothing from past war failures.

^{Will Bunch (The Philadelphia Inquirer)}

"Today, it’s clear after less than two weeks there won’t even be a premature 'Mission Accomplished' banner for Trump’s and Benjamin Netanyahu’s irrational gambit in Iran. Victory is unattainable, and arguably we have lost a war."

#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #war #Vietnam
/15

"Trump, in his latest spiral, just tried to rebrand soaring gas prices as a good thing.

'The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,' he wrote on Truth Social.

Who is 'we?' I’ll tell you who it’s not: the voters who put this guy in office."

~ Brian Tyler Cohen

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA
/16

plus.briantylercohen.com/p/tru…

Trump's Soaring Gas Prices are a "Good Thing" for Anyone but You

Trump claims “we” stand to make a ton of money off the war in Iran. But the “we” does not include you.

^{Brian Tyler Cohen}

"Trump isn’t even trying to hide it anymore. When he says 'we' make a lot of money, he means oil executives, and he means himself. Because that’s all Trump cares about. How he can put more money in his own pocket and deliver a payout for his billionaire cronies."

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/17

"According to petroleum analyst, Patrick DeHaan, Americans today will spend roughly $250 million more on gasoline than they did 30 days ago. That’s over $1.5 billion per week."

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/18

The Bulwark today headlines its morning report: "Trump to America: Thank Me for Your Gas Bill." Andrew Egger writes:

"[Trump's statement about how *we* benefit from higher gas prices is] an illustration of the exact mindset that led Trump to do so much damage to the U.S. economy even before the war:"

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/19

thebulwark.com/p/trump-to-amer…

Trump to America: Thank Me for Your Gas Bill

Higher prices = more money, according to the president.

^{William Kristol (The Bulwark)}

(continued from /19)

"his insistence that tuning the economy to the benefit of a few favored producers is a victory, even if it harms the vast majority of consumers."

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #prices #affordability #economy #MAGA #billionaires #oligarchy #EconomicElites
/20

"Oil prices have surged, and one of the biggest beneficiaries so far has been Russia. According to reporting from the Financial Times, Moscow could be earning up to $150 million per day in additional revenue due to the global energy shock triggered by the conflict. Analysts estimate Russia has already gained between $1.3 billion and $1.9 billion in additional oil revenue as demand for its crude rises."

~ Ben Meiselas

#Trump #Putin #Iran #war #oil #gas #Russia
/21

meidasplus.com/p/friday-aftern…

Friday Afternoon Updates: Reality Gets in the Way of Trump's Lies — 3/13/26

It’s Friday, we’ve made it to the end of the week.

^{Ben Meiselas (Meidas+)}

"This is Trump’s Derp State in action, an administration full of people who are not only ignorant and stupid, but believe that anyone who knows what they’re doing or tries to anticipate problems that might arise is a traitor to the cause. This is not something unique in history; authoritarian regimes are often characterized by the way they elevate idiots to positions of power."

~ Paul Waldman

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #authoritarianism #idiocy
/22

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/wel…

Welcome to the Derp State

The dumbest president, surrounded by the dumbest people, making the dumbest mistakes.

^{Paul Waldman (The Cross Section)}

"The White House’s videos mixing football hits with bombing footage tell us: We have some twisted people running this country."

~ Michael Tomasky

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #cruelty #lethality #death #destruction #violence #PerformativeMasculinity
/23

newsletter.tnr.com/index.php?a…

War and football? What kind of sick mind thinks that video is cool?

Fighting Words. What got me...

^{newsletter.tnr.com}

"Fox News and Newsmax are doing their best Baghdad Bob impersonation to downplay the incredible surge in gas prices Americans have faced since President Donald Trump launched his war on Iran. Fox and Newsmax personalities are urging their viewers to accept spiking gas prices as a patriotic 'sacrifice' to take on Iran, and are claiming that prices will come back down quickly."

~ Zachary Pleat

#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #FoxNews #Newsmax
/24

mediamatters.org/fox-news/trum…

Trump boosters tell Fox and Newsmax viewers to accept spiking gas prices as a "sacrifice" for his war against Iran

^{Media Matters for America}

"Trump’s gift to Vladimir Putin to get his own ass out of the sling is both a huge concession to Russia and an unmistakeable admission that the economic reverberations from the elective war in Iran are having acute downstream political effects on Trump and Republicans in an election year."

~ David Kurtz

#Trump #Putin #Iran #war #oil #gas #Russia
/25

morningmemo.talkingpointsmemo.…

Trump Bails Out Russia to Save His Own Hide

INSIDE: JD Vance ... John Brennan ... Nathan Cavanaugh

^{David Kurtz (Morning Memo)}