US Strikes on Iran (Operation Epic Fury)

[Ivan Denisovich]

If those are indeed the terms, Trump just made an abject surrender.

After spending billions of dollars, making us look weak and foolish to the rest of the world, fucking up supply lines and driving oil prices to historic highs. And the mid-term election is a smidgeon under 6 months away. Good luck spinning this one, MAGA.

I think that wannabe fuhrer will say that it was extreme left fault and anyways he scored a big, beautiful victory and his base will swallow it. It's not like people voting on trump are sharpest tools in the shed.

[Thumpalumpacus]

After spending billions of dollars, making us look weak and foolish to the rest of the world, fucking up supply lines and driving oil prices to historic highs. And the mid-term election is a smidgeon under 6 months away. Good luck spinning this one, MAGA.

I think that wannabe fuhrer will say that it was extreme left fault and anyways he scored a big, beautiful victory and his base will swallow it. It's not like people voting on trump are sharpest tools in the shed.

They're going to have a hard time swallowing the fact that this is one foreign adventure that he started and can't blame on anyone else. A large proportion of Trump's support is based upon a hardcore, intolerant isolationism.

The American right has forgiven Donald Trump for his affairs, impeachments, mass deportations and the platforming of JD Vance.

But having stuck with him through all that unpleasantness, it seems that we may have discovered the one thing capable of splitting some Maga conservatives from Trump: all it took was him starting a war in the Middle East.

On Tuesday Joe Kent, the US counter-terrorism chief who previously ran for office as an ultra-Maga, white-nationalist endorsed, Trump-loving figure, resigned his position in a letter that criticized Trump for waging the war and crapped all over the president’s excuses for starting the conflict.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent said. Then the key bit: “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

[...]

Tucker Carlson, the permanently perturbed rightwing commentator, has described the Iran campaign as “disgusting and evil”. Megyn Kelly, the Fox News host turned podcaster, said: “I would like to be better convinced that this is worth the sacrifice of American blood and treasure.” Marjorie Taylor Greene, the oddball former congresswoman and one-time Trump ally, weighed in in support of Joe Kent on Tuesday, calling him “a GREAT AMERICAN HERO” (her caps) on social media.

Other skeptics include former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and chirpy commentator Matt Walsh. But so far few elected Republicans have raised their heads above the parapet. In the Senate, only Rand Paul voted with Democrats to curb Trump’s war powers (John Fetterman, the Democratic Pennsylvania senator who is basically just doing his own thing now, voted against the resolution).

If the war drags on, however, Republicans might find themselves under pressure to break with Trump, because (and whisper this): people do not like this war.

The most hardcore Maga voters, the people who flock to Trump’s rallies and fly his flags from their sinking boats, have Trump’s back. But only 24% of independent voters – who are likely to be key in the looming midterm elections – approve of Trump’s handling of Iran, according to an Economist/YouGov Poll, while 63% disapprove. Young voters, the Washington Post reported, are having “buyers’ remorse”. In an NPR focus group of swing voters who voted for Trump in 2024, almost all of them opposed Trump’s Iran expedition. A separate poll by Zeteo found that 52% of Americans, including 26% of Republicans, believe Trump was “at least party motivated” to attack Iran to distract from questions over Jeffrey Epstein.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...opular-war

Losing conservative-leaning independents would be a seriously blow to the Republicans ad their November hopes. Of course die-hard Trumpeteers will twist themselves into pretzels to excuse his latest apostasy, but it's the independents who will matter.

[Ivan Denisovich]

I think that wannabe fuhrer will say that it was extreme left fault and anyways he scored a big, beautiful victory and his base will swallow it. It's not like people voting on trump are sharpest tools in the shed.

They're going to have  a hard time swallowing the fact that this is one foreign adventure that he started and can't blame on anyone else. A large proportion of Trump's support is based upon a hardcore, intolerant isolationism.

The American right has forgiven Donald Trump for his affairs, impeachments, mass deportations and the platforming of JD Vance.

But having stuck with him through all that unpleasantness, it seems that we may have discovered the one thing capable of splitting some Maga conservatives from Trump: all it took was him starting a war in the Middle East.

On Tuesday Joe Kent, the US counter-terrorism chief who previously ran for office as an ultra-Maga, white-nationalist endorsed, Trump-loving figure, resigned his position in a letter that criticized Trump for waging the war and crapped all over the president’s excuses for starting the conflict.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent said. Then the key bit: “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

[...]

Tucker Carlson, the permanently perturbed rightwing commentator, has described the Iran campaign as “disgusting and evil”. Megyn Kelly, the Fox News host turned podcaster, said: “I would like to be better convinced that this is worth the sacrifice of American blood and treasure.” Marjorie Taylor Greene, the oddball former congresswoman and one-time Trump ally, weighed in in support of Joe Kent on Tuesday, calling him “a GREAT AMERICAN HERO” (her caps) on social media.

Other skeptics include former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and chirpy commentator Matt Walsh. But so far few elected Republicans have raised their heads above the parapet. In the Senate, only Rand Paul voted with Democrats to curb Trump’s war powers (John Fetterman, the Democratic Pennsylvania senator who is basically just doing his own thing now, voted against the resolution).

If the war drags on, however, Republicans might find themselves under pressure to break with Trump, because (and whisper this): people do not like this war.

The most hardcore Maga voters, the people who flock to Trump’s rallies and fly his flags from their sinking boats, have Trump’s back. But only 24% of independent voters – who are likely to be key in the looming midterm elections – approve of Trump’s handling of Iran, according to an Economist/YouGov Poll, while 63% disapprove. Young voters, the Washington Post reported, are having “buyers’ remorse”. In an NPR focus group of swing voters who voted for Trump in 2024, almost all of them opposed Trump’s Iran expedition. A separate poll by Zeteo found that 52% of Americans, including 26% of Republicans, believe Trump was “at least party motivated” to attack Iran to distract from questions over Jeffrey Epstein.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...opular-war

Losing conservative-leaning independents would be a seriously blow to the Republicans ad their November hopes. Of course die-hard Trumpeteers will twist themselves into pretzels to excuse his latest apostasy, but it's the independents who will matter.

I certainly hope that it will be your diagnosis that will end closer to reality. Numbers at least seem to support it but poll numbers can change quickly and I have real trouble with being optimistic in regard to US voters decisions.

[Ivan Denisovich]

Hopefully it's only some hiccup:

Several Gulf nations have reported missile and drone attacks on their territories, hours after Iran and the United States announced a two-week ceasefire.
[...]
Iranian state television confirmed the missile and drone attacks, reporting they were carried out in response to the bombing of Iranian oil facilities on Wednesday.

[Fireball]

I see my MAGAt neighbor took his chump flag off his flag pole. Only the US flag is up. Maybe the chump flag was torn? We'll see.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

@Leonardo17

Angel Merkel does not hold a medical degree. Her doctorate is in quantum chemistry.

Boru

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Hopefully it's only some hiccup:

Several Gulf nations have reported missile and drone attacks on their territories, hours after Iran and the United States announced a two-week ceasefire.
[...]
Iranian state television confirmed the missile and drone attacks, reporting they were carried out in response to the bombing of Iranian oil facilities on Wednesday.

A ceasefire where the firing doesn’t cease has become all too common in recent years (looking at you, Israel).

Boru

[Ivan Denisovich]

Hopefully it's only some hiccup:

Several Gulf nations have reported missile and drone attacks on their territories, hours after Iran and the United States announced a two-week ceasefire.
[...]
Iranian state television confirmed the missile and drone attacks, reporting they were carried out in response to the bombing of Iranian oil facilities on Wednesday.

A ceasefire where the firing doesn’t cease has become all too common in recent years (looking at you, Israel).

Boru

This time israel did not even pretend to observe it:

Israel made it abundantly clear on Wednesday that it does not consider Lebanon to be protected by Tuesday night’s ceasefire that halted hostilities for two weeks between the US and Iran.

Hours after the ceasefire was reached, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had begun “the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon,” since it began its assault on the country in early March, with bombardments on what it said were Hezbollah targets across Beirut, Bekaa, and southern Lebanon.

[Paleophyte]

I can't wait to see what happens to gas prices when it becomes obvious that Trump can't stop this war that he has started.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I can't wait to see what happens to gas prices when it becomes obvious that Trump can't stop this war that he has started.

If the only issue was at-the-pump prices, the economic damage wouldn’t be so bad. But a crude oil disruption of this scale affects literally everything else. It just takes a little longer to show up.

Boru