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[–] 171 points 1 year ago (16 children)

Trump wants the expanded powers of POTUS that comes with being a wartime president, as well as a wartime budget, but he needs Congress to declare war…so what does he do?

He pulls out of an agreement that restricted Iran from enriching uranium, then threatens to attack them for enriching uranium. Unexpectedly, Iran takes the high road and goes to the UN over the threats. Since Iran won’t attack, Trump gets Israel to attack Iran. Now, Trump is allowed to attack Iran under the false pretense of protecting an ally, which circumvents congressional approval. He posts a message claiming peace, knowing full well that Iran will retaliate, and Congress will subsequently declare war.

Trump gets everything he wants- expanded powers, and a big budget to hide his reckless overspending, while calling it the defense of an allied nation.

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  • [+] 87 points 1 year ago (11 children)
  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Unlikely, since it doesn't involve harassing and torturing immigrants.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Key point. Yes, he's the focus right now, but there's people in the background influencing him as well as people just following orders from him. Lots of guilty people, not just one.

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  • [–] 52 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Congress "declaring war" is a relic of the past. Every conflict since WWII has been unilaterally decided by the executive.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    He needs them to declare war to give him the fat budget and more executive power. I’m sure the Republican-controlled majority won’t have a problem with it. They’ve been foaming at the mouth for a hot war with Iran since the 80s.

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  • [–] 81 points 1 year ago (15 children)

    Fuck. This. Man. Impeach him. Jail him. Deport him. I don't care just fucking get him out of politics.

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  • [+] -126 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (14 children)

    On this matter, trump Kamala Biden Hillary they will all do the same thing.

    —-

    Edit: downvote as you like. My point was he might get jailed for many reasons, supporting Israel’s genocide and war is likely not one of them. Most recent US politician has been doing pretty much the same thing. 🤷‍♀️

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    Possibly. Probably even. It's still irrelevant.

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  • [+] -15 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    It's kind of funny to watch the downvotes and the comments though. It's like a "our hivemind is better than your hivemind" situation.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Or it's just blatantly stupid. That could be the reason.

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  • [+] 4 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    You're saying there is no unifying, collective sentiment on this community against anything to do with Trump or MAGA people? You're saying that people who favor Trump are welcome here? That there is even room for discussion?

    I'm saying there's a definite hivemind on this community. It's objectively better than the MAGA hivemind, of course, it's barely comparable. But it's funny to see it unfold in a thread like this. In a sad kind of way though, a way where it shows that the country is entirely black and white and polarized to the brink of civil war.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    People in general will be happy if their friend gets promoted at work, but sad if they get hit by a bus. Is this a hivemind mentality? Or just the result of people having thoughts and emotions and values and ya know being people.

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  • [–] 27 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago* (5 children)

    errrr, well let us see, I am skeptical these strikes were decisive, they might just make the US look worse

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    What gives you the impression Trump cares about how the US looks to the international community?

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    So iran is no longer a threat and we can drop sanctions now?

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The analysis before the attack was that the bunker-busters probably wouldn't make it all the way through the mountainside, so Iran could dig their way out and get everything back on line in a few months.

    Did this change, or is this just another case of Trump giving the illusion of having done something, when it's all glitzy window-dressing and bullshit?

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    I thought talk of nukes was to make invasion seem like a good and sane alternative. That, or it was news corporations gleefully picking up some nonsense and shouting it from the rooftops hoping for some clicks.

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  • [–] 36 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Iran says that they will not stop with their efforts. Trump just said that if it doesn’t stop, he will continue with his campaign. Unless one side relents, this will lead to war. Or, as the media will put it “precision strikes against a foreign adversary” Fuck the USA, may it reap what it sows.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Looking at the photos, there's barely any difference. If the bombs can go deep enough to damage the facility, shouldn't we see exposed sections?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    A real "who must go" situation.

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  • [+] -8 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    I hope the bunker-buster bombs worked. Whether the costs of war are worth paying in order to destroy Iran's nuclear program is debatable, but they're definitely paid in vain if the program survives.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Yeah. If they didn't manage to really destroy the material base of the program, Iran wil get nukes and the world's opinion could also shift in Iran's favour. Especially if they now act with restraint and hit all the legal avenues to say how they got harmed without justification.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    My major concern is that faced with defeat either way, they use dirty bombs to irradiate the population centers of israel. We’d have 9 million refugees and a huge environmental catastrophe.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Is that on the cards? I guess they could load whatever material they have onto missiles and shoot. Even if they're intercepted, the fallout would still occur. But I thought their nuclear option is actually destroying Saudi oil facilities. That would plunge the world into another inflationary cycle and accompanying economic instability, likely political instability too. Wouldn't get rid of the Israeli threat though. I guess irradiating Israel would achieve that.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    "Dirty" Bombs are just weapons of terror, the radiation is extremely localized. It would be absolutely pointless for a nation-state to use them. If you want to say that Iran would give Isis/Hamas one, I guess it's possible, but equally pointless. You aren't going to scare Israel away with a dirty bomb.

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    I don't think that Iran is going to get much useful sympathy from any country not already on its side (and of those, Russia has other priorities). Iran's ambitions have put it at odds with both Western countries and the Arab world and international law (even if it is on Iran's side - I don't know) is never going to lead countries to act against the dictates of realpolitik.

    I also don't think that failing to destroy these facilities necessarily makes a nuclear-armed Iran inevitable, given that Israel and the USA apparently have total air dominance. The infrastructure needed to deploy nuclear ICBMs can't all be kept deep underground and Iran's dependence on oil exports makes its economy particularly vulnerable to strategic bombing. I just don't trust Trump to see things through if his initial attempts fail - he's too impulsive. (And I'm not sure the moral calculus remains the same either - it's one thing to blow up a few underground weapons labs and quite another to engage in a strategic bombing campaign against the entire country.)

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    If anything, Israel and the US have clearly showed Iran that they will never be safe unless they develop military capabilities strong enough to deter attacks.

    Like... what kind of message do you think you're sending when you attack a country trying to develop nukes because they see you as an existential threat? Iran has been shown that the only way they will ever be safe from Israel is by developing nukes such that Israel doesn't dare attack them.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    The intent is presumably to force Iran to accept that it cannot be safe, and that the best it can do is to appease its enemies. That is, as a matter of fact, currently true if the USA decides to see things through. It's a situation that many countries have been forced to accept over the course of history (and one that Iran has been eager to impose on is neighbors).

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  • 5 comments in c/usa@midwest.social view that post
    [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Fuck trump! He needs to be obliterated.

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    In WW2 my mom lived in a German-occupied town where there was both a small airfield and a train station. They were both popular targets for allied bombing.

    When British bombers approached, people knew to stay away from them, when American bombers approached people knew to stay away from the residential area half a mile around them.

    I seriously hope that this has improved, but Americans still seem to believe in quantity over accuracy.

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  • [+] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Oh, I have only my mother's account, who knew nothing of bombing sights etc, and only noticed where the bombs ended up after they were dropped. It's very anecdotal and I can't verify especially since she passed away a few years ago. She'd get to the shelter as soon as the first sign of an attack was there and get out when things calmed down and look what houses were still there and which might need fires be pur out. She and her family were very happy when the Canadians liberated the area and everyone stopped blowing stuff up..

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