Oh I think he manages to look like an idiot without external help...

Or, US can’t figure out how to tell Israel to stop going insane

Well you can definitely crack Donald Trump's image but when it comes to the loss, most of the loss will be borne by common people. Oil prices will once again rise markets once again fall and AI is already taking jobs. Inflation will rise along with unemployment and bad times are coming. This is happening mostly because of the foolishness of Trump.

Who do you think elected trump?

Iran or Israel?

Iran is Lucy, Trump is Charlie Brown, and the Straight of Hormuz is the football

most beautiful analogy I read today. Thank you for the laugh.

I think it is about making US pressure Israel and eventually rupturing that relationship.

Meanwhile, Israel is trying to sabotage the peace process and dont care about that relationship.

Of course it is. It's literally the first provision in the MoU.

Of all the stupidity of this saga, believing Israel would simply go along with an agreement requiring them to not attack Lebanon is the stupidest.

I think so too. Tying the conflict in Lebanon to the strait will drive a wedge between the US and Israel.

There is no reason this comment should be flagged dead.

the_origami_fox 9 hours ago [flagged] [dead] | root | parent | prev | next [–]

Agree with the first sentence. Second sentence is nonsense. Israel has committed to defending its borders. The government of Lebanon has committed to its own sovereignty. Hezbollah has committed too destroying Israel and ignoring the government. It's the USA's concession to agree to link the Strait of Hormuz with this conflict 2000km away.

Thanks for the support. Agree, on these political posts people would rather censor comments they disagree with than argue against it.

It does appear to skew one way too. You can say far worse things about Israel and not be flagged at all. For example, see these comments here:

waynecochran 12 hours ago | prev | next [–]

[flagged]

   lorecore 12 hours ago | parent | next [–]
   
   Israel is mass killing civilians in Lebanon, just as they did in Gaza, while they simultaneously enact pogroms in the West Bank.

How is that a "bad" thing to say about Israel? Sounds factual to me. Or if it's not factual it can be disproven. I don't see what's flag worthy about it?

> relatively low cost to themselves

You really believe that? Because bombing will continue until morale improves.

If Iran was in more pain than the USA, they wouldn't be getting $300 billion, sanctions relief and ongoing fees for the Strait. That's how wars work.

They're getting favorable terms because the USA can't win this war as it was started.

The real question is why does this make Grump look like an idiot any more than the numerous other idiotic things he's already done.

Unlike most times this affects people’s pocketbooks- the only real political motivation.

Approval still rides at 37%, which is pretty decent given the amount of turmoil that has been unleashed

He's not really up for re-election, so I'm not sure what approval numbers have to do with it

> He's not really up for re-election, so I'm not sure what approval numbers have to do with it

As an outsider, it seems the US midterm elections are a couple of months from now. If republicans lose, Donald Trump will most likely be impeached for all the mind numbingly high-level corruption and involvement in a pedophile ring.

Quite unlikely to get an impeachment. While there is the (long) possibility of Dems flipping the House and Senate, they will not alone have the votes to force him out without a number of Republicans to defect in the Senate. Anything is possible, but given how much insanity has already been tacitly approved, the economy would have to hit truly apocalyptic levels to expect that outcome.

impeachment is effectively a legal fantasy in the United States. The government does not punish it's own. We couldn't impeach Richard Nixon, a career criminal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_efforts_to_impeach_pre...

Can this abundant turmoil be refined into gasoline? Asking for a friend.

Trump is already hitting disapproval levels seen during the end of W's second term. He actually is bleeding support and politically damaged due to all this.

It gets worse when you break it down into key demographics. In the same way W's presidency influenced millennials away from the GOP, Trump is doing the same for young voters today too.

Non-whites and Gen Z were plus for him in 2024. He has absolutely cratered his support in those two demos.

We will see how the midterms go :)

That tracks. My rule of thumb is that political topics have a 33% group that will never budge and the remaining 4-5% accounts for the lizard man constant[1].

1. https://www.spencergreenberg.com/2024/07/the-lizardmans-cons...

Nixon was about 25% support before he resigned.

You have to multiply by the Lead-Poisoning coefficient for all events taking place in the 1970s.

Heh. Given the increased strength of party-identity, I fully agree that the floor of support will be higher than in the past.

"Strength of party-identity" kind of buries the lede, don't you think? The mainstream Republican party has become a death cult. Individually-tailored mass media is a hell of a drug.

As of yesterday, some sources have it as low as 29% (well, of his handling of the economy): https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-approval-hits-second-term-lo...

It’s exhausting every day every week every month it’s a new low, just when you thought it couldn’t get any lower or dumber…

> why does this make Grump look like an idiot any more

Because this time his error is at a new level. Many countries had seen their strategic reserves of gasoline seriously reduced and about to disappear, and the fertilizers (that they need to feed their population in the next year) never arrived on time. His so called "little excursion" could kill much more people than any other of his former actions. For no reason or benefit.

And Israel isn't helping at all. They backstabbed Biden when he needed their help most in the elections, and are backstabbing Trump when he is desperate for the midterms. Everybody can see that Bibi plays Trump like a violin.

I don’t think it’s that. I think Trump and the US could simply use brute force to stop Iran’s attacks, control the strait, and replace the Islamic fundamentalist regime. If they wanted to.

But that’s not profitable to Trump and his family and friends and donors. By making announcements and deals and truces all the time, they can make trades anticipating each dishonest announcement. And that makes them incredibly rich and powerful.

Trump doesn’t care if anyone thinks he’s an idiot. He’s actually doing quite well if you consider the goal to be selfish corruption.

The US doesn't have nearly the firepower to do that unless they went nuclear.