“I’ll cooperate with law enforcement on investigations because Wisconsinites deserve full transparency and the ability to see the facts. . . . In 2028, I’ll certify whoever wins the most votes in Wisconsin.”
Does anyone believe Tom Tiffany (or any Republican) is telling the truth about this or anything else?
Under a Trump Administration, which would still have over two months after the election, I honestly find him saying he would cooperate with law enforcement ominous.
Among my darkest moments after the election was despair over the impending loss of the global alliances and hegemony my grandfathers fought to build. Recent moves regarding Korea and Oman feel like the fulfillment of that ill portend.
This is another disingenuous statement you can drive trucks through. Just whose law enforcement investigations will Tiffany cooperate with? Trump's DOJ? Who determines who wins the most votes in Wisconsin? Wisconsin or Trump's election fraud investigators?
SE WI here... I don't believe Tiffany. However, his folksy ads run frequently during 'Senior' high-viewing times (during Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune). That may be enough to get him the senior vote.
Laura - seems an interested party should be running counterpoint ads with Tiffany’s election denying statements, you know, to keep things fair & balanced
I'm in Central Wisconsin. Trump turning out to be a POS was met with the young blue collar guys with, "Well, just goes to show you can't trust anybody."
I think there's a major GOP drop at the polls this midterm.
That being said, all of Tiffany's juice is anti-Dem instead lf Pro-Tom Tiffany's. No one actually likes Tom Tiffany. And his main political issue for over a decade has been wolves and how we should shoot them.
A non-farmer and non-hunter playing to a top 3 local issue in his district.
And I think there is no undoing some of it. All empires fall eventually, and I think the height of US hegemony is in the rear view (not helped by Iraq/Afghanistan of course).
I tend to agree with this. The world will never trust us the same way again. Trump 1.0 could be written off as a mistake. That we did it again will is what really makes us untrustworthy going forward.
The shocking thing to me is that it is clear this "government" has no idea who is doing what and with whom in the middle east. I thought they wanted Oman to engage Iran? This is worse, if possible, than even I thought.
When do we stop ignoring the realties right in our faces? frump is a child willing to warm up to those that charm him even a little. His only mission is to garner positive attention regardless the source, dictator, communist! He is non-serious about his job, and the congress and cabinet are more worthless that he! When do the words get written that he is incompetent and ignorant rather than continue to try to understand why he says, does what he does. His treatment of the press and others that criticize him is alone proof of his child like behavior and evilness and causes his ridiculous name calling.
Bibi convinced him he would go down in history for removing Iran as a threat and now we have this f-ing mess!
Gen. Hertling: "Which makes Trump’s threat especially bizarre."
I have always admired General Hertling's clarity and insight, but I believe deep down that he knows Trump's behavior is bizarre if and only if you measure it against how a "normal" head-of-state would behave. Trump's mental process when it comes to foreign policy is simple: has country X done anything that personally benefits *him*. If that answer is no, then Trump has no use for that country and its leadership and will not hesitate to blow up relations with them. The notable exception to this is if the country is an autocratic state -- Russia, China, North Korea -- and then he fancies himself to be one of their peers. So there's nothing bizarre about what Trump does when you measure it against how he's behaved over the course of his adult life. It's just another day that ends with y.
The fact that someone like Trump with a severely disordered personality is doing things that the rest of us consider bizarre should not be a surprise. It's been 10 years now, folks.
Trump believes that relations between countries and between people are nothing but transactional. Lots of bullies feel this way. My concern is that the Republican Party is made up of many people who accept this view of things. It surprises me how many MAGA types will when pinned down admit they support Trump because they want to be on the side that wins. I am not a philosopher and it is possible that the nihilists are correct. I think if that is so it would be better for humanity to become extinct rather than continue destroying literally every good thing in the world through greed and stupidity.
As an Iowa voter, I am excited to have Peter come try his act in the Midwest. Let's see how many folks around here cotton to a military leader who can't seem to keep service members fed even when he should know exactly where they are (if not why they are there).
In a personalist regime like ours, the state takes on the personal characteristics and obsessions of the Leader. Trump has always been a vindictive, suspicious, friendless man. That the U.S. is increasingly friendless too is exactly the outcome we should expect.
One would hope the Trump children be judged by same standard he hopes the reporters children are judged by: despicable, inhuman and callous, it all fits.
Trump is the worst negotiator who has ever been president, and a competent enough marketer with the winds of a right wing propaganda apparatus at his back to convince enough morons that he is the greatest negotiator in history. Everything he’s done with respect to Iran has only made the situation worse. And when Oman tries to wipe his dirty ass for him, he issues another one of his maximalist empty threats. That’s his entire strategy: bluff and expect a fold. He has no other tricks. And now he is at the point where no one in the world takes these threats seriously or believes anything that he says is the truth.
I had a thought today. In the 2024 primaries I switched registration from Democrat to Independent so I could vote for Nikki Haley in the NC GOP primary. In an alternate timeline, she would have won the nomination and become president, and I could honestly see her going to war with Iran at Bibi’s behest as Trump has. And it would have played out just as badly. And Trump would be shouting from the sidelines in incoherent Truth Social posts that she was the biggest idiot in the world for going into Iran like Bibi’s lapdog.
Whether in negotiations or in living under the terms of negotiated agreements, good faith is a necessary condition. Trump has made bad faith a business model, and now US policy.
I read General Hertling's brilliant words in the spirit of "you don't know what you've got till it's gone." I've spent a long life (born in the Truman era, dying in the era of Trump--what a comedown!) watching presidents of both parties manage alliances and navigate complex international relationships with, on the whole, great deftness, especially post-Vietnam.
20/20 hindsight may suggest that their choices were not always wise; but they were serious choices, made by serious men in consultation with wise and seasoned diplomats. They factored in all the complicated scenarios and possibilities that might lead to ruin and war if one traveled one path, prosperity and peace if one traveled another.
Republican and Democratic presidents alike displayed a sensitivity to details, an awareness of complexities, and above all a willingness to submerge their own egos (immense as presidential egos always are), or at least to give the appearance of doing so, if it meant the US would be better off in the long run.
Watching the childishness and bluster and bullying and inconsistency of what I suppose we must think of as the Trump Doctrine, I see nothing but chaos, resentment, broken alliances, and a future in which it will be a generation or more before any nation on this earth sees any real reason to trust the US. God knows I wouldn't.
When it comes to North Korea, Trump is being played bigly. Seems he is the only person who does not realize that. And, Natalie Harp is 35 years old. She chooses to enable Trump’s grift. No need for folks to treat her like a green intern.
Several months ago I suggested the concept of Scarlet T's for all of the members of his administrations and public enablers. And they would have to explain those to their children.
Trump is obviously the immediate cause of all these issues, but the long-term damage is being done by the world watching our collective inability to course correct. That has to be laid at the feet, not of Trump, but all the weak and ineffectual people in Congress and the traditional press. And ultimately we the people. November increasingly feels like the last change . . .
Hans - yes to your ultimately. I recall traveling abroad 20 years ago. The W era, Iraq & Afghanistan looking quagmire-ish. People we met gave us (as mere everyday US citizens) latitude, even sympathy. “That’s Bush, we know it’s not America.” They thought they knew the real us. The past decade we shown them a different side…
"Alliances are relationships built over years, administrations, wars, crises, and disagreements. Presidents inherit them from their predecessors, sustain them for their successors, and occasionally strengthen them through careful diplomacy." Gen Mark Hertling explaining our 50 yr relationship w Oman and other countries.
"“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”' The distinguished President of the United States: Donald J Trump.
Guys I know I’m stating the obvious but THANK YOU for all the great content. I depend on your takes and experts to dive deeper into the headlines and breaking news too and also highlight consequential issues that aren’t covered in MSM etc. - especially when there are nonstop developments like the last few days (who am I kidding, it’s almost every day!) your ability to wrestle all of it to the ground and give us facts and analysis is so important. Keep up the good work!
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“I’ll cooperate with law enforcement on investigations because Wisconsinites deserve full transparency and the ability to see the facts. . . . In 2028, I’ll certify whoever wins the most votes in Wisconsin.”
Does anyone believe Tom Tiffany (or any Republican) is telling the truth about this or anything else?
Under a Trump Administration, which would still have over two months after the election, I honestly find him saying he would cooperate with law enforcement ominous.
"Law enforcement" being CBP / ICE.
Among my darkest moments after the election was despair over the impending loss of the global alliances and hegemony my grandfathers fought to build. Recent moves regarding Korea and Oman feel like the fulfillment of that ill portend.
This is another disingenuous statement you can drive trucks through. Just whose law enforcement investigations will Tiffany cooperate with? Trump's DOJ? Who determines who wins the most votes in Wisconsin? Wisconsin or Trump's election fraud investigators?
SE WI here... I don't believe Tiffany. However, his folksy ads run frequently during 'Senior' high-viewing times (during Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune). That may be enough to get him the senior vote.
Laura - seems an interested party should be running counterpoint ads with Tiffany’s election denying statements, you know, to keep things fair & balanced
I agree, but on CBS, that will never happen!
I didn’t realize the network… but duh, you DID say ‘ Senior' high-viewing 🤣
It depends not only on who votes, but also on if there are votes.
Why do you doubt him? Just because his nose grew about a foot?
I'm in Central Wisconsin. Trump turning out to be a POS was met with the young blue collar guys with, "Well, just goes to show you can't trust anybody."
I think there's a major GOP drop at the polls this midterm.
That being said, all of Tiffany's juice is anti-Dem instead lf Pro-Tom Tiffany's. No one actually likes Tom Tiffany. And his main political issue for over a decade has been wolves and how we should shoot them.
A non-farmer and non-hunter playing to a top 3 local issue in his district.
Trump is an anchor this fall.
Tiffany goes down hard in November.
We’ve done such a heartbreaking heel turn over the last year and a half. We’ve alienated the world, and pushed them in the arms of the Chinese.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it’s going to take decades to undo the damage this administration has done.
And I think there is no undoing some of it. All empires fall eventually, and I think the height of US hegemony is in the rear view (not helped by Iraq/Afghanistan of course).
I tend to agree with this. The world will never trust us the same way again. Trump 1.0 could be written off as a mistake. That we did it again will is what really makes us untrustworthy going forward.
The shocking thing to me is that it is clear this "government" has no idea who is doing what and with whom in the middle east. I thought they wanted Oman to engage Iran? This is worse, if possible, than even I thought.
This isn't a government. It is one extremely unwell man being followed around by others totally lacking in courage.
When do we stop ignoring the realties right in our faces? frump is a child willing to warm up to those that charm him even a little. His only mission is to garner positive attention regardless the source, dictator, communist! He is non-serious about his job, and the congress and cabinet are more worthless that he! When do the words get written that he is incompetent and ignorant rather than continue to try to understand why he says, does what he does. His treatment of the press and others that criticize him is alone proof of his child like behavior and evilness and causes his ridiculous name calling.
Bibi convinced him he would go down in history for removing Iran as a threat and now we have this f-ing mess!
Casablanca:
“We’ll always have Paris.”
Trump:
“We’ll always have Pyongyang.”
Vance:
“We’ll always have Budapest.”
Rubio:
“We’ll always have Havana.”
Jared & Ivanka:
“We’ll always have Albania.”
Uday & Qusay:
“We’ll always have Riyadh.”
Hegseth:
“We’ll always have Coors Light.”
Tucker:
“We’ll always have Moscow.”
Nutlick:
“No more Epstein Island? Huh?”
RFK Jr.
“We’ll always have measles.”
"We'll always have U.S. customary units."
Pete Hegseth: "My record speaks for itself."
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at Hegseth's lack of self-awareness.
Pete should definitely run for president. He should resign as SoD immediately and get right on it.
Gen. Hertling: "Which makes Trump’s threat especially bizarre."
I have always admired General Hertling's clarity and insight, but I believe deep down that he knows Trump's behavior is bizarre if and only if you measure it against how a "normal" head-of-state would behave. Trump's mental process when it comes to foreign policy is simple: has country X done anything that personally benefits *him*. If that answer is no, then Trump has no use for that country and its leadership and will not hesitate to blow up relations with them. The notable exception to this is if the country is an autocratic state -- Russia, China, North Korea -- and then he fancies himself to be one of their peers. So there's nothing bizarre about what Trump does when you measure it against how he's behaved over the course of his adult life. It's just another day that ends with y.
The fact that someone like Trump with a severely disordered personality is doing things that the rest of us consider bizarre should not be a surprise. It's been 10 years now, folks.
Forty years.
Trump used to throw rocks at babies when he was a young boy. He's always been a piece of shit.
Ten years ago being a disrupter was considered a good thing.
Trump believes that relations between countries and between people are nothing but transactional. Lots of bullies feel this way. My concern is that the Republican Party is made up of many people who accept this view of things. It surprises me how many MAGA types will when pinned down admit they support Trump because they want to be on the side that wins. I am not a philosopher and it is possible that the nihilists are correct. I think if that is so it would be better for humanity to become extinct rather than continue destroying literally every good thing in the world through greed and stupidity.
He thinks he's at the table, but he, and we, are what's for dinner.
As an Iowa voter, I am excited to have Peter come try his act in the Midwest. Let's see how many folks around here cotton to a military leader who can't seem to keep service members fed even when he should know exactly where they are (if not why they are there).
I think Pete would be a big hit.
He's not even a military leader per se. He's the caterer and the armorer for the military, and he's doing a shitty job.
In a personalist regime like ours, the state takes on the personal characteristics and obsessions of the Leader. Trump has always been a vindictive, suspicious, friendless man. That the U.S. is increasingly friendless too is exactly the outcome we should expect.
We have friends, Bryan. They're just friends that we shouldn't be proud of having.
There's a book by Anne Applebaum called "Autocracy, Inc." that points this out with a lot of details.
One would hope the Trump children be judged by same standard he hopes the reporters children are judged by: despicable, inhuman and callous, it all fits.
The Trump children have already set their own subterranean standards.
Trump is the worst negotiator who has ever been president, and a competent enough marketer with the winds of a right wing propaganda apparatus at his back to convince enough morons that he is the greatest negotiator in history. Everything he’s done with respect to Iran has only made the situation worse. And when Oman tries to wipe his dirty ass for him, he issues another one of his maximalist empty threats. That’s his entire strategy: bluff and expect a fold. He has no other tricks. And now he is at the point where no one in the world takes these threats seriously or believes anything that he says is the truth.
I had a thought today. In the 2024 primaries I switched registration from Democrat to Independent so I could vote for Nikki Haley in the NC GOP primary. In an alternate timeline, she would have won the nomination and become president, and I could honestly see her going to war with Iran at Bibi’s behest as Trump has. And it would have played out just as badly. And Trump would be shouting from the sidelines in incoherent Truth Social posts that she was the biggest idiot in the world for going into Iran like Bibi’s lapdog.
Whether in negotiations or in living under the terms of negotiated agreements, good faith is a necessary condition. Trump has made bad faith a business model, and now US policy.
I read General Hertling's brilliant words in the spirit of "you don't know what you've got till it's gone." I've spent a long life (born in the Truman era, dying in the era of Trump--what a comedown!) watching presidents of both parties manage alliances and navigate complex international relationships with, on the whole, great deftness, especially post-Vietnam.
20/20 hindsight may suggest that their choices were not always wise; but they were serious choices, made by serious men in consultation with wise and seasoned diplomats. They factored in all the complicated scenarios and possibilities that might lead to ruin and war if one traveled one path, prosperity and peace if one traveled another.
Republican and Democratic presidents alike displayed a sensitivity to details, an awareness of complexities, and above all a willingness to submerge their own egos (immense as presidential egos always are), or at least to give the appearance of doing so, if it meant the US would be better off in the long run.
Watching the childishness and bluster and bullying and inconsistency of what I suppose we must think of as the Trump Doctrine, I see nothing but chaos, resentment, broken alliances, and a future in which it will be a generation or more before any nation on this earth sees any real reason to trust the US. God knows I wouldn't.
Preach, brother.
Or sister, as the case may be :)
When it comes to North Korea, Trump is being played bigly. Seems he is the only person who does not realize that. And, Natalie Harp is 35 years old. She chooses to enable Trump’s grift. No need for folks to treat her like a green intern.
Natalie is the blonder Hope Hicks.
Also, unlike Hope, she works the night shift. Trump's midnight ravings could not possibly be as grammatical as they are without her.
She's 9 years younger than Ivanka. I'm just sayin'.
“Someday, your children [...] will be sickened and embarrassed to have a parent be so callous and vindictive.”
If we're getting into an ashamed-descendants measuring contest, I've got some news for everyone in the Trump administration...
Conlan - ✔️ “every accusation is a confession”
Several months ago I suggested the concept of Scarlet T's for all of the members of his administrations and public enablers. And they would have to explain those to their children.
Sounds like Steven Cheung, Oddjob to Trump's Goldfinger.
Trump is obviously the immediate cause of all these issues, but the long-term damage is being done by the world watching our collective inability to course correct. That has to be laid at the feet, not of Trump, but all the weak and ineffectual people in Congress and the traditional press. And ultimately we the people. November increasingly feels like the last change . . .
Hans - yes to your ultimately. I recall traveling abroad 20 years ago. The W era, Iraq & Afghanistan looking quagmire-ish. People we met gave us (as mere everyday US citizens) latitude, even sympathy. “That’s Bush, we know it’s not America.” They thought they knew the real us. The past decade we shown them a different side…
Is it inability to course correct, or our unwillingness to course correct?
That's the question we answer in November.
"Alliances are relationships built over years, administrations, wars, crises, and disagreements. Presidents inherit them from their predecessors, sustain them for their successors, and occasionally strengthen them through careful diplomacy." Gen Mark Hertling explaining our 50 yr relationship w Oman and other countries.
"“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”' The distinguished President of the United States: Donald J Trump.
Guys I know I’m stating the obvious but THANK YOU for all the great content. I depend on your takes and experts to dive deeper into the headlines and breaking news too and also highlight consequential issues that aren’t covered in MSM etc. - especially when there are nonstop developments like the last few days (who am I kidding, it’s almost every day!) your ability to wrestle all of it to the ground and give us facts and analysis is so important. Keep up the good work!