THE MEMORIAL DAY SURRENDER

There are 161 days to the mid terms.

For all those who have been worried for the past couple days that Trump was about to start his war up again, the lesson here is pay attention to announcements from people who know what they’re talking about. Friday - in the midst of all the blather about a renewed war - the Iranians announced there was a breakthrough that could lead to a ceasefire and the reopening of the Straits of Hormuz. Saturday, Trump confirmed that when he announced that a deal with Iran was “largely negotiated” and would include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; this came following a phone call with leaders from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Pakistan and Türkiye concerning Iran. Posting on Lies Anti-Social, he said: “Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly. In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.” Trump also referenced a conversation with Nitwityahoo, which he said “went very well.” (Sane people report that the Nitwit call was “highly contentious” - if Nitwit ends his “war,” he’s back in court for his frauds) He ended saying he will discuss the latest Iran draft agreement with advisers and might make a decision on whether to resume the war by Sunday, saying: “Either we reach a good deal or I’ll blow them to a thousand hells. We’re going to have a situation where no country will ever be hit as hard as they’re about to be hit.” Iran said gaps remain between the parties, and the dispute over its nuclear program would not be part of the initial talks. This is despite Trump’s many statements that any deal that did not have Iran giving up its nuclear program “forever” at the outset was “unacceptable.” It is likely that the conversation with the Middle East allies has revealed he has no support for such action, and that he is about to lose basing rights in the Gulf countries, which has been rumored. Trump also spoke with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, whose office said he had told Trump he supports “all initiatives aimed at containing the crisis through dialogue and diplomacy.” In answer to Trump’s bellicosity, Iranian Chief negotiator Ghalibaf said: “Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war.” What is likely is an agreement that opens Hormuz that Trump can point to without mentioning the details of his surrender, with an announcement of “further talks” regarding nuclear issues. He is desperate for some way to declare “victory” and get out of his Complete Fuckup.

Whatever Trump says about returning to active warfare, he knows that 71% of Americans disapprove of what he has done with his “War.” He knows that news like that coming from a new round of polling from CNN that shows 61 percent of Americans have changed their grocery purchases in the last several months to stay within budget. Another 59 percent have cut back on entertainment. Majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents all say they’re feeling it. The problem is that his incompetence leaves him unable to deal successfully with either.

Secretary of War Crimes Hogsbreth reassured West Point cadets in a commencement address on Saturday that they would be protected by the White House if they ever make decisions that get them into trouble. Breaking from the tradition of keeping graduation addresses at military institutions nonpartisan, he spent much of his speech ranting about previous Democratic administrations before urging cadets to disregard previous rules of engagement in combat. “No matter what, President Trump and I will have your back when tough decisions are made, especially decisions made in a split second in the heat of battle that air-conditioned offices in Washington, D.C., will never have. Understand, your hands are untied.” (Until 2028) He railed against “lawyers” and suggested the only authority that matters is “commanders,” telling the cadets they will have “top cover” when they “prioritize lethality over likability.” “No more walking on eggshells,” he said.

Heather Cox Richardson has pointed out an important fact about the Arc d’Trump, which Dilbert is currently building for an opening on July 4. She points out: “The proposed arch obscures the Lincoln Memorial, built to honor the president who steered the country safely through the Civil War, but perfectly frames Arlington House, the mansion built by enslaved Americans and once owned by Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The arch does not frame the nation’s honored dead, but frames instead the home of the man who led the armies of the Confederacy that killed them.” I’m certain - given that Trump is doing everything he can to revive the Confederacy and its white supremacist vision of America - that this design was purposeful. God, it’s be great to see this thing come down like a Saddam Statue on January 20, 2029, commencing at 12:01 pm that day. The day we begin eradicating every sign of the traitor’s presence in the capital city.

David Frum has all the reasons why Trump is now negotiating the surrender of the Uniterd States in his war. And - surprise surprse - they’re all due to his flaws as a human being. I’ll quote at length:

“Trump started the February 28 war for reasons of personality, not strategy. He is on his way to losing the war for the same reasons of personality.

“Trump is arrogant. Think how often Trump mocks his predecessors as “dumb” and praises himself as “smart.” Those predecessors, from Jimmy Carter through Ronald Reagan to Joe Biden, all had to ponder military responses to Iranian terrorism and aggression. They all ultimately decided not to wage a major war against Iranian national territory. Among the prime deterrents to action: the Strait of Hormuz problem. Trump apparently decided that a problem that was too hard for everybody else would magically disappear for him, because he is tough and growls in his official photographs.

“Trump is reckless. Trump is not a plan-ahead guy. He plunges into desperate adventures without any clear end game in mind. What really was Trump’s plan on January 6, 2021? After Mike Pence was seized by rioters and forced at gunpoint to recite the magic words Trump wanted him to say, what was supposed to happen then? The 81 million American majority who’d voted against Trump in 2020 would submit? The military, CIA, and FBI would follow blatantly illegal orders? In 2021, Trump provoked violence and hoped it would all somehow work out. He followed the same approach again in 2026.

“rump hates procedure. A lot of the apparatus of the modern presidency exists to force confrontations with unwelcome realities. Cabinet officers are confirmed by the Senate to assure the country that major offices are filled by people of character and competence. The National Security Council is supposed to process challenging data to ensure that the president receives necessary information. But to run the Department of Defense, Trump nominated and the Senate approved Pete Hegseth. Instead of choosing a national security adviser to replace Mike Waltz after Waltz’s resignation on May 1, 2025, Trump tapped Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take on the role. But to double up that particular job dooms the job not to be done at all, especially because Trump has shriveled the NSC’s staff and subjected it to loyalty tests demanded by his most screwball supporters.

“Trump is panicky. For all his bluster and boasting, Trump cannot take the heat. Presidents who believe in their decisions ride out bad polls. Trump panics and reverses course. Trump has been signaling since mid-March that he wants an end to the Iran war at almost any price. The Iranians have read those signals. For all the damage the U.S. military inflicted on Iran, the Iranians seem to have gambled that they could outlast Trump. They’ve been proven right.

“Trump is gullible. As Trump’s present secretary of state observed back in 2016, Trump is most fundamentally a con artist. But Trump is often a self-defeating con artist who falls victim to his own con. Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” from Iran. Instead, he’s negotiating an exit that concedes most of Iran’s demands and leaves Iran in a more dominant position over Persian Gulf oil traffic than it occupied before the war. But Trump seems genuinely to have convinced himself that he’s won a mighty victory, and he seems truly baffled that others decline to endorse his flim-flam.

“Trump can’t lead. Trump’s method of governance is command. He cannot work across party lines, and he cannot speak to any part of the American nation beyond his MAGA base. A war leader, however, must be a national leader. War imposes costly sacrifices. Leaders who take the nation to war must explain those costs and inspire those sacrifices. Trump simply cannot do any of that work, and he has no idea how it could be done.

“Trump’s vision of the presidency is authoritarian and kleptocratic: Issue orders, grab money, luxuriate in flattery, erect monuments to oneself. That’s no way to lead a nation through the hazards and difficulties of war. Now the war is ending on disadvantageous terms for the United States. Trump’s old methods will be turned to a new task: trying to deceive the American people and the world into believing that the war he lost was really a big win, the biggest ever, so big you cannot believe it. He’s likely to discover that, indeed, nobody does believe it.”

Remember, you are not the crazy ones, and we were made for these times. Regardless of what you may feel right now, act as if you believe that and redouble your efforts.

“Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as we understand it.” - Abraham Lincoln

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