Dear Everybody:
Today’s big news, even with the war in Iran and the war with the Pope still raging, has to be Trump’s continued demonstration that he’s unfit for office:
--The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Trump has seriously considered awarding himself the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award for his stellar performance in the war with Iran.
--The Journal also reported that Trump often had to be eliminated from strategy sessions because keeping him informed minute-to-minute upset him so much. They said Trump cannot understand why drones are a danger when we have huge aircraft carriers and jets with missiles.
--They said Trump sometimes lost focus and attempted to pivot to topics unrelated to the war, such as his ballroom.
--They said Trump panicked over the downed fighter jet pilots. He demanded the pilots be rescued immediately. "Discussions grew adversarial due to Trump’s impatience."
--"Trump screamed at aides for hours. The Europeans aren’t helping, Gas prices averaged $4.09. Images of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis loomed in his mind."
--The report cited officials saying that Trump was making "risky pronouncements without input from his national security team." (I can totally believe this; on the other hand, it also sounds like his people are now trying to throw him under the bus in order to save themselves.)
--Trump posted several dozen tweets again last night, including a four-minute version of Frank Sinatra singing "I Did It My Way," which scared a lot of people.
--Pope Respecter: "WTF is going on? Should I be in a bunker or something?"
In War with Iran news:
--The Strait’s closed again, the ceasefire has broken down, and Trump is back to threatening to destroy Iran.
--Trump told a Fox reporter, "We’re preparing to hit them harder than any country has ever been hit before."
--Trump: "The US is going to knock out every single Power Plant and every single Bridge in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They’ll come down fast, they’ll come down easy, and if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done."
--Trump also said, "Iran has agreed to everything."
--Ron Filipkowski: "6 days after Trump made 13 celebratory posts in an hour claiming that Iran surrendered to all his demands and the war is over, he’s back threatening to blow up power plants and bridges."
--Andrew Lawrence: "I don’t understand. Two days ago I was told there was a deal. I was told it was over and we got everything we wanted. I was told the strait would never be closed again. I was told all this just as markets were hitting their stride on Friday afternoon."
--Just as an example of the disarray over at the White House right now, Trump said JD Vance will not be going to Pakistan to take part in the Iran war negotiations. The White House then said he would. Trump then said he wouldn’t due to "security considerations." The White House said he was. As one network reported it, "New: White House says he is."
--Paul Waldman: "Trump still seems to believe that negotiations he has as president are basically the same as strong-arming a small business into giving him a better deal on some new curtains for one of his hotels."
--Simon Rosenberg: "Just as there is no longer a path for Putin to win in Ukraine, there is no path for victory for Trump in Iran. Both Putin and Trump have lost. But they cannot accept the humiliation that will come from admitting defeat, and so the exhausting fighting, the gaslighting, the threats continue."
--Trump people spread out all over TV this morning to gaslight everybody and convince them that the war was going great and that blowing up bridges and power plants and other civilian targets are not war crimes.
--Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, in response to being asked about Trump’s threatening he would "end a civilization", "He’s a creative negotiator...I think things are actually going quite well for the United States."
--GOP Rep Elise Stefanik told CNN’s Jake Tapper: "President Trump didn’t call for genocide, jake. You are putting those words in his mouth." Tapper: "Your entire civilization will die?"
--Trump’s Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said of the war, "This is really a favor to the world in many ways." (Unfortunately, he also called "Operation Epic Fury" "Operation Economic Fury." Which is probably a more apt name.)
One of the more troubling stories coming out of the Iran war is that the servicemen are not getting enough to eat:
--Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Tripoli are saying food supplies are running out.
--They posted photos of their meals--in one case, a small helping of shredded meat and one tortilla, in another a helping of carrots, some beans, and a piece of grayish processed lunch meat. (To be honest, when I first looked at it, I had no idea what it was, it looked like a long black tongue.)
In the War with the Pope news:
--There were two big developments in the war today. 1) Pope Leo XIV said, "I’m not afraid of the Trump administration...and I will continue speaking with a loud voice against war." 2) Sean Hannity announced on his show, "As of today, I no longer consider myself a Catholic."
--ethereal spirits: "I can see people having a lot of reasons for leaving the Catholic Church, some very legitimate, but doing it because he worships Trump more than anything else? That’s a sign someone might be in a cult."
--Trump and his lackeys are now claiming that the Pope is wrong to say all war is wrong because what about the "just war" doctrine?:
--James Galbraith: "Cool. Let’s examine the modern just war doctrine and see if it applies here: 1) the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain. 2) All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective. 3) There must be serious prospects of success. 4) The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated."
--Maeve DU: "In other words, nope, nope, nope, and nope."
--Derek A: "They are leaning into this ‘Just War’ talking point when there is no way Trump’s attacks on "Iran meet the Catholic Church’s definition."
--RalfWise: "I taught just war theory as part of my doctoral studies (at a Catholic university, no less) and in my considered, expert opinion, this line of argument is hilarious."
--kraken71: "Yes, there is ‘just war’ doctrine. And no, this war ain’t it. Similar to the difference between ‘good leadership’ and whatever the hell the GOP is."
--Bishop James Massa, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine: "For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war. A constant tenet of that thousand-year-tradition is that a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense once all other peace efforts have failed.’ That is, to be a just war, it must be a defense against another who actively wages what, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’" He then cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
--Keppi Cair: "Trump’s little Johnson doesn’t seem to realize that the US double-tapping a school filled with little girls and Israel slaughtering Lebanese civilians does not constitute a ‘just war.’"
--JD Vance once again weighed in: "How can you say that God was never on the side of those who wield the sword? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps?" (Yep, cause they didn’t start the war. Hitler did, you bozo. But you were the ones who started THIS war. In a surprise attack. With no actual provocation.)
--am baglereau: "Yes, we know the GOP’s entire schtick is just war and nothing else...no healthcare, just war. No taxes, just war. No human rights, just war. We get it."
--(Note: If you apply all the standards of the just war to the Ukraine/Russia war, they DO apply to Ukraine.)
In a desperate attempt to distract from the Iran war (which was a desperate attempt to distract from the economy and the Epstein files, Trump is throwing all kinds of chum in the water:
--He signed an Executive Order to speed up the review of psychedelic drugs being approved for medical practice. One of them is a psychedelic drug which has been known to cause heart problems. (What could possibly go wrong?)
--Trump announced at the Turning Point USA rally that he is releasing the UFO files. Trump: "I think I’m doing the best job of anybody, really. I recently directed the Secretary of War to begin releasing government files related to UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena. I figured this was a good crowd because I know you’re really into that. I don’t know that I am, but I thought I’d save it for this crowd because you’re a little bit out there."
--The ever-helpful JD Vance then said they’re not aliens--they’re demons. He said people always assume that the "celestial beings who fly around" are aliens when really they’re demons.
--Dana Milbank: "I think if I had had the kind of week that the President has had with Iran, with inflation, with the Pope, I too would be talking about UFOs."
--Even some on the right weren’t happy with Trump’s actions. Laura Ingraham: "Weed, psychedelics, online gambling, and OnlyFans...what a wonderful menu of activities we are bequeathing the coming generations."
And then there’s the Arch de Trump:
--The arts commission (packed with Trump supporters he selected himself) have approved the plans for Trump’s giant arch.
--The plans for the arch are now four times bigger than they originally were. The arch will be 250 feet tall and will have 2 huge golden eagles and a 60 foot golden angel with outspread wings on top. (The drawings are a dead ringer for Hitler’s Arch de Triumph in Berlin, except that it’s an eagle with outspread wings on top instead of an angel.) It will be larger than the Lincoln Memorial and half as tall as the Washington Monument. It will completely obstruct the view of Arlington and Arlington House from the Mall. (Note: "Arlington Memorial Bridge and its features were intended to be both a monumental entry to the federal city and a formal, processional route to Arlington National Cemetery."
--Trump plans to build it in the middle of a traffic circle which is a major artery for traffic in Washington, DC. No one has talked about what will happen to that traffic while it’s being constructed.
--Jonathan Reiner: "The site for the arch is a busy highway traffic circle between Memorial Bridge and Arlington National Cemetery. How do they envision people would visit the structure?"
--The memorial would also be right on the flight path to National Airport, extremely close to where the plane crash in the Potomac and the helicopter crash happened.
--Just for comparison, the Leaning Tower of Pisa is 180 feet tall. Paris’s Arc de Triomphe 164 feet, the Sydney Opera House 220 feet. The arch will be as tall as a 20-story office building (in complete defiance of the height restrictions of the city.)
--The arch is profoundly out of scale with its surroundings. Experts say it has no harmony with existing structures, lines of sight, or respect for other landmarks and buildings.
--The Arc de Triomphe was built to commemorate Napoleon’s military victories and other arches commemorate other military victories. When Trump was asked what this arch was supposed to commemorate, he said, "Me."
--When the arch was opened up to public comment, the responses were 100% negative.
--Republicans are now arguing that the arch is a great idea because, "We’ve never really had a builder president since Thomas Jefferson."
--New Republic: "It’s a disgrace...God willing, the next president is a Democrat. He or she will have a lot of work to do and much damage to undo. But he or she absolutely must say on day one: we’re tearing down this arch...Washington ceremonial architecture, like the government itself, must be returned to the purpose for which it exists--to promote democracy, not the demented, bruised ego of one sick man."
In Kash Patel news:
--Kash Patel went on TV this morning to say belligerently, "We are not going to take this lying down. You want to attack my character? Come at me, bring it on. I’ll see you in court."
--Patel fired the entire Iran counterintelligence team weeks before the Iran war--to punish them for having worked on the Trump classified documents case.
--Patel is very concerned that the FBI merchandise is not "intimidating enough." (Thank God he’s focused on what’s important.)
--Best joke of the day, from MuellerSheWrote: "The FBI Director, the DC US Attorney, and the Secretary of Defense walk into a bar. Apparently like every day."
In other news:
--The price of a first-class letter postage stamp is going up again in July, from 78 cents to 82 cents.
--The Trump family crypto company, World Liberty, has seen the price of its crypto coin fall 16% after one of their biggest investors, Justin Sun, criticized their debt practices.
--Trump plans to renominate the FEMA acting director he fired last year.
In good news:
--The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette avoided being sold to a private equity firm and has been acquired by the non-profit organization, Vindousis Institute for Local Journalism.
--A federal court ruled Live Nation and Ticketmaster are, in fact, a monopoly.
--The Montana Supreme Court ruled that, and I quote, "Transgender descrimination is, by its very nature, sex discrimination."
Best sign of the day: "OMG GOP WTF."
Best comment of the day, from roger rabbit: "We’ve reached the point where Emperor Caligula appoints his horse to the Roman Senate. Still...GOP crickets. They will let him destroy the country before they ever think of resisting."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis