What Is It All For?

A lethal combination of incompetence, hubris, and greed is driving this disaster

I conducted an informal poll on my YouTube channel a few days ago that asked a simple question: Can you afford your bills next month? Thirteen thousand people responded. The vast majority said some version of no or a qualified yes: “Yes, next month, but not the month after.” “Yes, barely.” “Yes, but things are getting worse.”

That leads to the question so many Americans are asking: “In what universe does starting a war of choice against a nation that posed absolutely no imminent threat to us help the bottom line of the American people?”

Affordability is such a huge issue for most Americans that Donald has decided it doesn’t exist. According to him, “affordability” is a word Democrats made up to trick us into thinking the economy is bad. Meanwhile, because of his disastrous economic policies, because of his idiocy and greed, the American economy is, in reality, in terrible shape. Everything is more expensive; inflation has not been meaningfully brought down; and, because the Republican Party has no healthcare plan and is instead focused on gutting the Affordable Care Act, some Americans are now looking at deductibles in excess of $31,000. That is more than many Americans make in an entire year.

How exactly is a war of choice halfway around the world going to improve the lives of the American people? There is no good answer to that question. There isn’t even a coherent one. And this is the thing people need to get into their heads: Donald Trump does not care about the American people, just as he does not care about the Iranian people. The rationale for this war has changed repeatedly which means there was no legitimate rationale for waging it in the first place. We’ve been told we had to attack Iran in order to stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program, which, according to Donald, we obliterated less than a year ago. Then we were told it’s about regime change, even though in the initial strikes not only were the leaders of the regime killed, including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but the candidates the Trump regime had identified to replace the cabal of religious fanatics who have terrorized their people for almost five decades were also wiped out.

According to journalist Jonathan Karl, this is what Donald had to say regarding that:

The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates. It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.

So, what is this war about? Donald can’t tell you. The people in his inner circle can’t tell you. We know his military advisers advised against it. The generals think it’s a terrible idea. In the end, do the motives even matter? I don’t know that they do. What matters is that we are at war with a nation that posed no imminent threat to us. The International Atomic Energy Agency and American intelligence assessments made it clear that Iran was not projected to have nuclear capability until at least 2035. That is not an imminent threat.

This war is going to cost untold lives and untold billions of dollars. And it’s going to cost us something else as well: whatever is left of our reputation. Our allies are already suspicious of us, and we will no longer be able to be perceived as a nation that can be trusted or taken seriously. The Middle East is a tinderbox, so there is also the distinct possibility that the situation will spiral completely out of control because the idiot who started it in the first place understands nothing of what is required to contain it. On some deep level, though, he clearly recognizes that this could benefit him politically or financially, and that is enough.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party refuses to do its job. Congressional Republicans are supposed to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution requires that the president seek congressional approval before declaring war on another nation. They have abdicated that responsibility. Every death is on their heads; the blood is on their hands.

There is no way this war, as unjustified as it is, will make the lives of the American people better. We already know certain stocks are tanking. We already know the price of oil is up ten percent and very likely to go higher. There will also be massive supply chain disruptions.

Here is another thing people continue not to understand. When Donald tells us the American economy is great and can withstand anything, he is talking about his own economy. He is talking about the fact that for him, his useless children, and his obscenely wealthy cohorts, everything is just fine. They will continue making more money because the person leading the United States of America is the most greedy and corrupt grifter in modern history. That is why he does not care about the negative impact this war will have on ordinary Americans; that is why he does not care about the potentially lethal consequences for American soldiers; and, that is why he does not care about the people in Iran, who deserve better not only from their cruel, repressive regime, but also from ours.

If you are struggling to pay your bills, if you are staring down a deductible that could wipe you out financially, if you are wondering how you are going to afford groceries next month, understand this: none of this is accidental. Your hardship is not even on the list of concerns for the people making these decisions.

They are insulated. They are enriched. They are protected.

You are not.