"Screw negotiations. Screw soft power like USAID and VOA. Screw partnering with allies. What matters most to them is making the biggest booms. ...

If you can’t answer 'What is my ultimate goal?' and estimate the cost of achieving it, then all the big booms are useless if not counterproductive."

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #PerformativeMasculinity #violence #arrogance #hubris
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"Trump and Hegseth seem to be in love with what they think of as their Big Boy Toys. Supreme excellence in their minds seems to be blowing things up better than anyone else can blow things up. We can blow up more things than anyone else. We can blow things into smaller pieces than anyone else can. We can blow up things from a greater distance than anyone else can."

~ Peterr

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war #PerformativeMasculinity #violence #arrogance #hubris
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emptywheel.net/2026/03/12/grea…

Great Tactics Mean Nothing if You Have No Strategy - emptywheel

Take it from Clausewitz or Sun Tzu or even Jesus of Nazareth: strategy matters. Too bad for all of us that Trump and Hegseth don't get this.

^{Peterr (emptywheel)}