The Trump Presidency 2.0

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Creating a vacuum is literally the goal. Just like with Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, and Lebanon.

Yea but the vacuum in this case is bombing the entire area. That hasn't happened before. They have to shut it down at this point.

[Flasch186]

Anyone seen Edward around? I know that there’s a project 2025 tracker but man if someone could run his predictions and crap through ai it might yield incredibly entertaining results. Sad and entertaining.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Anyone seen Edward around? I know that there’s a project 2025 tracker but man if someone could run his predictions and crap through ai it might yield incredibly entertaining results. Sad and entertaining.

He was a bot.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Yea but the vacuum in this case is bombing the entire area. That hasn't happened before. They have to shut it down at this point.

That is what happens when you hastily bomb a sovereign country that can fight back a little.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

That is what happens when you hastily bomb a sovereign country that can fight back a little.

Agreed. Look back through my recent post history and you can probably see my thoughts on the issue pretty easily. But again, we have reached a point here where they probably need to stop this shit by force. Trump says we yada yada greatest blah blah. Now is the time.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by dubb93

Agreed. Look back through my recent post history and you can probably see my thoughts on the issue pretty easily. But again, we have reached a point here where they probably need to stop this shit by force. Trump says we yada yada greatest blah blah. Now is the time.

I am sure they are trying. Lot of moving parts in the region. Kind of why it is dumb to go to war with them in the first place.

[GrantDawg]

Several USAF F-15's crashed this morning in Kuwait. All the crews safely bailed out. It is bailed out. It looks like it was a friendly fire incident.


Edit: It was 3 planes shot down by Kuwait air defenses.

[flere-imsaho]

This was a great post:

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Some of you are going to have to accept that while Trump is bad, Biden was such a disaster on foreign policy that even bad decisions by Trump are going to be an enormous improvement over the status quo here. There was no plan for this war besides funneling money to defense contractors until Ukraine ran out of troops.

[JPhillips]

I wonder if we'll ever learn the extent to which AI targeting was involved with the F-15 hits.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Anyone seen Edward around? I know that there’s a project 2025 tracker but man if someone could run his predictions and crap through ai it might yield incredibly entertaining results. Sad and entertaining.

I'm guessing he got his doge check and retired.

[bhlloy]

Working for FAANG with significant customers and interests in the region, this is an utter shitshow. I know nothing about the global economy really in the grand scheme of things, but unless we can somehow stop Iran indiscriminately bombing our allies across the region in the next 24 hours it’s hard to see how this isn’t the thing that tips the entire world economy into the recession we’ve all been expecting.

[JPhillips]

When even Erik Prince thinks the operation is a bad idea...

[Danny]

I imagine this will be his most unpopular action of his presidency to date. Even Fox news website isnt as full of praise as typical

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

This was a great post:

Biden spent the past couple of years killing hundreds of thousands of women and children. He had a 50 year career in politics being subservient to every wish Israel had. Voted for every disastrous war in the Middle East. Harris ran on being tough on Iran and touting Netanyahu talking points.

I don't get what you're arguing. The Democrats support this war. Their only complaint is not being given a heads up. I did think Trump would cut off the money spigot to Ukraine but it seems like each time he gets close some natural gas oligarch gets in his ear and tells him we need to keep going.

When it comes to foreign policy, it's a uniparty.

[Lathum]

How do you know Democrats support this? Other than Fetterman I haven't heard anyone endorse it, and since Trump is breaking the law by not getting congressional approval we don't know where they stand.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Lathum

How do you know Democrats support this? Other than Fetterman I haven't heard anyone endorse it, and since Trump is breaking the law by not getting congressional approval we don't know where they stand.

Because of the statements they have put out. Schumer came out and said he supported it but was upset he wasn't notified in advance. Same with Jeffries. If they don't speak for the party, maybe they should be removed from their leadership positions?

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Lathum

How do you know Democrats support this? Other than Fetterman I haven't heard anyone endorse it, and since Trump is breaking the law by not getting congressional approval we don't know where they stand.

Is Trump breaking the law on this? I thought the War Power Resolution of 1973 gave the President a 60 day free trial on a war.

[RainMaker]

I will say that for as incompetent as the U.S. military has been since WW2, I do think the 19 year old who enlisted out of desperation would be safer with an actual General in charge instead of an alcoholic Fox News TV host.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I will say that for as incompetent as the U.S. military has been since WW2, I do think the 19 year old who enlisted out of desperation would be safer with an actual General in charge instead of an alcoholic Fox News TV host.

Are you against lethalitymaxxing?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Several USAF F-15's crashed this morning in Kuwait. All the crews safely bailed out. It is bailed out. It looks like it was a friendly fire incident.

Edit: It was 3 planes shot down by Kuwait air defenses.

Just a cool $300 million down the drain.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Are you against lethalitymaxxing?

I prefer jesterlethalitymaxxing so we can mog that new Ayatollah and give him a cortisol spike.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Is Trump breaking the law on this? I thought the War Power Resolution of 1973 gave the President a 60 day free trial on a war.

It is my understanding that he is only allowed to do this under imminent threat.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Is Trump breaking the law on this? I thought the War Power Resolution of 1973 gave the President a 60 day free trial on a war.

There are no laws on this. We routinely violate our own laws (Symington Amendment) shipping weapons to the Middle East.

I feel like at this point we just have to admit that there are no rules.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Lathum

It is my understanding that he is only allowed to do this under imminent threat.

The problem always is in the definition of "imminent threat." It is the vagaries of these laws that Trump (and presidents before him) have used to circumvent any oversight. Who says what is "imminent" or really even a "threat"? How much of the threat does it need to be?


I think the bet in all this is that is they can pull something that looks like a "win" out of this, and it will not matter how much people disliked the decision to attack. And I promise you whatever the outcome they are going to try to sell it as a win. If nothing else, they will say "you aren't happy the Ayatollah is dead?" The same game they played with "Hey, you think it would be better if Sadam was still in power?"

[GrantDawg]

Now at 6 deaths, it seems they all have came from the base in Kuwait that took a hit. Those death go directly to the lack of planning and preperation to protect our soldiers in the region. Any chance for a "Bengazi" level investigation? Of course not.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

I prefer jesterlethalitymaxxing so we can mog that new Ayatollah and give him a cortisol spike.

A conversation that's likely taken place in the Hegseth pentagon.

[JPhillips]

We've discovered that a lot of things about the laws only matter if Congress is willing to enforce them. SCOTUS has made it clear that most issues are in the hands of Congress. So long as Congress allows the President to have unchecked powers, Presidents will take it.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Lathum

It is my understanding that he is only allowed to do this under imminent threat.

Which Rubio just defined as "we knew Iran would strike back at us if attacked so we had to attack them more intensely".

[RainMaker]

Iran is taking credit for many of the strikes but are adamant they did not bomb the Saudi oil fields. And it sounds like the Saudis are none too happy about things.

[GrantDawg]

Drones have hit the US Embassy in Riyadh.

[JPhillips]

What total nonsense.

MIKE JOHNSON: My understanding of the law is that the president is acting well within his authority. It's not a declaration of war. It's not required because it's defensive in design.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

What total nonsense.

It is absolutely insane the mental gymnastics they go through to let him get away with anything he wants to.

[JPhillips]

And this:

Marco Rubio: "We went proactively in a defensive way"

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Danny

I imagine this will be his most unpopular action of his presidency to date. Even Fox news website isnt as full of praise as typical

Even his VP is distancing.

A source familiar with the Vice President's thinking before the strikes on Iran tells @CBSNews that while the Vice President was personally against the strikes, if the strikes were to happen, he argued that the operation should 'go big' and 'go fast.'

A spokesperson for the Vice…

— Olivia Rinaldi (@olivialarinaldi) March 2, 2026

[RainMaker]

Heck, even Rubio is distancing himself by saying Israel forced their hand. 2028 race is going to be a fascinating exercise in these two distancing themselves from Trump without actually upsetting him.

[JPhillips]

Vance is such a clown. He's trying to position himself for any possible outcome. He wanted no strikes, but also they should be bigger.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Vance is such a clown. He's trying to position himself for any possible outcome. He wanted no strikes, but also they should be bigger.

This is all I can think of whenever he talks.

[JPhillips]

The whole admin could be Sunny characters. Hegseth is Dennis as the ski villain.

[Lathum]

Listening to some sound bytes this morning and is it just me or does Trump sound even more low energy than usual?

Sounds like a toy that has low batteries.

[Ghost Econ]

Reports that certain upper brass have been explaining the bombings as God's will and that this is bring doing to support Israel to bring forth the end times.... So basically it's like if scientologists decided to enact the plot of battlefield Earth in real life.

[Lathum]

It seems to me that if you had the entirety of what’s left of the Iranian government wanting to kill you staging yourself at a palm beach golf club isn’t the best idea.

[JPhillips]

The US Embassy in Israel is telling every American to leave, but the only help they can provide is the name of the bus going to Jordan.

[Ghost Econ]

So we can talk about the Epstein files again since the DOW is under $50k, right?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

What total nonsense.

Is it? What defines the President's authority?

And if you say the Constitution and the laws then you have not been paying attention as to how useless that document and those laws actually are.

[Atocep]

Markwayne Mullin going on Fox News and describing the smell of war despite never serving perfectly captures the current GOP

[Ghost Econ]

He's the little bitch who when asked says there was nothing wrong with January 6th but video shows him hiding under the chairs in the chamber.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Is it? What defines the President's authority?

And if you say the Constitution and the laws then you have not been paying attention as to how useless that document and those laws actually are.

Turns out we were using the honor system the whole time.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

He's the little bitch who when asked says there was nothing wrong with January 6th but video shows him hiding under the chairs in the chamber.

I believe he's also the one who said this isn't a war a couple of hours after Hegseth called it a war.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Turns out we were using the honor system the whole time.

It will be fascinating to observe the attempts to put honor back into the system.

[RainMaker]

The sad thing is the State Department for all its faults used to be pretty great when you traveled abroad. They would do a ton to help citizens in bad situations overseas. Part of it is all the cuts to the Department and part of it is just that they don't give a shit anymore. But a sad fall for a country that used to be respected overseas.


Now they just stab people I guess.