I go to the gym five days a week, do push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, lift weights, run, eat right, don’t smoke, drink in moderation, get plenty of sleep, etc. Does this make me a man? I have no idea what my testosterone level is and don’t care. I’m 69 years old and feel young for my age when compared to my same-age peers. Yes, I’m getting older and feeling the effects of age, but I still do most of the same things I did in my 20s, albeit to a lesser degree. I don’t feel the need to prove to anyone that I’m a “Man” according to today’s competitive environment of “Maxing”. I don’t video myself at the gym.

Neither my father nor grandfather ever felt the need to display their masculinity in any performative manner other than through their day-to-day words and deeds as they worked hard to provide for their families, showed love and devotion, and lived their lives.

Pete Hegseth’s idea of manhood is almost 100 percent performative, with not a hint of genuine masculinity behind the facade of false bravado. This show of his perceived manliness may appeal to a small group of 18 to 20 year-old soldiers at boot camp and possibly to some easily impressed young women, but many are laughing at his boyhood antics.

Aside from appealing to a Tate Brothers Podcast audience, Pete Hegseth’s displays of masculinity don’t resonate with anyone other than that fringe misogynistic following where women are seen as property suitable only for birthing, cooking, and cleaning.

Another quality of a man is keeping faith in one’s relationships, both personal and in business. He’s been married several times, fathered children with several women, admitted to a serious drinking problem, nearly bankrupted two nonprofits, and openly criticized the role of women in the military, yet he brings his current wife to Top Secret briefings, saying that she keeps him out of trouble.

Hegseth’s recent mandate for military men over 30 to have their Testosterone levels checked is another in his long line of performance over substance. The Warrior Ethos he often touts as something new is laughable to those of us who joined the military to fight for this nation. The days of bayonets and hand-to-hand combat are over, aside from some special forces units. They need not be reminded of their mission, regardless of who sits in the White House or the Pentagon.

The removal of women from top roles at the Pentagon has nothing to do with merit, but only with Hegseth’s fear of being proven wrong in his belief that women are not fully capable of competing with men in almost any role in the military. By removing them and halting the promotion of others, he stacks the deck with an all-male, mainly white workforce. They will no longer be allowed to prove their worth and were previously promoted solely on DEI criteria, if you listen to him rant at what appear to be political rallies in front of active-duty troops.

Pete’s criticism of women stops at his front door, where his wife, a former producer at Fox News, is the driving force in much of his combative stance on the press, pushing him to oust the Pentagon Press Corps. She also interviews candidates for his staff. Being on the wrong side of Jennifer is a quick exit out the back door. For a man who relegates women to the back benches of life, how did one woman merit such a huge role, not only in his personal life, but in that of a $1 trillion defense budget and policy?

Try as Hegseth might to act and look like a man, it doesn’t work for the vast majority of us who look upon him as a little boy bragging to the other little boys about his strength and vigor. A real man has wisdom, maturity, self-confidence, and listens to all points of view. Sadly, it’s these qualities that he is unable to show.

Pete Hegseth is a troubled man. The office of the Secretary of Defense is now a needlessly secretive, paranoid, rapidly shrinking circle of trust where polygraphing of staff is a routine occurrence. Everyone is monitored for loyalty, not to the military or the Constitution, but to Hegseth and Trump. The mainstream press, including his former Fox News, left the Pentagon last year, but continues to write wide-ranging stories about his purges of senior staff in the four-star ranks of officers seen as disloyal or offering opposing points of view.

There have been no briefings at the Pentagon since May 5th, as the war in Iran morphs into a quagmire of weekly false claims of peace deals with a constant stream of empty threats by the president. Iran is no closer to a surrender than at any time since the fall of the Shah. Pete Hegseth was in the minority in pushing this war with Benjamin Netanyahu and the president. His puffed chest and talk of a Warrior Ethos and push-ups would not win this war. No amount of Testosterone will convince the Iranians to give up. Bombs and bravado don’t work in asymmetric warfare where a $20K drone can wipe out an entire Naval base in Kuwait.

The troops don’t do high-fives for Hegseth. They don’t talk at the NCO Club on Saturday nights about Hegseth’s bravery and strength. The enlisted and officer corps want a leader who inspires, who trusts, who will see to their needs and those of their families, and one who will not lead them into a needless war, denying their hardships, the injuries, and the deaths as some made-up piece of fake news.

It’s character and responsibility, not displays of so-called masculine performance, that make a man.

• The number one entity trying to manipulate our elections is Trump himself

• He says the recent California primary was rigged

• He’s the one who weakened confidence by demonizing our election system

• A solution in search of a crime

• It’s a Fu*king Rally speech with the greatest hits

• Is this real?

• He was president during all of this supposed hacking

• Blames his own intelligence agencies for lying to him

• Attacks the press

• Cherry-picked old intel

• Attempts to influence, yes, but no evidence of vote manipulation

• China hacked or bought voter data, names, addresses, and phone numbers, but not how we voted or had access to the voting systems. Easily available on the web.

• Threatened broadcast licences

• Trump fired all of the election commission officials last week.

• Virtually nothing new in this speech

• Some of the released declassified intel actually proves the point that Russia tried to help Trump during the 2016 election, as was outlined in Part II of the Mueller Report.

CNN’s analysis of Trump’s speech:

After six years of false claims, 60 lawsuits, constant mentions during his rallies, at almost every press conference, and even comments to foreign leaders, President Trump will state unequivocally, referencing some very sketchy and minuscule cases, that the 2020 election was rigged, specifically in the state of Georgia.

Since taking office for his 2nd term, Donald Trump, with his army of Project 2025 cohorts, has worked ceaselessly to shut off independent voices within the federal government. Independent agencies have been silenced using layoffs, defunding, and the firing of agency heads in a concerted effort to control the flow of government information through a tight funnel exclusively from the White House for much of the government data, but specifically concerning our election system.

The president’s latest effort to control the narrative, specifically as it pertains to our free and fair election system, was to fire the last remaining members of the bipartisan election commission, in effect gutting this vital clearinghouse that states use to validate their voting systems. He never explained his reason for doing so, but it is clear from both his words and actions that he wants total control of the narrative both before and after his speech. He will falsely claim that the 2020 election was rife with fraud in an effort to cast doubt on the upcoming midterms, where a major loss for the GOP is expected.

Over the past six months, the DOJ demanded voter information from every state in the union, even though states run their own elections as outlined in the Constitution. This demand has been challenged in court, and many states have refused to turn over voter rolls despite the DOJ threatening state officials with criminal prosecution should there be evidence of non-citizens voting, a claim refuted by study after study.

In a desperate attempt to buttress his claims of election fraud, namely in Georgia, an indictment was issued with baseless allegations of election malfeasance to seize the Fulton County, GA, ballots in January 2026, with ODNI head Tulsi Gabbard looking on. Over the past six months, a large team, some 260 FBI agents, has been combing through these documents, comparing actual votes to voter rolls and other databases to find any discrepancies.

No doubt, after thoroughly reviewing every single vote cast in Georgia during the 2020 election, some discrepancies will be found. These few scattered instances of deceased individuals voting, a handful of signature mismatches, a couple of double votes, and even an instance or two of, wait for it, an illegal alien voting in the election, will be the basis of widespread accusations by the president of a flawed election system.

Every election in the United States, from small towns to the Presidential Election itself, will have instances, however small, of some fraud; these instances have never risen to the point of changing the outcome of any election.

The President will take these few instances and extrapolate them in his typical hyperbolic manner to cast doubt over the entire election, not simply in Fulton County or Georgia, but in the United States as a whole and, once again, to falsely declare that he won the 2020 election, even though he lost nationwide by seven million votes and no cases of election fraud have been proven.

During the speech, Trump is expected to claim that foreign governments interfered in the 2020 election, but he has not provided any hint as to the specifics of interference or which nation or nations were involved.

With flagging support for the Save America Act, which Donald Trump desperately wants passed, that would radically change our election system by eliminating mail-in ballots, he will use his speech to ramp up false claims of rampant election fraud, taking a few instances found in GA to the level of a national emergency. Based on these claims, he may try to discredit the elections of the two Democratic GA Senators, Ossoff and Warnock, as illegitimate. He may also repeat his accusations concerning the recent California primary, falsely claiming that thousands of ballots were fraudulent as further evidence of rigged elections.

This Presidential Address will be the first of its kind, where a president is expected to claim that there is a vast conspiracy in our election system that worked, in the shadows, to steal the 2020 election from his grasp, even though he was president at the time. His own Attorney General, William Barr, stated that the election was the safest in history, a point echoed by the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Chris Krebs, who Trump later fired for disputing his narrative of election fraud.

The president will seek to rally his base, hesitant GOP Senators, and the American people around his false claims with scant evidence provided to prove his case of a rigged election system. He’s been holding bipartisan legislation hostage, namely the Affordable Housing Bill, in an effort to coerce members of Congress to pass the Save America Act.

The Thursday night address will not be the last act from this president, but more of an opening salvo of attacks on our long history of free and fair elections as we approach the midterms. The president and his loyal sycophants will push changes to the law, make false accusations of fraud, and offer solutions to problems that do not exist.

Trump’s entire case of fraudulent election claims will rest on whether the American people believe him or whether they are sick and tired of this old rally rant that won’t go away. His base, as well as many in the GOP House and Senate, will rally to his cause, but it is doubtful that the pendulum will swing unless black turns to white and up becomes down.

Hunter Biden

The allegations concerning Hunter Biden generally center on:

• Foreign business relationships, particularly in Ukraine and China.

• Consulting, legal work, and board memberships.

• Whether clients paid him because of access to or perceived influence with his father.

Public records, congressional investigations, bank records, and Hunter Biden’s own financial disclosures suggest he earned millions of dollars, generally estimated in the single-digit to low tens of millions over several years. Investigations produced evidence that he received substantial payments from foreign and domestic business ventures, but investigators did not establish that Joe Biden personally received those payments as part of a bribery scheme.

There is no evidence that Hunter Biden directly profited from any work with or for the government involving any of his investments or associations.

Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump

The questions surrounding Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump generally involve:

• Management of the Trump Organization while their father was president.

• Real estate, licensing, crypto, golf, and foreign business ventures.

• Investments and advisory roles in companies that may benefit from government policies or contracts.

• The value of the Trump brand itself is being enhanced by association with a sitting president.

The Trump family business empire is much larger than Hunter Biden’s business activities. The Trump Organization and affiliated ventures have generated hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in revenue, although only a portion of that could reasonably be attributed to their father’s political position.

Direct Comparison

If the question is:

“How much money is alleged to have been earned because of a father’s political position?”

A fair summary would be:

Individual(s)Scale of Alleged Influence-Related Earnings Hunter Biden: Generally discussed in the range of millions of dollars. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Potentially tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on what business activity is counted and how much is attributed to their father’s position

The reason many ethics experts view the Trump-family issue as potentially larger in dollar terms is that the Trump children operated within a vast existing business organization that continued doing deals, licensing, branding, and investments while their father held office and afterward. By contrast, Hunter Biden was not running a multinational family business empire.

At the same time, supporters of President Trump often argue that:

1. Hunter Biden had fewer obvious qualifications for some of the positions he obtained.

2. The appearance of influence-peddling was more direct because clients may have been seeking access to a government official rather than a commercial brand.

Critics of the Trump family respond that:

1. The Trump children benefited from a globally recognized family business whose value is closely tied to their father’s political prominence.

2. The financial scale involved is likely much larger.

So, if you’re comparing raw dollar amounts that critics allege were enabled by a father’s position, the publicly discussed figures for Hunter Biden are generally in the millions, while estimates involving businesses connected to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump can reach tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, depending on what transactions and investments are included. That comparison remains debated because there is no agreed-upon method for measuring how much of either side’s income was actually caused by political influence rather than ordinary business activity.

The Thug Fund was a bridge too far as Todd Blanche, Trump’s personal lawyer with a part-time gig as acting AG, failed miserably to convince GOP Senators to approve a payoff to police beaters. He was unable to convince them despite offering a bribe that they too could profit from the $1.7 billion pot of gold, as some of their names were caught up in Jack Smith’s phone number search during his Jan 6 investigation.

Those of us from the Reagan/McCain/Dole/Boehner/Lott era are feeling pretty, pretty, pretty good today, watching the Senate leave town in disgust, refusing to vote for the brazen attempt by Trump to rob the taxpayers and pay off his private army of Oathkeepers and Proud Boys.

Will their spines soften or stiffen while home in their own districts? That is the question.

As of 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, President Trump rejected Iran’s latest offer of a deal to end the war. What are his options? Start up the bombing campaign, try again on face-to-face negotiations, wait Iran out in the hopes that the blockade will bring them to their knees? The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, with the world teetering on the brink of mass fossil fuel shortages and skyrocketing fuel prices.

Any agreement from the upcoming talks between J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian team will be compared to the previous deal negotiated over ten years ago by John Kerry and his massive team of subject-area experts, diplomats, and a coalition of nations. Had Trump not pulled out of the JCPOA in his first term, would the U.S. be in a state of war with Iran, with the world held hostage by their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz?

The Bar Was Set in 2015: Trump’s Impossible Comparison

President Trump, in his first term, ripped up the JCPOA, but offered nothing to replace it, only screaming that it was the worst deal ever.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly called the Iran nuclear deal, had these 10 major hallmarks:

1. Uranium enrichment capped at 3.67%
   Iran agreed to keep enrichment far below weapons-grade levels.

2. Large reduction in centrifuges
   Iran reduced the number of operating centrifuges at Natanz from about 19,000 to roughly 5,060.

3. 300 kg uranium stockpile limit
   Iran reduced its enriched uranium stockpile by about 98%.

4. Fordow facility restrictions
   The Fordow underground site could no longer enrich uranium and was converted largely to research activities.

5. Arak reactor redesign
   Iran modified the Arak heavy-water reactor to prevent the

   production of weapons-grade plutonium.

6. Extensive IAEA inspections
   The International Atomic Energy Agency received expanded access to monitoring and verification.

7. Sanctions relief for Iran
   In exchange, U.S., EU, and UN nuclear-related sanctions were lifted or suspended.

8. “Snapback” sanctions mechanism
   UN sanctions could automatically return if Iran violated the agreement.

9. Breakout time extended
   The agreement aimed to increase Iran’s estimated nuclear breakout time to about one year.

10. Sunset clauses
    Many restrictions expired after 10–15 years, which became one of the deal’s biggest criticisms.

Was the JCPOA perfect? Not by a long shot, but it dealt with the most pressing problem of the time rather than needlessly trying to be everything to everyone and muddying the waters that would have stalled any progress.

The so-called pallets of cash were, in fact, refunds to Iran for military hardware they paid for, but never received, as well as frozen assets that were released as part of the deal. Sanctions were lifted, but with a “Snapback” should Iran violate the deal.

The deal was working with inspectors in place, enriched Uranium sent to Russia, and restrictions on facilities and enrichment limits.

Whatever deal comes out of the Administration, if they can even convince Iran’s new, younger, and more conservative leadership will be measured against the previous deal. Why should they trust Trump when he ripped up the last deal?

The toll of this war: 13 American lives lost, nearly 400 injured, dozens of strategic US military facilities destroyed or severely damaged throughout the Middle East, half of our high-tech weapons expended, gas at nearly $5/gal, world oil supplies dwindling, thousands of Iranians and Lebanese killed, and the Strait of Hormuz is closed with thousands of tankers, cargo ships, and vital commodities held hostage. Nothing as yet to show for this world-shattering, in Trump’s words, “Excursion”.

The words from the song America The Beautiful: amber waves of grain, purple mountains majesty, god shed his grace on thee, brotherhood from sea to shining sea. In my 1964 second-grade class, the teacher put a record on our classroom phonograph. The song, which repeatedly played the phrase “America was the melting pot,” has stayed with me to this day. Some 60 years later, many have forgotten that we are the only nation on earth comprised mostly of immigrants, while remembering our cherished native inhabitants as the first Americans who have a great reverence for all living things and the land itself.

How should we celebrate the occasion that King Charles III mentioned during his recent address to a Joint Session of Congress, our semiquincentennial? We must pay homage to the past, both positive and negative, never forgetting those who’ve fallen in battle during our War of Independence, our Civil War that ended slavery, and in defense of freedom abroad in two world wars and other undeclared wars. We must also remember those who fought and died for basic freedoms within our nation during the Civil Rights movement. We are not a perfect nation.

The great documentarian, Ken Burns, brought the Revolutionary War to life in his recent PBS series. The documentary went well beyond what most high school students learned in history classes to reveal the gruesome details of our independence, the bravery of the colonists, and the heroism of our founding fathers who risked hanging for treason against the Crown. One lesson from the early days of our nation is that freedom isn’t free. There was and is a cost in human blood. We often forget and must pay again, forgetting the lessons of the past.

President Trump could have reversed his recent course of institutional destruction, the flouting of longstanding traditions, the attacks on free speech, and freedom of the press in an effort to increase executive power. Wouldn’t this anniversary be the perfect time to bring the nation together from our recent strife of mass deportations, Americans shot in the street by federal agents, and his own assassination attempts? He could have celebrated how far we’ve come as a nation with basic freedoms, technology, having the world’s strongest economy, and America being a beacon of democracy in a troubled world, but that is not his style.

Instead, the White House will be turned into a celebration of what looks more like a throwback to the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome, where citizens cheered on the combatants in a death match. The plan is for multiple UFC fighters with cauliflower ears and battle scars to beat each other senseless until one is either knocked unconscious or unable to continue due to physical injuries.

The chosen phrases of the day are Warrior Ethos, Maximum Lethality, and No Quarter for our enemies with god on our side. The MAGA and Trump mentality is a zero-sum game where compromise and bipartisanship are the enemy. “I must win, and you must lose.” Winning is all that matters.

A vile vision of what it is to be a man has taken hold, where brute force, power, and violence are celebrated as somehow macho instead of being a good husband and father. Our young men have, unfortunately, bought into this vision, with many Gen Z males voting for Trump in 2024.

Rather than a celebration of America as the melting pot, the signal to the nation and the world is that the welcome mat is gone. Immigrants are labelled as vermin, with poisoned blood, murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. This is the implied message that this administration seeks to communicate.

America First has morphed into America Alone as the rallying cry, with cruelty, fear, pain, and suffering as the tool of choice to stop the flow of people from what Trump calls “Shit hole” nations and to rid the nation of those who are here illegally, regardless of their many contributions to our economy and our intellectual brain trust. Their presence is an addition to this nation, not a drain.

America alone is an America in decline, isolated, shunned, a pariah nation with few friends, many foes, and left behind while the rest of the world moves on, realizing that “We” is a far stronger word than “I”.

Accountability mechanisms have broken down or been dismantled for self-enrichment

This list is by no means complete, as it changes by the hour

• Trump treats the government as a family business

• Massive insider stock and commodities trading moments before major policy moves

• Never before have we had this level of corruption in broad daylight

• Shuttered USAID to end all American soft power

• Closed the VOA, ending global outreach to 3rd world citizens wanting democracy

• Institute of Peace renamed as the Trump Institute of Peace

• The Kennedy Center was shuttered after he fired the board of governors and installed his own handpicked team of sycophants. They renamed the center as the Trump Kennedy Center. Ticket sales plummeted, and performers cancelled.

• The East Wing of the White House was torn down for a ballroom, with secret donors buying access

• Started a regional war on the same WMD sham as the 2003 Iraq invasion. Trump and Hegseth’s miscalculation allowed Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, causing world chaos that doubled oil prices and fertilizer prices, with millions impacted.

• All Jan 6 felons pardoned, over a dozen have reoffended

• Sued many law firms for exercising free speech

• Sued media outlets over stories he didn’t like. Several were forced to pay.

• Fired thousands of FBI agents and DOJ attorneys who were assigned cases against him

• Installed sycophants in the DOJ, DHS, DOD, and FBI. The AG and the DHS head were fired within one year

• Gave Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu the Green Light to annex southern Lebanon

• Turns a blind eye to the slow annihilation of the West Bank

• Selling pardons for millions, many cases of corruption and fraud.

• Family profiting in the billions with contracts in the Middle East, taking a $400 million 747 as a gift

• Started a nonsensical and ill-advised worldwide trade war punishing smaller third-world nations, leading to the loss of thousands of jobs in poverty-stricken regions.

• Corrupted the long-trusted military newspaper, the Stars and Stripes, by firing its Ombudsman

• Gutted consumer protection agencies, civil rights offices, fired the JAGs at the Pentagon, and many of the IGs in the federal government, to clear the way for corruption

• Eliminated cryptocurrency oversight offices, while at the same time, profiting from cryptocurrency ventures to enrich the Trump family

• Increasing the Defense Department budget by 400 billion while cutting healthcare and social programs

• Created a dumbed-down police force, increasing ICE agent numbers by 300 percent and reducing training to 47 days

• Reduced employment requirements at the DOJ and FBI in an effort to find yes men and women

• Cancelled clean energy project still under construction, despite being the No 1 fastest-growing energy production technology, even in Texas

• Gutted University research, freezing loans and grants, losing thousands of students to foreign universities, and allowing China to lead the way in EVs and clean energy

• Extorted universities over curriculum and staff hiring

• Threatened network licences of the legacy media companies while clearing the path for the billionaire takeover and monopolistic mergers.

• Tried to silence comedians for jokes he didn’t like.

• Shut down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in an effort to silence dissent

• Interfered in Hungary’s presidential election to prop up a Putinesque dictator

• Left Ukraine in the rearview mirror as they fight and die for democracy

• On the verge of bailing out the UAE, one of the wealthiest nations on earth.

• etc

Any agreement resulting from the upcoming talks between J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, and the Iranian team will be compared to the previous deal negotiated over ten years ago by John Kerry and his massive team of subject-area experts, diplomats and a coalition of nations. Had Trump not pulled out of the JCPOA in his first term, would the U.S. be in a state of war with Iran with the world held hostage by their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz? A brief look at history provides the time-honored lesson of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal 2015

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed in 2015 between Iran and major world powers, had five core hallmarks designed to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief:

1. Limits on Uranium Enrichment

• Iran could only enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity (well below weapons-grade).

• Its stockpile was capped at 300 kg of low-enriched uranium.

2. Reduction of Centrifuges

• Iran had to reduce the number of installed centrifuges from 19,000 to about 6,100, with only 5,060 operating at the Natanz Nuclear Facility.

• Advanced centrifuges were restricted and monitored.

3. Reconfiguration of Nuclear Facilities

• The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant was converted into a research centre with no enrichment allowed.

• The Arak Heavy Water Reactor was redesigned to prevent the production of weapons-grade plutonium.

4. Intrusive Inspections and Monitoring

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gained extensive access to nuclear sites.

• Continuous monitoring of uranium mines, mills, and centrifuge production.

5. Sanctions Relief

• In return, Iran received relief from U.S., EU, and UN economic sanctions.

• This included access to frozen assets and the ability to re-enter global oil and financial markets.

1st Trump Term 2017- 2021

After Trump ripped up the deal and reinstated sanctions, Iran had no choice but to go back to their original plan of enriching Uranium to near weapons-grade. All that the Obama team had built over 18 months of negotiations was suddenly in the dustbin.

Trump ripped up the deal in 2018

• The U.S. reimposed strict economic sanctions on Iran (“maximum pressure” campaign).

• This included targeting oil exports, banking, and international trade.

• Iran’s Response

• Starting in 2019, Iran began gradually violating key limits:

• Enriched uranium far beyond 3.67% (reportedly up to ~60% in some cases).

• Stockpile grew well beyond 300 kg.

• Installed and used more advanced centrifuges.

• Resumed activity at sites like Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.

Biden Term 2021-2025

Joe Biden’s team tried to rebuild something resembling the JCPOA, but Iran had no reason to trust the US, especially as it looked like Trump would be president again.

Trump 2nd Term 2025-Present

Midnight Hammer

In June of 2025, U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped 14 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bombs on Iran’s Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities, Hegseth and Caine confirmed. The attack marked the first operational use of the MOP. A total of 125 aircraft, including the B-2s, supported the aerial component of the operation.

Trump went on to claim that Iran’s nuclear program was obliterated, setting them back by years.

U.S. Intelligence reported that the damage to Iran’s nuclear program might not have resulted in “Obliteration”. Tulsi Gabbard’s team did not fully back Trump’s claim, causing a strain between the President and the intel community. The claim of an imminent threat from Iran has been widely disputed by those in and out of the government.

In early February 2026, President Trump, pushed by Benjamin Netanyahu and others, joined Israel in a massive attack on Iran’s leadership, killing most of the hierarchy, but leaving the Ayatollah’s son alive and in charge. They also targeted Iran’s Air Force, Navy, missile launchers, factories and storage sites, but Iran, realizing that they were no match for US firepower, resorted to asymmetric warfare with cheap drones attacking US allies in the Middle East as well as US facilities in the region.

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, stopping the flow of oil to Europe and many other US allies, but allowing friendly ships to pass. The US could do little but watch, so President Trump gave Iran an ultimatum. Open the Strait, or we will destroy the entire country and civilization.

Pakistan intervened, offering negotiations. Trump backed off from the threat and sent J.D. Vance to negotiate in Islamabad, Pakistan, but after 21 hours, there was no deal. Iran argued that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was part of the deal. Trump decided to blockade Iran’s ports, keeping Iranian-bound ships from either docking or leaving, but left the door open for more negotiations.

In any future negotiations, what will J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff be able to negotiate without any experts attending the meetings? The original team was comprised of well over 100 people working for nearly two years, including Russia, China, the UK, France, Germany and the EU.

After the war ends and negotiations are completed, what manner of deal will result? Will it be superior to the JCPOA, inferior, or the same as the Obama team originally worked for years to sign?

The JCPOA vs the upcoming Trump/Iran Deal

Once a deal is complete and signed, it will be compared to the JCPOA point by point. Will it be a stronger deal, one that is weaker, or will we end up with a very similar deal after 11 years of indecision, war and world chaos caused by Trump’s war of choice?

Trump Deal - TBD, but early leaks of the negotiations appear to have the U.S. paying Iran $20 billion for their enriched Uranium. Additionally, Iran forced the Trump administration to stop Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon as part of any negotiations if the Strait of Hormuz is to remain open.

Why Trump is Dead Wrong:

Donald Trump learned nothing from recent history when George W. Bush, in 2003, made a false claim that Iraq possessed WMDs as his justification for starting that ill-conceived war, costing thousands of US lives as well as our allies who went along.

Trump’s own false claim that Iran was weeks away from having its own nuclear bomb flies in the face of his claim that we obliterated their nuclear program in June of last year. He fired a handful of analysts who disputed this claim of obliteration.

The attack on Iran seems to have many fathers. The imminent threat claim, the WMD claim, the missiles reaching the US claim, and even that we were forced to preemptively attack Iran after Israel attacked them to prevent Iran from attacking US interests in retaliation for Israel’s attack.

Before the joint US/Israeli attack on Iran, no NATO or EU nations were consulted. No coalition was built. No advice was sought. It appears that any risks to the Strait of Hormuz or our regional allies were either never brought to Trump’s attention or, if they were, he ignored any advice against going to war.

The Iranians responded as any nation would and in the only way they could, not in a toe-to-toe match-up, but with their plentiful and cheap missile/drone arsenal. Their navy was mostly coastal in nature. Their air forces were mostly grounded. Our forces easily knocked out most of their conventional military. Any claim by Pete Hegseth of some resounding victory is hollow and even shameful.

The Iranians began to hit our allies with their cheap missiles and drones. They targeted our troops and facilities stationed in the area, and, more importantly, closed the Strait of Hormuz. After one month, the US is unable to reopen it for shipping.

Only after the fact did Trump beg for help from NATO to, in effect, save Trump from a mess of his own creation, but one that has catastrophic global consequences. He, at first, said that he didn’t need help, but claimed ships were on the way, only to be rebuffed by every single ally with a unified message of: This is not our war.

The US was not attacked or even close to being threatened by Iran. We did not consult with anyone, and only later did we realize that the war was a huge gamble and a mistake of epic proportions.

Trump cooked his own goose, but wants to blame NATO.

He can pound sand as far as they are concerned.

Iran holds all of the cards, and Trump knows it.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaking in the Oval Office about the War in Iran, reminds one of the 1996 movie Independence Day, where the actor Bill Pullman gave that final defiant and inspiring speech to the troops, rallying them to defeat the alien scourge, but the War in Iran is not a war of survival or in response to an imminent threat or even a recent attack.

He often appears in a one-size-too-small suit, more akin to being a suitor in an episode of “The Bachelorette.”

Hegseth’s briefings are so intensely performative that even the so-called “Obliterated Enemy”, Iran, put up their own version of our SECDEF in a video designed to mercilessly mock the Secretary.

There is performance, and then there is substance. As to the substance of Hegseth’s speech, he portrays Iran as being almost a superpower, falsely claiming that it has a modern Navy, Air Defense, modern Air Force, and modern military overall. His boasting of US supremacy in obliterating Iran’s forces is akin to an adult beating up a child, and then raising his own fist high in triumph.

In truth, Iran’s air force was no match for the US’s overwhelming technological prowess. Military experts agreed that Iran’s military was in a weakened state before the war, with an aging fleet of aircraft, mostly grounded, a navy designed for coastal defense, and a limited offensive capability centered in and around the Strait of Hormuz as an antagonizing force, but in no way capable of fighting the US conventionally.

The fact that the U.S. Air Force has easily and systematically defeated Iran’s air defenses and Air Forces, taking out radar installations and blowing up its aging fleet of aircraft primarily parked on the ground, was no surprise and not even a fair fight. Iran’s Air Force basically never left the ground, giving the US full air superiority. There were no classic dogfights between aircraft, no open sea naval battles, and no tank battles, but only the bombing of stationary targets. In effect, our claim of “Victory” is hollow at best and even laughable. Yes, our military did its job, god bless them, but without a clear strategy, what comes next now that Iran is using its asymmetric supremacy in a war of attrition with the US and Israel, deploying thousands of cheap but effective drones. (White House Statement and claims of victory)

Hegseth’s Thought Process & Beliefs

The origins of Pete Hegseth’s so-called “Warrior Ethos,” “Take no prisoners,” and “No Quarter” language are complicated. Pete followed the traditional infantry route after joining the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, rising through the ranks during two tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. After leaving active duty, he transitioned into the National Guard and was assigned to help secure the United States presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, as unbelievable as that seems with what we now know about his political leanings.

It was during this Washington D.C. duty that another service member flagged Pete after seeing his controversial tattoos, one being “Deus Vult” or “God wills it”. This phrase originated from the Crusades as a rallying cry. Another of his tattoos is a Jerusalem Cross or the five wounds of Christ, also linked to the Crusades. Two more tattoos, the cross and sword, and the Infidel in Arabic script, are a defiant symbol toward the enemy. He was subsequently removed from the security detail over fears of his possible extremist views based on his many tattoos that are often associated with modern extremist groups. Hegseth ended up leaving the military, honorably, but with a bad taste in his mouth from the controversy.

With Hegseth’s history of invoking the name of god during the current war with Iran, as well as his Crusade-style tattoos, many feel uncomfortable as he heads the Defense Department in a war with an Islamic nation, dredging up memories of the 13th and 14th-century Crusades, where Christians slaughtered Muslims.

As a result of Pete’s sour feelings toward the military at the end of his career, and the JAG Corps, or as he often calls them, “The JAGOFFs, it is easy to understand, at least from his point of view, why he fired all or most of the JAGs once he became Secretary of Defense. There’s an attitude and tone of “I’ll show them” in all of his public comments.

Hegseth’s views of war are stark and cold in terms of how we treat the enemy. His recent “No Quarter, No Mercy” speech was not only ruthless, but may very well have set him up for a war crimes trial at some point in the future, as he challenged the Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC). To declare “No Quarter” is illegal by every standard going back to the Geneva and the Hague Conventions.

His comments are more of a “Kill everyone” order that is clearly illegal, where he sets the stage for and encourages our younger impressionable troops to engage in unnecessary killing, eliminating the possibility of surrender, and undermining the longstanding and widely accepted humanitarian protections in war.

This “kill them all” attitude was most recently and flagrantly displayed in the wanton killings of 150 to 160 people in 46 strikes of boats in the Caribbean as so-called “Narco Terrorists”, with no warning, no boarding, no search of the boats, but to sink them and kill the crews in cold blood, even double-tapping one boat with survivors hanging onto a partially sunken boat. It is striking that no one was ever taken into custody, and no evidence was ever provided as proof that these boats carried any drugs or were engaged in activities that directly threatened the US.

Pete Hegseth’s seemingly newfound religious fervor is in stark contrast to how he has appeared to have lived his life with several wives and girlfriends during his marriages, and accusations of heavy drinking. He’s also been accused of malfeasance while managing two nonprofits with wild parties, drinking, and carousing. He’s vehemently denied these accusations of any wrongdoing, but did promise to stop drinking if confirmed as SECDEF.

Hegseth, like his boss, President Trump, wants to exert his power and show everyone that he’s the boss with these performative briefings, the banning of legitimate press from the Pentagon (recently overturned in court), and the tone he takes with the press when asked completely legitimate questions about casualties during this war of choice. He even attacked one of the best military journalists in the business, Fox News’ own Jennifer Griffin, a former colleague of Hegseth, for asking a question about the claims of success in “Midnight Hammer”, the B2 mission that supposedly obliterated Iran’s nuclear program. If the nuclear program had been obliterated as Hegseth and the President claimed at the time, there would have been no need for the current “Excursion,” as Trump calls it.

Author’s Note

Pete Hegseth is in over his head. He has no qualifications to be the SECDEF, having never served in a leadership role that would have provided him with the relevant experience and skills required to lead our military and the Defense Department with a $1 trillion budget and those precious lives in his hands.

He reminds me of some of the other officers I knew while serving in the first Gulf War, while stationed in Turkey, managing a fleet of combat aircraft. Some of these men seemed to have a feeling of hatred toward the enemy (This was not Pearl Harbor), seeming almost gleeful at the thought of killing the foes before us in Iraq. Sitting around talking while having a beer in the days and weeks leading up to the start of the war in January of 1991, moods changed. Some of my fellow officers were a little nervous, some stoic, some silent, but some, like Pete Hegseth, were anxious to, in their words, “Get It On” and take the war to those “A rabs” as they called the Iraqis at the time. These more aggressive officers displayed the same childlike giddiness at the thought of going to war as does our current wannabe G.I. Joe in charge of the Pentagon, who named himself the Secretary of War. This is not the attitude of a seasoned, measured SECDEF.

Hegseth comes across as a vengeful, disgusting warmonger who may be guilty of war crimes when all is said and done. By firing the JAGs, or as he calls them, “The Roadblocks”, he eliminated the very people who would have advised our military on the legality of certain operations, such as the killing of 165 Iranian schoolgirls in a mistaken strike by our Tomahawk Cruise Missile. His comment of “No Quarter” is his own admission of a crime. There is a misplaced anger of unknown origin, his public demeanor with rumors of worse behavior in private, where he’s threatened to polygraph members of the Joint Chiefs.

Put simply, Pete Hegseth is unfit for duty.

William J. Astore, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught at the academy for six years. “More than anything, the appointment of Kirk to the board demonstrates the ongoing politicization of the service academies.”

“They are interested in turning the military into a Christian nationalist praetorian guard.”

The academy’s oversight board records show leaders dismantling DEI to align with Trump directives. Critics warn the military is becoming “a Christian nationalist praetorian guard.” warn the military is becoming “a Christian nationalist praetorian guard.”

This is beyond sickening, and I call on every current and former member of the military to speak out in protest. Call your Congressmen and Senators to stop the assault on the Constitution with the religification of our service academies.

Are we actually in the Matrix or a bad dream?

The military that I knew would never stand for this interference. There are so many good men and women in the armed forces who deserve better than a White Christian Nationalist creature such as Erika Kirk interfering in the training of our future officers.

Pete “Warboy” Hegseth’s newfound religion is a sham, a ploy, leaning into the zealots of the MAGA base where all sense of reality has melted.

Freedom of and from religion is our basic Constitutional right as outlined in 1st Amendment:

• Religion: The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from creating a state religion or favoring one over another, while the Free Exercise Clause protects individuals’ right to worship as they choose, or not at all.

The Iris Dena was far from home, having recently completed a multinational naval exercise at the invitation of the Indian government. It was not involved in combat, was not threatening any American asset, yet it was sunk by the US in international waters with no warning, in what Pete Hegseth called “a quiet death”, seeming to take great glee in his account of the incident and the deaths of the Iranian sailors.

Hegseth went on to say:

“It was sunk by a torpedo, a quiet death – the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II,” added Hegseth. “Like in that war, back when we were still the war department, we are fighting to win.”

With a crew of 180 sailors, 87 bodies were pulled from the sea, and 32 survivors were rescued. They are being repatriated.

• Was this a war crime?

• Was it justified?

• Could they have been warned?

A former US Air Force special operations targeting expert said the following:

“Was that warship actively posing a threat or participating in hostilities?” asked Bryant. “You cannot say that this warship was an imminent threat to anyone. By targeting it, is the Trump administration saying that the imminent threat is all of Iran’s government and military? If so, that’s an incredibly dangerous example of military overreach.”

As with the so-called drug boats that have been blown out of the water recently, our military rules of engagement have changed from one of following the Laws of Armed Combat, to “Shoot first and we’ll deal with the consequences later.” This is not the military that I served, not even close.

Iran has been a repressive regime from the time Ayatollah Khomeini stepped off his plane from France 47 years ago. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, like the Shah in his later years, arrested, tortured, and killed their own citizens and have been doing so for decades, culminating in the recent slaughter of as many as 30K in the January uprising.

Iran has supported various terrorist groups over the same period, including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as many splinter groups and armed militias. Some say that they knew of or supported the Hamas attack on Oct 7th, but there is no substantive proof.

Most of the attacks on US troops have been carried out by Iranian-backed militias and not by Iran’s forces directly. When Iran did attack us directly, it was mostly retaliatory in nature. These attacks have killed over a dozen U.S. Soldiers and injured more. We retaliated for each of these attacks. This back and forth has been the nature of our conflict with the regime.

Stated reasons for going to war with Iran:

1. Halt nuclear weapons production

2. Halt work on ICBMs

3. Regime change

4. Stop Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorist groups

5. Stop them from taking over the entire Middle East

6. And finally, “To Protect the Homeland.”

7. To allow the people of Iran to overthrow their leaders

8. In a few hours, Trump or Hegseth will provide another reason for the war

With all of our intelligence on the Iranian regime, their drone capabilities, their willingness to involve innocent third-party nations, their ability to close the Strait of Hormuz, and the fact that, before this war, they’ve had a very weak army, virtually no air force, and a very limited navy, we launched an unprovoked war and set the Middle East ablaze.

Each Point Broken Down

1. We supposedly “Obliterated” their nuclear program over the summer

2. They’ve been building ICBMs for decades with the help of Russia, China, and North Korea

3. The hardliner son has taken over for his assassinated father

4. Both Hamas and Hezbollah were severely degraded by Israel before this war started, as well as their loss of Syria as a haven.

5. Iran was never going to take over the Middle East. They’ve never possessed that capability.

6. Iran has never been a threat to the US Homeland. Were they ever to actually acquire a nuclear bomb, we could have very easily destroyed their capability as we did over the summer with a limited strike.

7. There is no uprising in the streets as the IRGC is fully in control

Iran, once attacked, retaliated as any nation would. How can we be so incredibly incensed or surprised by their actions? Without an air force or navy, they are using the one capability they possess in spades: their ICBM fleet and drones.

All that has occurred is on Trump

• All of the destruction in the Persian Gulf is on Trump

• The seven deaths of U.S. servicemen and the nearly 150 injuries are on Trump

• The attacks on the other Middle Eastern nations are on Trump

• The fires at various oil facilities in Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia are on Trump

• The closed Strait of Hormuz is on Trump

• The high cost of gas is on Trump

• The cost of other petroleum products and fertilizer is on Trump

• The other nations around the globe that are now facing possible fuel shortages and higher costs are on Trump

• Iran is said to be laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz: All the fault of one Donald J. Trump

Trump should stop the war now and declare victory. It was never a fair fight. Pete Hegseth’s overcooked and hammed-up briefings are a performance worthy of an Oscar as he touts the unquestioned strength of the US military vs a delapidated and ill-equipped Iranian military as if that was ever in question. Sure, we can beat them up. So What!

There will be no change to Iran’s regime, their overall national goals, and this entire war or “Excursion” as Trump calls it, will have been for nothing at the cost of seven American lives.

“We are living in a time when it can be hard to hope.

Each day we wake up to some new assault on our democratic institutions. Another setback to the idea of the rule of law. an offense to common decency.

Every day you wake up to things you just didn’t think were possible.

Each day, we’re told by those in high office to fear each other and to turn on each other, and that some Americans count more than others, and that some don’t even count at all.

Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength.

We see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty, and corruption are reaping untold rewards.

Every single day, we see that.

And it’s hard to hope in those moments.

So it may be tempting to get discouraged, to give in to cynicism. It may be tempting for some to compromise with power and grab what you can, or even for good people to maybe just put your head down and wait for the storm to pass.

But this man, Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson, inspires us to take a harder path. His voice calls on each of us to be heralds of change, to be messengers of hope, to step forward and say, send me, wherever we have a chance to make an impact, whether it’s in our school, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, or our cities. Not for fame, not for glory, or because success is guaranteed, but because it gives our life purpose. because it aligns with what our faith tells us God demands, and because if we don’t step up, no one else will. How fortunate we were that Jesse Jackson answered that call.

What a great debt we owe to him.”

Trump has stated that he will act alone if the Save America Act is not passed. He’s charged Tulsi Gabbard to find any evidence of fraud or foreign interference in the seized Georgia election ballots and in voting machines from Puerto Rico, but to hedge his bets, an old friend is coming to the rescue.

Peter Ticktin, one of Donald Trump’s oldest friends, is behind the rumored 17-page draft of an executive order for declaring a national emergency before the midterms. He’s been in contact with Michael Flynn, Mike “My Pillow” Lindell, and Patrick Byrne, all of whom played a role in the failed attempt to reverse the result of the 2020 election.

Ticktin is a disbarred lawyer who’s known Trump since the 10th grade, when they both attended the New York Military Academy. Ticktin was Trump’s platoon sergeant. He was suspended from practicing law in 2009 for professional misconduct and then a 2nd time for financial issues. He was ordered to pay $50K in sanctions; his claims concerning the 2020 election were found to be nothing more than political grievances.

He’s a known QAnon devotee who represented Jan 6 rioters, and has worked on many pardon cases in Trump’s 2nd term. He also represented Tina Peters, the Colorado election official who was convicted of election tampering. Trump has been seeking her release from prison and tried to snatch her from the state and into federal custody.

He can be seen on Infowars, on Steve Bannon’s War Room, and on other far-right media outlets.

One other key figure stands out. Jerome Corsi was the originator of the Birther Hoax, trying to prove that Barack Obama was not an American citizen. He’s been reported as trying to shop around the draft of the proposed executive order since July.

Trump has surrounded himself with the Dream Team of election deniers, conspiracy theorists, all in an effort to prevent a massive loss in the Midterms, where the House will fall to democrats and possibly the Senate. He’s rightfully hypothesized that losing one or both houses will sink his presidency and result in a catastrophic, in his mind, blitz of hearings, subpoenas, and possibly charges against many in his cabinet. He will do everything in his power to prevent this.

Anthropic owns the Claude model, which was supposedly used in the military’s operation to capture the Venezuelan President Maduro. Their CEO, Dario Amodei, is fighting to maintain safeguards and guardrails under their $200 million contract with the Pentagon.

Secretary Hegseth has threatened to take over the Claude model, forcing Anthropic to turn over its use to the Pentagon under the Defense Production Act. A Pentagon spokesman said, “Get on board or not.” And if it doesn’t, Hegseth will ensure “the Defense Production Act is invoked on Anthropic, compelling them to be used by the Pentagon regardless of if they want to or not.” He went on to threaten Anthropic, saying that the company could be declared a supply chain risk.

Anthropic has been at the forefront of safety with its AI model. The founders left OpenAI over its use of ChatGPT due to these same concerns that their tech would be used in a manner contrary to their philosophy.

Hegseth has given the company until Friday to comply and rewrite its terms of service, but Anthropic has been standing firm.

The promise of AI is limitless, but as with all technology, there is a risk that we could lose control in some manner if we allow its use in the critical areas of defense, strategic systems, and critical infrastructure without safeguards in place.

The attached video is a montage of Pete Hegseth, a CBS News story, Terminator 3, and The Forbin Project. While it might seem far-fetched, many science fiction writers, going back to the famous Metropolis of 1927 postulated the time in which we now find ourselves.

Tariffs Illegal As Ruled By The Supreme Court

It is so ordered

In a 6 to 3 ruling with Justices Kavanaugh, Alito, and Thomas dissenting

Gorsuch and Barrett side with Chief Justice Roberts and the liberals

Based on two words separated by 16 others in Section 1702(a)(1)(B) of IEEPA—“regulate” and “importation”—the President asserts the independent power to impose tariffs on imports from any country, of any product, at any rate, for any amount of time. Those words cannot bear such weight.

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution sets forth the powers of the Legislative Branch. The first Clause of that provision specifies that “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” It is no accident that this power appears first. The power to tax was, Alexander Hamilton explained, “the most important of the authorities proposed to be conferred upon the Union.”

The Government thus concedes, as it must, that the President enjoys no inherent authority to impose tariffs during peacetime. Tr. of Oral Arg. 70–71. And it does not defend he challenged tariffs as an exercise of the President’s warmaking powers. The United States, after all, is not at war with every nation in the world.

The Ruling:

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1287_4gcj.pdf

Matthew Moroun, whose family has operated the competing Ambassador Bridge connecting Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., for decades, met with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick just hours before Trump threatened to block the opening of the nearby Gordie Howe International Bridge, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Sources told The Times that Lutnick spoke with Trump by phone about the matter after the meeting with Moroun. The president would post his threats about not allowing the bridge to open just before 6 p.m. ET on Monday.

Canada paid for the bridge using US and Canadian steel in its construction. This bridge will boost trade between our two nations.

Trump’s Insane Post:

As everyone knows, the Country of Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades. Now, things are turning around for the U.S.A., and FAST! But imagine, Canada is building a massive bridge between Ontario and Michigan. They own both the Canada and the United States side and, of course, built it with virtually no U.S. content. President Barack Hussein Obama stupidly gave them a waiver so they could get around the BUY AMERICAN Act, and not use any American products, including our Steel. Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just “take advantage of America!” What does the United States of America get — Absolutely NOTHING! Ontario won’t even put U.S. spirits, beverages, and other alcoholic products, on their shelves, they are absolutely prohibited from doing so and now, on top of everything else, Prime Minister Carney wants to make a deal with China — which will eat Canada alive. We’ll just get the leftovers! I don’t think so. The first thing China will do is terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada, and permanently eliminate The Stanley Cup. The Tariffs Canada charges us for our Dairy products have, for many years, been unacceptable, putting our Farmers at great financial risk. I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve. We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY. With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset. The revenues generated because of the U.S. Market will be astronomical. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

That being said, all of the arguments against the operation are moot. There is no civil war, no insurgency, and people are living their lives without the chaos that we all witnessed in Iraq. Some political prisoners are being let out, and the flow of cheap oil has stopped to Russia and China. Whether you agree or disagree, the operation appears to be a success for the limited goals as stated by the Trump administration.

The United States has not fared well with regime changes since World War II, with nearly 25 major attempts and a 39 percent success rate. From the 1950s with Syria, Indonesia, Guatemala, and Albania to the 2010s and 20s with Syria*, Venezuela*, Iran, and Russia, our ability to replace either a communist government or an unfriendly dictator has been limited.

*based on the earlier attempts in both Syria and Venezuela

Despite the initial success in overthrowing the Iraqi government in 2003 and capturing Saddam Hussein, under the false premise of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the aftermath was not worth the loss of life on either side, as well as the chaos we sowed in the Middle East as a whole. By any estimate, over 100,000 Iraqis were killed after our 2003 invasion, with some estimates much higher.

Donald Trump was asked by a reporter why he was working with remnants of the Maduro regime. His answer was spot on, learning a lesson from our failed history of attempted regime change around the world.

In the aftermath of overthrowing Saddam Hussein, we repeated many of the same mistakes made after the overthrow of Hitler and Germany in the months that followed. For many civil servants in Germany, joining the Nazi party was the only way to secure a job, whether they approved of or had any sympathy for Hitler’s evil intentions.

In Iraq, joining the Ba’ath Party was similar to being a member of Germany’s Nazi Party as far as the average government worker, bank manager, or even university professor was concerned. If they did not join, they would not have been able to hold mid-level and higher positions. These employees managed the day-to-day government operations regardless of their personal politics.

During the post-war occupation of Germany, the United States carried out the Denazification throughout the German government. We quickly learned that many of the German civil service workers were members of the Nazi Party. Firing all of them would leave the government unmanned. We did not learn that same lesson after overthrowing Saddam Hussein.

When the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) took over control of the Iraqi government under Paul Bremer, we started the De-Ba’athification of Iraqi society and the dissolution of the entire military, over 400,000 soldiers, quite literally throwing them out on the street, unemployed, creating the instability that led to the Sunni insurgency and Jihadist groups and later, ISIS and a two decade civil war with the ensuing deathtoll.

Just as in 1945, when we rehired many Nazi Party members, the US realized that we needed many of these purged civil servants and senior officers to manage the day-to-day newly formed Iraqi government and to rebuild their military, but the damage was done. The bloody Iraqi insurgency was well underway.

In short, Trump’s Venezuela operation, Absolute Resolve, with the surgical removal of Nicholas Maduro, was not only a display of absolute military precision with no loss of life for the small 200-member team, but it may end up saving what has often been a post-war civil war when we try to overthrow a government. By keeping everyone else in place in the Venezuelan government and strongarming them with the threat of future US military involvement, Trump’s team has broken the failed model for regime change and a transition to a more friendly government.

Regardless of the ethical, legal, or political policy behind Maduro’s capture, the mission itself, the tactics, planning, secrecy, and sheer audacity will go down as a model for future operations of this kind. If Trump’s team can force actual change in Venezuela from a repressive, failed dictatorship to one more friendly to the United States, but more importantly, move the nation to its former democratic values, it will be a coup for the administration, celebrated throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Whether Trump cares one iota about the people of Venezuela may never be known, and his motives for moving against Maduro may have been entirely based on oil, but that may also remain a mystery.

Agree or disagree with the motives of Absolute Resolve, but the operation itself was masterful and saved thousands of lives on both sides. Will the Venezuelan government change its stripes and open the jail doors, allowing dissidents to go free? Will there be a pledge for free and fair elections? Will US oil companies decide to reinvest? Or will Trump use his threats to the existing government to siphon their vast reserves of oil for the benefit of the US alone, leaving the citizens of Venezuela in a state of limbo?

Regardless of the motives, the key difference between this regime change and the removal of Saddam Hussein is that the Venezuelan civil service will remain in place to manage the day-to-day operations of the government, seeing to the basic needs of the people, the infrastructure, existing institutions, and commerce. There most likely will not be a civil war or an insurgency with an entire army of unemployed civilians and soldiers with nothing to do.

A final thought is that there are many counterarguments to the capture of Maduro, but almost all are moot. Very few are protesting in the streets around the world or in South America to return him to power. Motives aside, there have been few in the US Congress or in the press to come out strongly against the operation.