Blustering, Babbling Bar Fly Threatens War
Plus: Another Democratic official arrested by Trump administration agents.
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We've had presidents like FDR and Lincoln who led us into just wars. We've had president like LBJ and George W. Bush who led us into unjust wars. But we've never had a president who led us into war on social media, blustering and babbling like an insufferable barfly.
“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” President Trump posted on social media Tuesday, dropping any pretense that the United States is a bystander in the Israel-Iran war.
Having handcuffed the United States to a war-hungry ally, Trump amped up the rhetoric to an 11 out of 10.
"We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. He said that “our patience is wearing thin” and then sent another two-word post: “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!”
I'd like to think there is a method to his madness. Historians might reflect on Trump's rhetoric and conclude it led to a positive outcome. Stream-of-conscious social media posts may become a tool of all future commanders in chief. But none of this seems likely does it? Odds are his feral approach to this Middle East conflict will backfire.
Again, I conclude: God help us.
Masked federal agents arrested a Democratic mayoral candidate in New York on Tuesday as he tried to escort a man sought by ICE. This is an unsettling trend: A week ago, federal agents arrested a Democratic senator while he protested at a Trump administration news conference.
Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, was accused by the Trump administration of assaulting and impeding the officers. But like the case of Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, video of the altercation tells a different story than the one promoted by the White House.
Video shows Lander standing by a migrant man in a courthouse hallway when several law enforcement officers, some wearing masks, pushed past a crowd in the hallway to arrest the migrant.
Lander repeatedly asked the agents whether they had a judicial warrant, refusing to let go of the migrant as the agents push the man toward the elevators.
"I will let go when you show me the judicial warrant,” Lander said, his right hand on the man’s body.
The agents quickly separated Lander from the man, pushed him against a wall by the elevators and placed handcuffs on him.
“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens,” Lander repeatedly declared. "I’m not obstructing. I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant.”
The New York Times reported that agents do not need judicial warrants to make arrests in immigration courts because they are public spaces.
Still, in normal times, police would have deescalated the situation, if not out of respect for free speech and protest, at least out of fear of bad publicity. It used to be a political no-no to arrest political rivals.
These aren't normal times. The Trump administration wears conflicts like this as a badge of honor. God help us.
This sounds so extreme fascist behavior I can’t believe where that damn tRUMP and Steven Miller has brought us.